NZ Herald reporter Cheree Kinnear and Newstalk ZB's Elliot Smith unpack the All Blacks' 2023 Rugby World Cup victory over Namibia in Toulouse. Video / NZ Herald / Sky Sport
OPINION
1. A numbers game
Obviously, we can have both. Realistically, we’ll get neither. But there are approximately five reasons why the Warriors winning the NRL title would be sweeter than the All Blacks lifting the Rugby World Cup.
The first involves more numbers. Three — All Blacks teamswho have hoisted the Webb Ellis Cup — is a bigger number than zero — the Warriors’ current title count. Hopefully this won’t overly inflame an imaginary debate, but seeing a thing happen for the first time is more interesting than the fourth.
The All Blacks also have an argument of scarcity, the World Cup being awarded quadrennially whereas the Warriors can and do miss out in the NRL every year.
But while this would have been a different column in early October 2011, when the Warriors lost the grand final to Manly three weeks before the All Blacks edged France at Eden Park, times have changed.
The All Blacks summarily enjoyed one of their greatest eras. The Warriors faithful endured another decade-plus of the Warriors.
2. Kept the faith
Those fans were the winners this season and, in particular, on Saturday night. Well, technically it was the players who were the winners, but players come and go.
Warriors fans, though, they stick around, except for the many who happily jump off when the bandwagon drives into the ditch.
For the sizeable fanbase that kept going to Mt Smart Stadium, despite the many, many ditches and despite the Mt Smart Stadium of it all, this is the reward. A well-coached and talent-laden team who, no matter what happens in Brisbane or beyond, appear primed for a run at the right end of the ladder.
The sights and sounds generated by the faithful — and the casuals — were incomparable to most sport in this country, maybe unseen since the Grant Elliott game across town in 2015. And rarely seen when the All Blacks are involved.
3. Over the All Blacks?
That’s a question because I am but one man, rather disinterested in the All Blacks’ progress in France, living in a hermetically sealed bubble with like-minded companions.
And while any decent columnist can employ anecdotal evidence to serve sweeping conclusions, there’s a pesky data point somewhat refuting my trusty feeling.
On Saturday, this site’s live blog of the All Blacks’ predictable romp over Namibia was significantly more popular than its equivalent for the Warriors’ biggest game in years. Without knowing for certain, I’d be certain it was a similar story at other New Zealand outlets.
Two things can be true: league fever has infected the nation — insert requisite ‘Up the Wahs’ — and rugby reigns supreme.
That said, if we’re not over the All Blacks, how about these particular All Blacks? We get it; you’re inconsistent, ill-disciplined, flawed and brilliant. Let’s just skip to the last game or three.
Some malaise likely owes to the stagnant nature of this tournament, but that’s a topic for another week. For these All Blacks, win or lose, the reset arriving in six weeks like a razorblade to the throat will bring sweet release.
These All Blacks can be a difficult watch. Photo / Getty Images
4. Do you believe in magic
Anyone else thinking about Sam Kerr last week? A prodigious talent in top form approaching an occasion that must have long featured in their dreams, only to seem cruelly robbed of their moment by a calf injury. No? Just me?
Anyway, to continue this cross-code and -country analogy, Johnson’s performance against the Knights was akin to Kerr’s worldie against England: sparking joy, wonder and relief that a magical sportsperson would not be denied by something as mundane as a muscle strain.
Even better, unlike Kerr’s Matildas, Johnson’s team won the damn game, and there could be more tricks to come.
Only the most jaded at Mt Smart — often found in the press box — could have watched Johnson’s lap of honour with anything but a wide smile. The halfback took a lot of shit in his first Warriors stint and his second coming last season began in unseemly fashion.
Now he’s a hero, the type of sharp redemption sport can bring. And who doesn’t like seeing the hero ultimately triumph.
5. Annoy the neighbours
This is not the time to scoff at Aussie pundits for their pre-season tradition of predicting the Warriors will finish near the foot of the ladder. Just kidding. Now is exactly the time, because although those ‘experts’ are invariably proven ‘right’ once the last ball has been kicked in the round robin … not this year you big idiots.
Many pundits have been won over by the Warriors, since it would be a bit weird to still be anticipating the downfall of one of the final four standing. But you know there’s some deep-seated anti-Kiwi sentiment in there, rising like bile should the Warriors take down two glamour clubs in the next fortnight. Heartwarming stuff.
The Wallabies, on the other hand, are too pitiful to mock and their rivalry with the All Blacks can’t really be called a rivalry when one team always wins.
