Weird venue? I guess no more than Chicago is
The last round Rugby Championship game for South Africa and Argentina will be played at Twickenham. No doubt the prospect of huge gate receipts influenced the selection of the venue, which, given the massive number of South African expats in London, gives the Boks what amounts to a second home game after the Durban test. Still, there was a time when we would never have dreamed that the All Blacks would face Ireland in a test in Chicago. Rugby, in case you missed the news in 1996, is now a professional sport.
It depends which eye was watching
The final penalty count at Eden Park wasn’t wildly one-sided, at 14-10 to the All Blacks. Your reaction to that probably depended on which team you are cheering for. In the Sydney Morning Herald there was no doubt who Peter FitzSimons felt was badly done by. The former Wallaby wrote, “Italian referee, Andrea Piardi, seemed so keen on penalising anything and everything bar the seagulls – and they must have been close.”
The last straw for FitzSimons and other Australian commentators was the sin-binning late in the game of Wallaby wing, Harry Potter. It was one of several 50-50 calls at a breakdown, but from this side of the Tasman didn’t look egregiously incorrect. At the sort of high-powered level the Eden Park test was being played, a problem for Australia may have been that while their captain, Harry Wilson, is a terrific loose forward, he seems to struggle to establish a rapport with referees. In simple terms, if you’re constantly questioning a ref’s calls, you’re unlikely to get the benefit of the doubt.
Man of the match
One man, as rugby sages have always sworn, doesn’t make a team but the return of halfback Cam Roigard to the All Blacks had the feeling of a dynamic exception to the rule. Roigard plays with a confidence he is totally entitled to.
He fulfils the basic duties of a halfback, clearing the ball quickly and cleanly to his backline. But what makes him such a key man in the big games is the constant threat he provides when he runs with the ball himself. It certainly helps that he has explosive acceleration and an almost unfailing ability to sense when a defensive line is stretched to breaking point.
The All Blacks had been well served for a decade by the elusiveness of Aaron Smith. Physically, there are major differences between the diminutive Smith and Roigard, who is built more like a powerful midfielder. What they have in common is that when either is wearing the No 9 jersey an opposing team can never afford to relax near the breakdown or scrum.
Recruit of the season
Wing Leroy Carter is proving to be an inspired selection. Some of our greatest All Black wings have been men, like John Kirwan and Jonah Lomu, who as well as speed and balance had huge physical presence. Carter, on the other hand, is in the mould of a 2011 World Cup hero Cory Jane, whose energy levels never failed to astound. In just two tests Carter has shown how he totally belongs at international level. He’s endlessly dynamic, and thankfully appears to be completely uninhibited by the big occasion.
Proof he belongs
In a world where Donald Trump can make you wonder if there is anything to depend on, the All Blacks provided one certainty in the Bledisloe Cup test. Throw the ball in a lineout to Fabian Holland and he will win it for you. It certainly doesn’t hurt that Holland, at 2.04m is the same height as Brodie Retallick. But size alone is never quite enough, and there’s plenty more to admire about Holland. Defensively he’s assertive, and right now he must surely have established himself as an automatic selection in the All Blacks’ second row.
A genuinely magic moment
Eroni Clarke was a stalwart three-quarter for Auckland and the All Blacks in the 1990s. It was soon clear he had special qualities off the field as well, as a forever cheerful, hugely likeable man. But you didn’t need to know him to be moved by the amazing moment when he began singing the national anthem before the Eden Park test. It turns out his talents extend to a lovely singing voice, and to make the moment extraordinary, listening in the All Black line-up was Eroni’s son, Caleb. Anyone who wasn’t at least slightly moved by the sight of the tears running down Caleb’s cheeks should head immediately to a cardiologist to check that they still have a heart.
The old order returns
Congratulations are due to the English women’s rugby team for their convincing 33-13 victory over Canada in the final of the World Cup at Twickenham. Well done also to the Black Ferns, who in their 42-26 bronze medal win against France showed no signs of the malaise that often overtakes teams that have been knocked out in a World Cup semifinal. The Ferns showed they deserve genuine backing from New Zealand Rugby. They have a lot more history to write.
