RECORD BREAKING RUN AT HOME ENDS

No doubt the knives will be out in New Zealand this week as they usually are when the All Blacks lose a game that they should’ve won. But before we run the team out of town on a rail, let’s take a minute to celebrate an unprecedented home winning streak five years long!

The last time the ABs lost in NZ was to newly-crowned World Champs England back on 14 June 2003. As with last Saturday, they lost that match by a mere 2 points. They then went on to win the next 30 matches in a row by an average of more than 20 points, or 4 tries to 1.

That run including a number of important tournaments including the Tri-Nations (held since 2005), the Bledisloe Cup (held since 2003), and a sterling defeat of the touring British Lions in 2005.

Anyway you look at it, the last 61 months has been an astonishing run. Who knows when we will see the like of it again.

Springboks Snatch Victory at the ‘Brook

Full credit to the never-say-die Boks who pulled off a remarkable upset in Dunedin on Saturday night. In beating the ABs 30-28 they snapped both a one hundred year drought at Carisbrook and they ended a record 61 month home-winning streak by the All Blacks. Saffas rejoice – you did something you haven’t managed in ten years – win in NZ. Some might argue that the Boks are now legitimate World Champs. But a 2 point margin in a game that could’ve gone either way means for me, the jury remains very much out.

The Boks played with their usual level of intensity and in the first half they looked far more composed than the home side. But the ABs found their groove in the second half dominating territory, possession and time in the opposition 22. Victory looked well within New Zealand’s grasp until a break-away try by Ricky Januarie in the 75th minute boosted the Boks’ score by a hefty seven points. It’s probably premature to say Janurie’s try was the try of the tournament, but it was a masterpiece of individual talent.

And there lies the rub. The Springboks two try-scorers on the night were arguably their most inconsistent performers on the field. Apart from a try gifted to him by øåØåJoe van Niekerk, JP Pietersen’s performance did nothing to dispel doubts that he should’ve been left at home. And although Ricky Janurie cleared the ball well out of the scrum, he often looked to be in two minds in distribution.

But the 10 points contributed by Pietersen and Janurie means that their shortcomings will be probably overlooked and both will be hailed as heroes back in the RSofA.

For my money, the five best players on the field were all wearing Black jerseys. åØåMils Muliaina had a near flawless performance. Conrad Smith also played well making huge tackles and breaking the advantage line often, as did Ma’a Nonu. Sione Lauaki came off the bench early in the second half and continued his blistering form of last week. He looked like the Lauaki of two years ago – menacing with every touch of the ball. And Rudi Wulf, the new wing, kept his side of the field in good hands.

The Springboks were a mixed bag. The much-heralded Schalk Burger played both brilliantly and stupidly, as is his way. Butch James had less of a role in this week’s game but played with his usual high-level confidence, even drop-kicking a very important goal in the second half. Captain Victor Matfield owned the line-outs, as usual, but then got himself sin-binned for high-tackling Lauaki. Stupidly this came right after referee Matt Goddard had warned both captains that he would be carding the next player to tackle high. Habana was rendered impotent by an All Black defense that wrapped him up pretty much every time he touched the ball. But for me the best Bok player was the replacement hooker åØåBismarck du Plessis’s who made a number of barn-storming runs up the middle. Pity about the alleged eye-gouging that’s earned him a 3 week suspension.

Normal Service Has Been Resumed (Latest IRB World Rankings)

After a brief aberration brought about by some questionable number crunching, the All Blacks have returned to the top of the IRB’s World Rankings. This position is thoroughly deserved. Since the beginning of last year the ABs have played 16 tests and won 14 (representing an 88% success rate). Their two losses were narrow affairs – a 5 point margin in Melbourne going down to the Wallabies and a 2 point defeat to France in Cardiff.

South Africa are now ranked second in the world. Since the beginning of last year they have played 21 tests and lost four (an 81% success rate); three of their losses were against New Zealand and their biggest losing margin was 27 points.

Completing the trifecta is Australia. Since the beginning of last year the Wallabies have played 15 matches and losing only three (an 80% success rate).

“World Champs” or Just Plain Lucky?

And so it begins – the dismantling of a Springbok myth by an All Black reality. Last year the Boks won a RWC Tournament without facing any quality teams. Thanks to the luck of the draw, tough teams that might’ve created difficulties for the Boks eliminated each other before the finals. Arguably, the toughest contest the Boks had in that tournament was against an unrated Fijian side.

