Field Theory: I'm ever so pissed.
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I am going preface what I think of the All Black' latest debacle with the observation that the top players are playing far too long a season, with multiple peaks, than is good for them.
We treat burn out as if it is something that a quiet fortnight in Raro can fix, when it is as serious and potentially as career ending as any Achilles snap. Look at how many All Blacks began the Super 14 sluggishly or carrying injuries and have carried that mental state and form into the tri-nations. There is going to be no let up for them - the northern tour doesn't wind up until (I think) the 16th December and those who tour will be expected to turn out for the Super 14 pre-season games six-eight weeks later. They just can't keep it up, and the NZRFU is killing the goose that lays its golden egg.
If the NZRFU had any guts they would send a pile of All Blacks back to the ANZC and then tell them to take six weeks off from early November, and use the last ANZC rounds to select a development squad to take to wherever they are playing the Wallabies and onto Europe.
Henry, Hanson and Smith have to go as well, and before the Northern tour. They are bankrupt of ideas. They won't select outside their cosy club of professional pyjama-rugby players, yet surely the most eye popping (and worrying) lesson of this year's provincial competition has been the regularity with a semi-pro provincial teams expose the mental fragility of our big, muscular and powerful "professional elite" when put under pressure. It defies belief that they would rather play a player who can't cut it at the top level in his preferred position than pick the best ANZC second five when McAlistair was injured. Whoever that new player might have been, I doubt they would have been any worse than the shambles our mid field has become. Rokococo is a has been player now. There is any number of better wingers playing provincial rugby right now. Starting Nonu is liability at the moment with the amount of kicking and the flat defensive screens that is going on.
Henry has become lofty and arrogant, saying he won't change his attempts to play high intensity, high speed rugby, behaving as if this style of rugby imparts him with a moral superiority over other teams. How idiotic is it to try to play this style of rugby at night, in winter, while it rains, with a team low on form and confidence, and against the world champions?? Yet that is exactly what Henry did.
Smith has to go. Before this test, he said that he and the backs had done a four hour planning session so they "had covered every scenario" - except, clearly, the scenario they lost to. No plan survives contact with the opposition, and to presume to can plan for everything is a sign you've lost the plot. We are not scoring tries, we've got no real answers to the defensive screens other than pushing passes that give away intercept and Smith has run out of ideas.
As for Hanson - he is useless. Jesus, give any other coach in the ANZC his salary and job and I reckon we would see more progress in the line out in four weeks than we've seen in four years. Isaac Ross calling the throws? WTF??
People say there is no one else. But no one is indispensable, including Henry, Smith and Hanson. The problem is that professional rugby in NZ is a self-serving monopoly with no external mechanisms for jettisoning failed methods, coaches and players.
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With our lineout we are always going to struggle against the South Africans simply because they have a brilliant lineout player in Matfield plus the rest are pretty handy too.
But, the thing which disappoints me is that now and then our lineout goes quite well for half a game or sometimes most of the game (though usually it's awful) and it's because we are MIXING IT UP. Throughout the ANZC you see awful lineout throwing and jumping so it's a problem through our game but there are ways you can at least win more than you otherwise might through tactics.
Going to the front or middle of the lineout in a straight contest for the ball is suicide. We have Isacc Ross who's just starting his career calling our lineouts which is idiotic and the fault of the coaches. He wanders up at snails pace along with the rest of our forwards, spends a few seconds tying a ribbon around our lineout and then Hore casually throws it straight to Matfield or out the back of the lineout, or over our jumper to the waiting S African.
If you want to win SOME lineout ball against better lineouts you run to the lineout, make your call on the way and chuck the thing in as quickly as possible. And you call short lineouts regularly, and heck you can actually use the tactic of throwing it out the back so long as your loosies know about it.
This is all obvious stuff and yet we decide week in and week out to go head to head against better, jumpers, lifters and throwers.
I've played at lock a fair bit and some weeks you win them all because you're up against a dysfuntional lineout, then the next week you get it nicked off you all the time. But that's because you've more often than not never seen the opposition before.
These coaches know exactly who they are playing and how good they are and yet they attempt to take them on every bloody week and just hope that it works. it' doesn;t because they are better than us so devise ways to mix it up.
I used to hate playing teams that call quick lineouts or short lineouts, or had lineout moves that would completely throw you.
The Saffers are big men and run out of gas, f with their heads. Play the game the way they don't want to play it.
If we can't start winning at least 40% of our lineouts then we will continue to lose big tests and under Hansen we see the same dorkish rubbish and get the same lame soundbites week in and week out and nothing happens.
But they won't get rid of him because he's part of the crew and so we reap what we sow.
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Starting Nonu is liability at the moment with the amount of kicking and the flat defensive screens that is going on.
Actually he's been our best attacking weapon all season, leading try-scorer I think.
Given how short in supply tries have been, not something you'd want to throw on the bench.
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Tom, that South African team has played Super 14 as well, and many of them went right to the final with the Bulls and cleaned the comp out.
