KEY POINTS:
Something must be wrong with me because I can't figure out why Richie McCaw is being made a scapegoat in the NZRU's Herron-Tricker World Cup review.
I saw Richie interviewed after the Crusaders' loss to the Chiefs - more of that later - and I thought the poor bugger looked shell-shocked. Not only had the Chiefs deservedly beaten them but he was being beaten up and blamed for the World Cup loss to France.
That's right, blamed. I think the way Richie was mentioned in connection with the All Blacks' leadership problems in that match is pointing the finger of blame in the very way the NZRU said it wouldn't in this review. To me, McCaw is being blamed 99 per cent for that loss - and I think it's wrong.
He was just one of 22 players and one of about 20 in the management team, all of whom can shoulder the blame for that game. All right, he's the captain and the report raised the question of the message being sent on the field re a drop goal to win.
But, hang on a moment. One of the greatest problems we face is All Blacks heading overseas at the moment. We have heard how Dan Carter and Nick Evans and Jerry Collins are all off sometime soon. Richie? He's staying in New Zealand, thanks very much, and he has said he can see himself here until the next World Cup.
So what do we do? We blame him for the World Cup exit. I'm sorry but that's bunk. Graham Henry, Steve Hansen, Wayne Smith and others were telling us for two or three years before the World Cup that they grown the leadership group in numbers and knowledge. Now we know that's bunk too.
All we'll end up achieving with this stuff is persuading yet another of our best players that the grass is greener and the air a lot less blue on the other side of the world. Are we nuts or what?
What are we even having this review for? The guys that got paid the big gold to do this report could simply have noted down all the comments from media, fans, talkback and other coaches and come to the same conclusions. It was a waste of money and is months behind its time.
I wouldn't call it meaningless but I can't seem to find a better word ... All it does is take you through some of the political talk, the processes and the mechanics behind the All Blacks, but it doesn't tell us anything we didn't already know.
Whoops, sorry, wrong. It told us the drop goal message in Cardiff was delivered to Carl Hayman. Right. When was the last time you saw Carl Hayman drop a goal? Why wasn't it delivered to the first five-eighths... ? Oh, that's right, they were both off the field injured at the time due to the weaknesses of the conditioning programme.
It's a worry and it's all very well Jock Hobbs apologising again for the World Cup but someone needs to apologise to Richie too before he heads off for the frozen north to escape the chill here.
However, some praise - I have to take my hat off to the Chiefs for their win over the Crusaders. They were almost completely in control and thoroughly deserved it. If you had to pick a XV out of those two teams, there'd be few Crusaders in it on the evidence of that match - maybe the two props and maybe Andy Ellis had the edge on Brendon Leonard, but that's about it.
I criticised the Chiefs a few weeks back and they have done well since then - and I thought the players have done superbly.
I can't tell what has been said or done on the coaching side but I suspect the players have pulled together as a unit, have taken ownership and are playing their natural game. They didn't let up over the 80 minutes and they outclassed the Crusaders. Good on them.