Sheer luck handed the Boks the trophy and then bureaucratic incompetence handed them the World Number 1 ranking. Some argued that luck had nothing to do with it, that the Boks were one of the in-form sides of the tournament. Indeed, on their way to victory they had comprehensively beaten England (twice) and Argentina.

But look at their form prior to France and a different picture emerges. In the Tri-Nations they finished at the bottom of the heap with three losses from four games.

Over the past two years, their record against top-tier teams has a woeful – 3 wins in 11 games (or 27%). In contrast, he comparable records for Australia and New Zealand were 50% and 80% respectively. Yet in spite of this, Bok supporters were convinced that their side had the goods, that their team was deserving of the title that Lady Luck had gifted them. So it was with vindication in mind that Springbok administrators last week talked up their chances of defeating an under-strength and apparently demoralized All Black team.

On paper the Boks looked formidable indeed. In the line-up were the mighty Victor Matfield, John Smit, and the unstoppable Bryan Habana. With talented players such as these, one could overlook some curious omissions made by rookie coach Peter de Villiers. (Why in the world did he leave out Ryan Kankowski, the in-form flanker of the Super 14?)

And who did the All Blacks have to match this experienced, battle-hardened side? NZ’s best line-out jumper was playing with a dodgy ankle (Ali Williams). At the back of the scrum were two untested flankers with just 6 tests between them (Jerome Kaino and Adam Thomson). The country’s best wing was wearing a cast on his wrist (Joe Rokocoko). And the head coach (Graham Henry) was distracted by running battles with a hostile NZ media. The All Blacks looked like a shadow of the side that went to the RWC.

Yet for 65-70 minutes last Saturday the under-strength team totally outplayed the World Champs. The match wasn’t even close. In the scrum, at the breakdown, and even in the line-outs, the ABs were the superior team for most of the game. About the only thing the Boks did consistently better was referee.

No doubt there will be a lot of soul-searching within the Bok camp this week. Answers will be sought. Stuart Dickinson will be blamed. The weather will be blamed. The new laws will be blamed. The South African media may even figure out a way to attribute their side’s loss to Richie McCaw’s cheating, even though he was on the sidelines and in a suit. But one hard fact which will be ignored is this: the current Springboks just aren’t good enough to beat the ABs. One wonders if they’re even good enough to beat the Wallabies.

The Good Book tells us that the race isn’t always to the swift nor the battle to the strong. Sometimes victory has less to do with skill and more to do with being in the right place, or pool, at the right time. Based on their performance over the past 12-18 months, the Springboks have done nothing to dispel the perception that they are merely lucky champions.

Wayne Barnes in Wellington? It Just Ain’t So

From as far away as Milan I’ve detected some mild histeria in the blogosphere from AB fans who are concerned that Wayne Barnes will be reffing Saturday’s game against the visiting Springboks.

(For those of you who’ve moved on since November last year, Wayne Barnes is the ref whose calls essentially gifted France two decisive tries in their surprise elimination of the All Blacks in last year’s Rugby World Cup.)

On the one hand it’d be kind of funny to call in Mr Barnes to ref this particular game. I mean, the Boks have come over already confident of ending a 5 year home-winning streak, Richie McCaw is broken, and NZ’s replacement flankers have played only marginally more test rugby than my wife. So what’s one more thing? Perhaps the ABs could play blindfolded as well.

But I’m pleased to report that Mr Barnes’ expected appearance is nothing more than a web-myth thrown upon an already nervy nation probably by Corne Krige. The actual ref will be Stuart Dickinson.

Incidentally, Bok fans probably rate Mr Dickinson as highly as Kiwis rate Mr Barnes. But at least Dickinson will have had some experience with the ELVs which is more than you can say for your average northern hemisphere ref or player (eg: Victor Matfield, John Smit).

The Wallabies Have Been Crusader-fied

The nightmare continues. We’re sitting here watching the Wallabies demolish the French and the imprint of new coach Robbie Deans is evident everywhere. Let us count the ways the Wallabies resembled the Crusaders tonight;

- after a mediocre first half they came out of the break with guns blazing

- they took control of the game with the patient pick-and-roll

- their defense on the try-line was uncrackable; they fended off something like 14 phases of French play

- there were long periods where they were scoring 2 points a minute

- they made the opposition look very average

- they spent an inordinate amount of time in their opposition’s 22

- they scored the magic number of 4 tries

- they were frugal in conceding penalties

…and despite all the above they weren’t able to fill their home stadium. Well not yet.

