A question of sport
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I actually thought we were quite shabby in a lot of parts with handling and option taking (ie. aimless kicking and poor kicking) and there is still a lot of improvement in the side.
And we won 47-3. Ridiculous stuff. France were poor but in previous decades that may have been a close game.
Strange game. We had very little ball and very little field position but scored every time we got the ball in the second half.
I'd still like to see a slightly different game plan from us. We are honing this attack from everywhere style but there may come a time when we need a plan b which involves playing for field position and keeping it tight so would be good to see us display these skills as well, just in case we suddenly need them in a rainy WC semifinal with the opposition sticking it to us, a couple of injuries and the ref doing us no favours (worst case scenario stuff but it happens).
They do it to an extent but it's kind of hard case how Carter will kick for the corners when we are around the halfway area but when we are deeper in our own half there is more of a tendency towards running. Doesn't quite make sense to me.
Awesome team though. We could send two sides to the WC right now and they would probably meet in the final.
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The most reassuring thing for me is that in both the English and French game this looks like a team that hasn't quite gelled yet, or hit its peak and has still managed to set records against both teams.
And of course when we win the Cup next year we have to defend it in 2011 where we first won it EDEN PARK, not some paddling pool on a wharf...
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In 30 years time though when Auckland has 2 million people are we STILL going to be putting up with a suburban ground housing our countries biggest sporting events with people moaning and groaning about how inconvenient it is to get in and out?
For the odd test match Auckland would have got 100,000 in there if we had a big enough stadium in the right place. Time to move on. If they can knock down Yankee Stadium to build a new one over the road they can knock down Eden Park ten times over.
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Off the rugby or stadium topic, but still on sport, did anyone else see the superb Chosen Ones last night?, it's a Sky Sports show that copies the award-winning ABC Australian Stories format, and features in-depth interviews with kiwi sporting legends.
The interviewer is Ian Smith, who I rate as one of the better interviewers in NZ, as he actually asks intelligent and open questions rather than shout declarative statements at the interview subject.
Last night the interview was John Walker, and it was superb. I had completely forgotten just how damn good John Walker was, and what a complete icon he was during the mid to late 1970's. It brought back my own memories of his gold medal in 1976 and how I was too nervous to watch the race.
Walkers complete candour about his relationships with contemporaries like Dixon and Quax, his attitude to the psychology of racing, the fact it was all done for pittance, the step-by-step breakdown of his winning races, and his complete lack of nostalgia made for a great interview.
And of course the perspective he has been afforded after being diagnosed with Parkinsons also made the interview stand-out.
Not sure who else features on the series, although I do know Tawera Nikau is next week, and touch wood I'll be watching.
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Back on the rugby topic, yes I know that they are trolling, but jeez I get heartily sick of hearing poisonous celtic anglophiles like Stephen Jones, Eddie Butler and Brendan Gallagher bitching and moaning about the All Blacks.
If they aren't moaning about the polynesians who play for the AB's (gosh who would have thought that a Pacific country would have, like, pacific citizens), they are moaning about the haka, or disparaging our players as either cheats - laughable in the context of the English RWC winning team who by comparison were 'professional' - or as one-dimensional yeomen somehow not worthy of the subtlety of the British artisan.
I'd normally give them the benefit of the doubt on the nationality of players debate - given the number of non brits who play for british teams they are either hypocrites or racist, but for the sake of rugby relations they can bear the lesser of two evil labels.
F*cking hypocrites.
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