Blues Stephen Perofeta (L) celebrates scoring a try with team mate Otere Black. Photo / Photosport
Blues Stephen Perofeta (L) celebrates scoring a try with team mate Otere Black. Photo / Photosport
OPINION:
Phil Gifford looks back on the big talking points from a jam-packed sporting weekend.
Do they remind you a bit of the coach's old team?
The Blues of the new decade have swept away almost all the old bad habits. They're fierce on defence, where they used to beflaky, and unselfish on attack, when too often in the past they were all chasing the spotlight.
How unselfish? 53 minutes into their 31-16 victory over the Hurricanes, Otere Black - the Blues' first-five who was once a Cane - had the tryline wide open in front of him. But just in case desperate cover defence took him down, he passed to Stephen Perofeta who virtually walked over for the try.
As for defence, the real measure of a team - I once heard Sir Graham Henry say - was how much they'd scramble for each other. Coach Leon MacDonald, himself a scarily brave tackler, was a great Crusader and the sort of steel he and his teammates showed 20 years ago is reflected in how the Blues are now playing.
So if a bunch of guys are all bound together way in front of the ball carrier, that's not obstruction?
Hurricanes hooker Asafo Aumua is fantastic to watch when he runs with the ball as he's basically a wrecking ball with dyed hair. But the try he scored 62 minutes into the game in Wellington was weird beyond all belief.
Two quite distinct mauls had formed from a lineout. The ball was in the back maul with about five metres of daylight to the front group of sweating, wrestling, forwards from both sides.
Aumua then exploded off the rear group, his path to the line not clear, but a lot less cluttered than it would have been if four Blues players hadn't been otherwise occupied, battling for a non-existent football.
We hear the phrase "truck and trailer" when referees penalise a runner (the trailer) for sheltering behind a maul (the truck) without being properly bound. You can only assume that when it's two trucks, the trailer isn't affected.
If ever a captain's challenge would have been entirely fair, it was when Jordie Barrett's attempted conversion of Aumua's unusual try was clearly seen on television to sail inside the right hand upright, but was flagged away by the officials.
If awarded, it would have sneaked the Canes up to being behind just 21-18. The Blues composure was such that it's unlikely the Canes would have won anyway, but imagine the uproar if the call had decided the game?
The groans you heard echoing out of Dunedin came from Highlanders fans when the Highlanders were awarded a scrum
A startling issue in the Crusaders 26-13 win in Dunedin was the extraordinary dominance of the Crusaders' scrum.
It doesn't hurt when four of your starting tight five are All Blacks, and the fifth - Michael Alaalatoa - is a Samoan international. Just to rub it in, the best try of the match was scored by hooker Codie Taylor in the 12th minute when, after being slipped a beautiful short pass by his scrummaging mate Sam Whitelock, he channeled Usain Bolt as he sprinted 42 metres to the line.
Bless them all, the long, and the short and the tall
It was too close to call, so let's nominate lock Whitelock - all dynamic 2.02m of him - and Sevu Reece for joint man of the match winners.
Whitelock is 32 years old, but his energy levels on Friday were astounding. Meanwhile, Reece had one of those nights where the ball seemed to be looking for him; and provided the most stunning moment when, in the 47th minute, he scored a miracle try after a leap and twist in mid-air that American gymnast Simone Biles would have been proud of.
Now for two moments of sheer pleasure, one guilty and one not.
The England rugby team react to their loss to Wales. Photo / Photosport
England's greatest match under Eddie Jones was their 19-7 thumping of the All Blacks in the 2019 World Cup semifinal in Japan.
That victory was entirely deserved. So the angst I felt that evening in Yokohama, sitting stunned in the stand waiting for the New Zealand revival that never arrived, has been largely buried.
What's been much harder to take has been the robotic style that allowed Jones' England to dominate northern rugby with brute force and goal kicking.
How refreshing it was to see Wales' 40-24 victory in Cardiff built on the back of quick thinking.
Not once, but twice, Wales scored tries from daring, razor sharp reflexes. One came to Josh Adams from a rapid-fire cross kick after a penalty in the 15th minute, and then, in the 47th minute, Kieran Hardy scored from a tap kick.
The problem with Eddie picking behemoths, as anyone who's ever read a fairytale could tell you, is that giants may be big, mean and strong; but as the test in Cardiff showed, they're not always the quickest thinkers.
The entirely guilt-free joy
Valerie Adams was in fine form at the Trusts Arena. Photo / Photosport
Over the 10 years of knowing and growing to love Dame Valerie Adams, I've never seen her happier than she was after a sensational series of throws at the Sir Graeme Douglas track meet.
Now a mother of two, she has never committed herself more than she has to the Tokyo Olympics - which will hopefully take place in June.
With four throws over 19 metres - and a best of 19.65m on Saturday night - she's thrown further than any other woman in 2020 and 2021. Her elation in the circle was richly earned, and, as always, she posed for selfies and signed autographs for every little kid that asked for one.
It's not always the case with champions, but with Valerie her talent is matched by her warmth.