Tri-Nations Predictions 2008

Owing to the heavy traffic we get from punters, one-eyed fans, and run-of-the-mill prognosticators, we have installed a panel of experts to help you make your picks for the forthcoming Tri-Nations series. To see the panel’s picks for the 1^st game, click on the tab above labeled “Tri-Nations Picks” (found just above the header). If that’s a bit of a stretch you can just click here.

The panel is deliberately eclectic. On the panel we have experienced rugby players and couch potatoes; people who think Robbie Deans’ migration was the best thing ever and people who still can’t believe it happened; people who’ve shaken Richie McCaw’s hand and people who haven’t. From this volatile mix we can expect some interesting predictions. (Averaging the collective wisdom of our panel this week suggests that the first game will be won by the All Blacks by just 5 points.)

Each week we will post the picks from our experts and each week we will rank the experts according to their predictive accuracy.

As always, we welcome your comments.

NZ – World Champs Four Times Over

Recently one of our regular readers noted with scorn that “NZ will dominate world rugby for the next 4 years and then show they have no BMT on the big stage.” All Black fans are used to hearing this sort of nonsense. But I think it speaks volumes that Springbok and other fans are conceding that NZ will continue to dominate world rugby. And if that domination comes at the cost of losing RWC tournaments, so be it.

Ask yourself, if you had to choose between sustained world domination and RWC victories every 12 years or so, which would you prefer?

Anyway, as always, full credit to the mighty South Africans for showing their class last November and beating the Poms twice. It wasn’t easy for them but they made it.

But on the subject of championships, it’s worth noting that there’s not just one World Cup but several. Do you know who the current cup-holders are?

• Junior World Cup champions – New Zealand
• Women’s Rugby World Cup champions – New Zealand
• IRB Sevens champions – New Zealand
• Women’s IRB Sevens champions - New Zealand

So actually, the deal is world domination and championships in all the major tournaments save one. Seems like a good deal to me.

Anyway, as for BMT I guess we’ll find out about that in the coming weeks. This promises to be the closest 3N tournament in years. With key All Blacks injured the Saffas are looking for their first win on NZ soil in ten years. The Wallabies likewise haven’t won in NZ in 7 years and will be hoping to change that in August.

Of the three sides the South Africans look the most cohesive, the All Blacks look promising but remain untested, while the Wallabies – with their new super-coach – are rebuilding after years of relative mediocrity. This tournament is wide open.

Next week Rugby Asteroid will begin announcing the picks provided by an expert panel of fans from the three nations. Points will be awarded to the so-called “experts” based on their accuracy. Stay tuned…

The Man Who Used to be King

With yesterday’s victory against the English, Graham Henry takes his coaching tally to 45 wins in 51 tests. This level of winning-ness is unprecedented in the modern era of rugby. Just look at how Henry’s win ratio compares with his peers and recent predecessors…

1. Graham Henry (NZ, 2004-) – 88%
2. John Mitchell (NZ, 2001-03) – 82%
3. Rod McQueen (Australia, 1997-2000) – 79%
4. John Hart (NZ, early 1990s) – 75%
5. Nick Mallet (South Africa, 1998-99) – 71%
6. Clive Woodward (England, 1997-2003) – 71%
7. Wayne Smith (NZ, 2000) – 70%
8. Jake White (South Africa, 2004-07) – 66%

At the international level there is no active coach who comes close to Henry’s stellar performance. Not even the great Robbie Deans comes close. His 89 wins from 120 games for the Crusaders yield just a 74% win ratio.

Despite his phenomenal success rate, Henry is unpopular in New Zealand. Why? Because one important game was lost by two points late last year in Cardiff. One game! Two points!

To me this speaks of a monumental loss of perspective. Kiwi fans need to take another at Henry’s record and stop hanging him for the NZRU’s abominable treatment of Robbie Deans. (Last week I had dinner with one irate Cantabrian who said he’d be supporting the Wallabies in the next World Cup! The emotionalism of the moment seems to have defeated all reason.)

Henry is not only the winning-est coach in recent memory, his sides score more points per point conceded than just about any other team ever has. We’ve said it before, history will judge Henry more favourably than he is being judged now.

