By WYNNE GRAY
Rather unwisely, as it transpires, adidas called it the Equipment Spiral International rugby ball. But yesterday its inability to live up to its name and spiral consistently put it back in the workshop.
In a joint statement, adidas and the New Zealand Rugby Union announced the ball was being withdrawn from test duty this year.
It was a laudable retreat by both groups and a significant U-turn from just three weeks ago when, on the eve of the Tongan test, All Black manager Andrew Martin predicted a long, profitable future for the ball.
In the All Blacks media guide for the season, adidas managing director Craig Lawson described it as a ball "with class-leading performance characteristics."
But there were rumblings from All Blacks that the ball was too light, it died with a spiral punt, passes floated and it was very slippery. Creditably, Tony Brown, Andrew Mehrtens and Justin Marshall spoke about some of the flaws as the management and adidas did their best to smoothe things over.
Then All Blacks kicking legend Grant Fox weighed in. It was unfair, he said, to ask top players to use inferior gear.
The deathknell came yesterday.
The lemon-coloured ball was a goner for the remaining home tests against the Springboks and Wallabies.
It would be replaced by the Gilbert ball, but could bounce back for the NPC if it passed strict quality control tests taking place in Germany, where the ball was designed, and India, where it is made.
Once those are complete, the ball must pass exams involving players such as Mehrtens and Brown.
"We have got to help them develop it further and now we have just got to move on," Mehrtens said.
He and the All Blacks will use the Summit ball in Sydney next week and the Gilbert ball for rest of the Tri-Nations tests here and in South Africa.
All this brouhaha about the ball leaves you wondering if there was enough player feedback or whether they tested it sufficiently before it entered the test arena.
At least adidas and the NZRFU took a proper punt yesterday.
Rugby: 'Floating' ball is passed back to the drawing board
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