Four rugby talking points, including a text I received from Wayne Smith in response to Joe Moody.
The brotherhood knows best
Having suggested many times here in the last three years that the intellectual heft in a rugby side can be found in the front row, it was hearteningto get a text from Wayne Smith during the week, acknowledging the wisdom of the men who spearhead a pack.
All Blacks prop Joe Moody was outraged at suggestions in a podcast by Smith that referees might be too keen to allow a string of advantages, leading to a series of lineout mauls.
“I don’t want Joe to feel I want the maul banned,” Smith texted. “When I played at first-five I loved watching the ball go into the lineout and seeing the pushing, rucking, aggressive effort from the forwards. Then I’d get the ball from the halfback and kick it out again.”
As it was a text, you’ll have to decide for yourself whether his tongue was in his cheek.
Find a leg rope
Any talented player leaving New Zealand for good is a blow to the game here.
If Leicester Fainga’anuku heads to France after the World Cup it’d be more like a punch in the face from Mike Tyson.
His rise to being the form wing in the country has come courtesy of improvements every year since he first appeared as a teenager for Tasman, sporting a magnificent set of dreadlocks and a fearless mindset.
He won me over completely in a Crusaders-Highlanders game a year ago when, faced by a ferocious Shannon Frizell, Fainga’anuku didn’t pause for a heartbeat, just sprang straight at his man and wrestled him to the ground.
Still only 23, and, in his own words, “a pretty chill, laidback guy”, Fainga’anuku is exactly the sort of electrifying star every sport needs.
Fingers crossed that Scott Robertson can persuade him it’ll be a lot more fun in the All Blacks next year than playing for Mourad Boudjellal’s Toulon. Boudjellal was the man who charmingly said of Julian Savea, when Savea was struggling for form at Toulon: “They must have swapped him on the plane. If I were him I would apologise, and go back to my home country.”
Leicester Fainga'anuku of the Crusaders could be playing in France after the World Cup. Photo / Photosport
Changes in attitudes
In 2007 if an All Blacks supporter mentioned the name “Wayne Barnes” it was usually preceded by a swear word. Barnes had refereed the quarterfinal in Cardiff that saw the All Blacks beaten by France and bundled out of the 2007 World Cup.
It’s true Barnes had a shocking second half, basically freezing in the spotlight, but something Kiwis didn’t factor in at the time was that he was only 28 and was refereeing just his 12th test. There was no conspiracy. The panel that appointed him was headed by a Kiwi, Paddy O’Brien.
High on the list of phrases those of us who were in Cardiff in ‘07 wouldn’t have been expecting would be: I hope Wayne Barnes referees the opening World Cup game in Paris in September, when the All Blacks play France.
Now Nigel Owens has retired, Barnes appeals as a referee who has grown into the job, no longer spooked by the big occasion, accurate, relaxed and reasonable on the field. Who knows? If the All Blacks beat the French, and Barnes has the whistle, he may complete an extraordinary circle of rugby life and become our favourite official.
The announcement that a female referee, Joy Neville from Ireland, will be a television match official at the World Cup has drawn the reaction you might have expected from old grumpy guys on social media.
Clones of Bart Simpson’s grandfather may not be swayed but Neville, who captained Ireland in a decade-long playing career, has been refereeing men’s professional rugby in Britain since 2016. She was also the referee who stayed in ice-cool control in the last frantic moments of the Black Ferns’ hectic semifinal with France at last year’s World Cup at Eden Park. I doubt very much that studying video replays will be beyond her world-class abilities.