Another Master-Class from Carter

Carter kicked 14 out of 14 in the two match series against England which finished a few hours ago. And that was just the half of it. Look at how involved he was in the All Blacks scoring tonight…

2^nd minute: Carter kicks his first of three penalties (3 points)

13^th minute: Carter breaks a tackle and sets up Kahui for a try; Carter converts (7 points)

23^rd minute: Carter makes another penalty (3 points)

28^th minute: Carter makes a break and scores a try; makes own conversion (7 points)

45^th minute: Carter makes another penalty (3 points)

52^nd minute: Carter makes a brilliant inside pass leading directly to a Nonu try; Carter converts (7 points)

62^nd minute: Carter converts a try from Lauaki (2 points)

72^nd minute: Carter comes off the field

By my reckoning Carter had a hand in scoring 32 of the All Blacks 44 points. (The other 12 points came from Lauaki (5), Cowan (5), Donald (2).) He was perfect with kicks at goal this week and last. Is this the beginning of another stellar season from the world’s best fly-half?

Take a Bow Adam Thomson

For those of you unfamiliar with the tall rookie in the Number 6 jersey, Adam Thomson is a recent arrival from Mars. Evidently they make good flankers on Mars for Thomson played like a bigger version of Richie McCaw in his test debut against the English. It wasn’t just that he was involved in everything – the breakdowns, the line-outs, the rock-solid defense. But on a night when the ABs needed someone to step up for their injured skipper, Thomson did. He just didn’t look like a rookie. He looked like he’d been playing at this level for years. This was nothing short of a Cinderella debut for a man who didn’t even play Super 14 last year.

Maybe this is the year of surprise flankers. NZ have Adam Thomson, SA have Ryan Kankowski, and the Wallabies have…?

Is Carter all he’s cracked up to be? Yes, actually.

Lately there has been speculation that Dan Carter may not be all he’s hyped up to be. On Saturday, Carter emphatically responded by kicking the English out of contention. His kicks in general play and at goal (7 from 7) were outstanding. During that match Carter kicked his way into the 700 points club. Consequently newspapers all over the world have been publishing an updated list of Leading Points Scorers in Test Rugby. Currently, it looks like this…

1. Jonny Wilkinson (England/Lions) – 1099 points

2. Neil Jenkins (Wales/Lions) – 1090 points

3. Diego Dominguez (Italy) – 983 points

4. Andrew Mehrtens (New Zealand) – 967 points

5. Michael Lynagh (Australia) – 911 points

6. Matthew Burke (Australia) – 878 points

7. Percy Montgomery (South Africa) – 878 points

8. Ronan O’Gara (Ireland, Lions) – 835 points

9. Gavin Hastings (Scotland, Lions) – 733 points

10. Dan Carter (New Zealand) – 709 points

One might look at this list and think that Carter was edging his way into a mighty company of kickers. But a more accurate view is that he is storming his way in. Look how the ranking changes when the number of games played is taken into account…

1. Dan Carter (New Zealand) – 15.4 points per game

2. Jonny Wilkinson (England/Lions) – 14.5 points per game

3. Grant Fox (New Zealand) – 14.0 points per game

4. Andrew Mehrtens (New Zealand) – 13.8 points per game

5. Diego Dominguez (Italy) – 13.3 points per game

6. Michael Lynagh (Australia) – 12.7 points per game

7. Neil Jenkins (Wales/Lions) – 12.0 points per game

8. Gavin Hastings (Scotland, Lions) – 10.9 points per game

9. Matthew Burke (Australia) – 10.8 points per game

10. Nicky Little (Fiji) – 10.2 points per game

Well done DC!

BTW, if you’re wondering where these numbers came from, some anonymous fan is doing a superb job keeping the relevant Wikipedia entry up to date.

Shane versus the Springboks

I’ve been waiting for someone to post a video of Shane William’s magical try against the Boks last Saturday, and someone finally did…

PS: Well I hope you got to see the video before the lawyers at YouTube deleted it. If you didn’t see it, Williams gathered a lose ball about 40m out from the try-line, immediately broke a tackle, and headed down the touchline towards the goal completely unsupported. Initially 4 Boks came right at him. Williams changed direction and made as if he was heading for the goal. Two of the Boks, nearly on him, turned with him, while the other two hesitated. But Williams was faking and he straightened up. A fifth Bok showed up but it was all over and Williams was home. The beauty of the try was that when Williams was hopelessly outnumbered he did the counter-intuitive thing changing direction and running straight towards his tacklers. This caught them off-guard and when he changed back to his original course they were left diving in the dirt and tripping over each other.

