Wynne Gray: Colonials give meat-and-spuds north something to ponder

How fortunate the frothy Super 12 is no measure for the quality of rugby in the Northern Hemisphere.

Making those statements was a convenient theme for those who took the chance to gloat on England's chariot as the country finally assembled a decent international side.

The ascent to World Cup prowess was a time to slap the colonials for ruining the traditions of the game, for running, rucking, handling and entertaining. It was payback time for all those evils.

England's rise was proof that rugby was founded on the basics of strong forward play, some sensible backs and a helluva goalkicker.

Easy to crow when Sir Clive and England got their kit together. Much easier to ingratiate yourself to the Team England chariot.

Forget the fact that rugby is cyclical, why mess with reality when Lord Nelson patriotism makes much better reading.

The failure of a fluffy Super 12 to deliver test players to compete with the meat and spuds version of rugby north of the equator became a very fashionable concept.

It was as foolish as those who billed the tsunami charity match at Twickenham a trial game for the Lions tour to New Zealand.

Even Sir C saw through that. As coach of the northern mob he distanced himself from any comparisons by pointing out his side had lost a number of players and had only one training run together.

There was a clear lack of interest from the public with Twickenham only half full.

Woodward claimed he did not want to lean too heavily on the Welsh or Irish players in the middle of their Six Nations campaigns. Forget the distances Messrs Umaga, Hoeft, Mehrtens, Gregan, Latham, Waugh and Co travelled and the disruption their absences meant to the Super 12.

The arguments were as imprudent as the match itself.

The IRB hoped the game would raise at least 1 million for victims of the Boxing Day tsunami which swept through Asian coastlines and left at least 300,000 people dead or missing.

Quite why the IRB chose to stage the game now rather than at the end of the year when most Southern Hemisphere sides are touring Europe did not make much sense.

Why didn't the IRB write a cheque and let the Six Nations and Super 12 get on with their work.

Instead there was a strong smell of grandstanding about the match, a clamour for favourable comment. Appreciation may come in the sort of private discussions All Blacks selectors have. On the last tour, they put their faith in Daniel Carter as the next test five eighths. He responded but some Super 12 selection conflict loomed with Mehrtens revitalised and ready to play in the Crusaders. .

One solution came when Mehrtens agreed to play at Twickenham. While Mehrtens kicked his goals in the 54-19 romp yesterday, Carter was hugely influential in his side's big victory against the Chiefs.

Mehrtens will take time to get home so Carter has to be retained for the next match with the Reds and, logically, for the following game against the Blues.

One man's charity may be another's very good fortune.