BTW, in an article on Planet Rugby Shane Williams ascribes his recent success (12 tries in 10 tests) to having his priorities sorted out: “I love the game more than anything but my family comes first. I think that is the difference. In the past it was rugby, rugby, rugby. Since I’ve got a family and a little girl I now know how to prioritise things.”

Shane Williams, you’re all class!

The Wisdom of Murray Mexted

To celebrate Rugby Asteroid’s first birthday, here’s a little treat from the incomparable Murray Mexted which I found at rugbydump.com. (For readers in the Northern Hemisphere, Mexted is a Kiwi commentator famous for howlers such as “it’s all tied up at 14-13” and “Andy Ellis - the 21 year old, who turned 22 a few weeks ago.”) Enjoy!

Here are some more Mexted quotes:

• “He scored that try after only 22 seconds - totally against the run of play.”
• “I would not say he (Rico Gear) is the best left winger in the Super 14, but there are none better.”
• “Trapped like a shag on the rocks” (RWC07 Georgia vs Argentina)
• “He ran like a bat” (RWC07 Georgia vs Argentina)
• “Both sides are here to play rugby.”

Happy Birthday to Us

Today is both the 5th anniversary of the All Black’s last defeat in NZ and the 1st birthday of Rugby Asteroid. This blog grew out of regular arguments between me and two mates about our preferred teams - All Blacks for me, Wallabies and Boks for them.  The very first blog entry was actually an email sent to about a dozen friends. The emailing lasted about 3 weeks and then everything went online in the form of this blog.

My initial aim was simply to wind up my two mates and, in the interests of fairness, publish their responses when they could be bothered writing. Sadly for them they don’t write very frequently, which is why the ABs seemed to get more than their share of coverage on this site.

A second aim was to learn how to blog, and it’s been quite fun pinching ideas from other sites.

Some have asked about the name. Well I used to be a big reader of Planet Rugby. (Planet Rugby is a clearinghouse for rugby news written by in-house staff and content-services such as the NZPA.) This site might be considered a smaller, SANZAR-focused version of that, just as an asteroid is really a small planet, hence the name.

Interestingly, I seldom read Planet Rugby anymore and most of my rugby news comes from the RSS-readers installed right here on Rugby Asteroid (see the column to the right). This is because my interests are limited to the three SANZAR nations while Planet Rugby is definitely northern hemispheric in orientation.

With 3,000+ hits, Rugby Asteroid has certainly grown far beyond initial expectations! One blog entry, written after NZ was eliminated from the RWC, is being reproduced in a forthcoming book on NZ rugby to be published by Random House.

What will the second year bring? I’m open to suggestions. What would you like to see here?

BTW, in case you’re wondering, my favourite blog entry to date remains the very controversial player diary I ghosted for Richie McCaw. Look out for more of these in the future.

All Black Fan Seen Buying Wallaby Jersey!

Growing up in NZ we used to have a saying: “I support two teams - the All Blacks, and any team playing the Wallabies.” How times have changed.

Today I had a very interesting conversation with the lady who runs the Champions store under AMI Stadium. As you can imagine, she sells a lot of Crusaders’ gear, plus gear for the other NZ Super 14 teams and the All Blacks. She told me that when Robbie Deans signed on to coach Australia, she quickly sold out of Wallaby jerseys and that the people buying them were embittered All Black fans.

“Surely not!” I protested. Surely she was speaking about some double-minded group of flip-floppers and not die-hard AB supporters. Yes, the ABs had a poor finish to 2007, but no one respects the fair-weather fan. These could not possibly be former AB supporters - it’s unthinkable.

But she was adamant. She explained to me that there was a lot of bitterness among local supporters, especially towards the NZRU, and this was causing them to jump ship. With careful precision she identified four causes of this sorry state of affairs: (1) the AB conditioning programme which was run to the detriment of the 2007 Super 14 tournament, (2) Henry’s unpopular rotation policy, (3) the unexpected quarter-final elimination at the RWC, and (4) the poor treatment dished out to Robbie Deans during the coach-selection process at the end of last year.

She reserved her strongest feelings for that last point. “The NZRU planned to rehire Graham Henry all along. They just interviewed Robbie Deans to give the whole thing legitimacy and that was shabby. Worse, in doing so they assumed that they were smarter than the average fan, that they could fool us. They were wrong.”

In my 3 months in NZ, I’ve met fans from every provincial side north of Otago. I have picked up a view that Cantabrians are both rabid supporters and intelligent critics of the game. It’s no exaggeration to say that when it comes to rugby, Canterbury is to NZ, what Pretoria is to South Africa and NSW is to Australia. I’d read about it in the paper but I didn’t believe it until today. Cantabrians are so mad at the NZRU, that they’re buying Wallaby jumpers in support of their exiled coach.

If you’re reading this outside of NZ, let me put the importance of Robbie Deans in some context. I’m currently staying near Deans Avenue. Yesterday I took the family for a walk through Deans Bush and visited Deans Cottage, which is the oldest surviving settler building in Canterbury. That cottage was built by Robbie Deans’ great-great-grandfather. Robbie Deans is the embodiment of Cantabrian rugby. His creed is shared by all in this part of the world: “the team comes first”.

On the ferry down here I met an Aussie and asked him how he felt about Robbie Deans being the new Wallaby coach. He replied with a glint, “ve-ry, ve-ry happy.” The sentiment here in Christchurch is the exact opposite. Everyone I talk to speaks out of a sense of loss and this has led to the truly bizarre and unprecedented outcome of AB fans buying Wallaby jumpers.

I’m still trying to process all this. Your thoughts, please.

Five Year Winning Streak at Home

The All Blacks rarely lose at home. In fact, they’ve only lost in NZ three times since the turn of the millennium. The last time they lost at home was 14 June 2003 when they went down 13-15 to England in Wellington. (Thanks to Kev Lassen of Pick&Go for pointing this out to me.) This means the match this coming Saturday is the 5th anniversary of the ABs last home loss. And in a clever bit of scheduling, that anniversary match will be played against England.

Since that historic loss in 2003, the ABs and England have met four times with the ABs winning on each occasion by a healthy margin. But that means little for the coming match. This week sees a still-raw AB team competing against battle-hardened English side. England didn’t do well in the Six Nations, but they did thump Ireland by a lot more than the ABs did last Saturday. Yes, I know the conditions were different, but there’s really little else o which to judge the two teams’ current form. My instinct says the ABs will win this weekend in Auckland by less than 12, and then they’ll win bigger the following week in Christchurch.

I mentioned at the beginning that the ABs have had a 60 month run of wins at home. What about some of the other sides?

- After NZ, Argentina has the best home-winning streak of 24 months (NZ beat them in Buenos Aires in June 2006)

- Australia is on a 23 month home-winning streak(NZ beat them in Brisbane in July 2006)

- South Africa is on a 12 month home-winning streak (NZ beat them in Durban in June 2007)

- The home-winning streak for Wales is 7 months, for England, France and Scotland it’s just 4 months, and for Italy it’s 2 months. Ireland lost it’s last game at home.

All Blacks Unbeaten in 2008!

… while the Wallabies have yet to win a single game. (Insert snigger here.)

Last night’s match against the elements, and the Irish, was an inauspicious start to the season. In contrast with the Springboks, who made the Welsh look “embarrassing”, to quote the Welsh coach, the All Blacks looked like a team that had been assembled in haste. But a win’s a win and we’ll take it.

Did I mention the weather? It was most foul. A cold southerly was blowing up the harbour and the swirly breeze within the Cake Tin meant the goalpost flags were occasionally blowing in opposite directions. Both Carter and O’Gara did well under the circumstances.

So the new test season is underway and it’s time to begin gauging the performances of the old and new All Blacks. Let us consider how last night’s performance in Wellington affected the stock price of individual players:

PLAYERS WHOSE STOCK WENT UP

Richie McCaw led from the front and was universally judged to be the best player on the field. He was everywhere at the right time. As usual, Richie copped a bit of rough play from frustrated opponents. As usual, he showed his class by not retaliating in kind.

Dan Carter kicked masterfully in difficult circumstances. His kicks in general play and at goal were first-rate, as was his tackling.

Conrad Smith and Ma’a Nonu were brilliant at 12 and 13. Nonu, we’ve missed you! You made the great BOD look old and slow.

PLAYERS WHOSE STOCK WENT DOWN

Sitiveni Sivivatu - yes, he scored the first try, but he also let one in for the Irish. He spun like a turnstile. He was also targetted to some effect by O’Gara’s long range kicking as was…

Anthony Tuitavake - this was a tough first game for the newest All Black. Had the conditions been different he might’ve made some of the cutting runs we saw in Auckland. As it was, the only time he touched the ball was when he was trying to catch it and he looked like a liability every time.

AND THE VALUE OF THE TEAM?

I have to say, I came away from last night’s game with real doubts. The Springboks looked like champs against the Welsh; the Wallabies have a great new coach and that will no doubt boost their famous self-confidence; but the ABs of 2008 are nothing like the ABs of 2007. The quality of the front row has deteriorated (out: Carl Hayman, in for next week: Ben Franks), we’ve lost our two best wings (Howlett’s celebrating a Heineken Cup win in Munster; Rocokoco’s broken), we’ve lost the Intimidator Jerry Collins, Carter hasn’t been as brilliant as he was last year; and we only have one world class lock where last year we had two (bye-bye Chris Jack).

Methinks this year’s Tri-Nations is going to be a very close affair indeed. The era of AB dominance could be over.

Storm in a Cake-Tin

It’s a windy afternoon here in Wellington and we’re just hours away from the All Blacks first test in eight months. Eight months! My, how time drags on when your last game was a defeat.

We’re staying a stone’s throw from Westpac Stadium and a few minutes ago we saw some of the Irish team making their way to the ground. They looked very cheerful. Indeed, they have reason to be. For this is a team filled with Munster players. Munster is not only the best club team in Europe, they are the only Irish team to ever beat the All Blacks. Perhaps tonight will bring about the upset Irish fans are hoping for.

I’m looking forward to my first ever visit to the Cake Tin. Can you believe this is also the first ever time I’ve seen the ABs play in a test match. (I’ve seen them play Western Australia a couple of times.) As usual, I fully expect the ABs to win, but the weather could be a factor.

Did I mention the wind? It’s blowing a gale outside. I went for a walk this morning and I saw a mattress flying down the street. I kid you not. How Wellingtonians manage to live here - and how O’Gara and Carter are going to kick straight tonight - is beyond me. Plus, the Met Service is predicting really foul weather for this evening when the wind changes to a southerly.

I’ve got more than one reason to be concerned about the weather. Tomorrow we’re getting on the Interislander and making the crossing to Picton. As I get seasick in the bath I’m a bit nervy about that. And this morning’s trip to the Wahine Memorial in Seatoun was probably not a confidence-inspiring trip.

Anyway, that’s tomorrow’s problem. Tonight we’ve got a game of rugby to enjoy.

NZ Crowned Sevens Champs

It’s been a good weekend for Kiwi rugby. The best team in NZ beat the best team from Australia in the Super 14 championship, and then NZ won the Edinburgh Sevens Tournament and with it the IRB Sevens world series title. Congratulations to DJ Forbes and his team who at one stage strung 47 consecutive victories together. And special congratulations to coach Gordon Tietjens who continues to be one of the most under-rated coaches on the world stage. Under Tietjens’ tutelage, NZ has won no less than nine IRB Sevens titles. No doubt the ARU will now be wanting him to follow Robbie Deans in joining the Dark Side of the Force across the Tasman.

The very first time I was saw the NZ sevens team play was in Hong Kong in 1996. Fans went along that year to see Jonah Lomu play, but he was upstaged by a skinny, blonde unknown named Christian Cullen. I mention this because I’m typing this entry in Cullen’s hometown of Paekakariki. We’ve stopped here on our way south to enjoy the rain and grey seas. I’m actually more of a Pukerua Bay man myself, but we couldn’t find any place to stay on the beach.

I’m sure Paekak is a very pleasant place to grow up – there’s miles of beach for sand-running, the Tararua ranges behind for aerobic hill-running, and the rugby grounds of Porirua and Wellington are just a short train ride away.

Speaking of Wellington, we’ll be there for NZ’s first test match of the year this coming Saturday. No doubt the Irish have come hoping to sting a team that may still be reeling from the World Cup fiasco. (Yes, a two-point loss rates as a fiasco in this country.)

I suspect the boys in green are in for a surprise. The Irish have never beaten NZ, although they’ve come close on occasion. But this is not their year and Saturday will not be their day in the sun. (It won’t be anyone’s day in the sun based on current weather forecasts.) Despite the wet ball and new combinations, I expect the ABs to win by 12+ points.