They followed that up with some brutal Lions tests and have now wiped the floor with Aussie and NZ.
Our ABs do not play too much, they just play too dumb.
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Agree with your on selecting somebody going well at second five from the ANZC though Tom. It was obvious this messing round with Donald business was going to fail and all we got out of the weekend was confirmation when we could have had a look at a guy from our good domestic comp in form in their preferred position.
Instead we watch Donald who only plays well in about 50% of domestic games and poorly more times than not for the ABs make a goose of himself.
More rocket science stuff from the coaches/selectors.
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Apologies for the long quote but check this out:
SANZAR Media Release
SANZAR invites Argentina to join the Tri Nations from 2012
SANZAR has extended a conditional invitation to Argentina to join the Tri Nations from 2012 to create a new “Four Nations” Championship.
Andy Marinos, Acting Managing Director of SA Rugby and CEO of SANZAR said: “To have the Pumas, third at Rugby World Cup 2007 and currently ranked sixth in the world, join with the three top ranked international teams in world rugby will be exciting for fans, players, sponsors and broadcasters across our four countries and beyond. They play a different style to the All Blacks, Springboks and Wallabies and their inclusion will see the Tri Nations evolve to be a truly Southern Hemisphere Championship”
SANZAR stressed that conditions are attached to the invitation for the Unión Argentina de Rugby (UAR) to join the Four Nations in 2012. They are focused around:
· Argentina securing the participation of their best players to play in the Four Nations. To assist with this the National Unions of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa are very keen to actively work with Argentina to place their best players across Super Rugby teams in the three countries;
· SANZAR and Argentina confirming the financial model that will apply;
“In addition, SANZAR is in the process of renegotiating its broadcasting contracts and, whilst we have kept our broadcasters fully informed about the discussions with Argentina, we now need to confirm their view on the plan to include Argentina from 2012”, said Mr Marinos.
“With the significant progress the UAR has made in transforming rugby in Argentina and making the case to SANZAR for it to be included in the Tri Nations, we are confident that SANZAR, the UAR and the IRB can work together to confirm the Pumas participation from 2012”
The President of the UAR, Mr Porfirio Carreras, said: “This is a momentous time for rugby in Argentina and I would like to thank my board and everyone who supported us to reach this point. We are very much looking forward to working with our partners in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa to secure our place in the best competition in world rugby in 2012”
The format for the new Four Nations will see the four teams playing on a home and away basis meaning six matches per team and a total of 12 matches overall. The Four Nations will be played from mid-August (following the end of the new Super Rugby competition) for an eight or nine week period through until early to mid-October. In a Rugby World Cup year an abbreviated format will be played through July and August.
Augustine Pichot – the captain of the Pumas team at Rugby World Cup 2007 and now a member of the UAR High Performance Board and a member of Four Nations project team – said: “I can't express the joy of myself and the team that has been working on this project to get to this point. We are delighted to have the chance to become a great rugby nation and to play in top-level international rugby and we are committed to working with SANZAR to meet the conditions
”This exciting development will be vital to grow the game in Argentina. This is historic and everyone in Argentina should be proud.”
Mr Marinos said SANZAR looked forward to confirming the Pumas’ place alongside the All Blacks, Springboks and Wallabies in a new Four Nations. He said SANZAR would be meeting representatives of the UAR and the IRB to work towards confirming this.
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Instead we watch Donald who only plays well in about 50% of domestic games and poorly more times than not for the ABs make a goose of himself.
Not to imply that he's any good, but Donald would do himself a BIG favour by kicking the ball down field instead of straight up in the air.
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Interesting development re Argentina and definately a step in the right direction. The french won't be happy. They have just about the entire side playing for their domestic teams and will now be faced with losing a lot of them.
But it won't be "a truly Southern Hemisphere Championship" until we get a Pacific Island team in there. Once we do that we could make it one match per team ala the 6 Nations which would alleviate some of the repetition we get now.
That will be another positive out of this, we only play the Aussies and Springboks twice instead of three times (I HOPE) and then the tack on test v Aussie each year will make a bit more sense for Bledisloe Cup purposes.
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Argentina securing the participation of their best players to play in the Four Nations.
Does that rule apply to the other countries too?
2007 and all that.... -
Once we do that we could make it one match per team ala the 6 Nations which would alleviate some of the repetition we get now.
Amen.
I'm still pushing for a Southern Hemisphere "World Cup" like the European Cup for football
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The thing is that people use the "no money in it" argument for not playing the PI sides but we play one of Tonga, Fiji or Samoa most years in a test so what difference would it make?
Forget tests in Christchurch between the ABs and Italy.
Give me the Boks v Pacific Islanders in Nukualofa!!! Get the hospital beds ready.
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Re earlier posts on possible replacement coaches- Wayne Bennett. The Dragons loss yesterday may have dulled the gloss a little, but if the NZRFU wants a coach who can get the best of out players and get them to (mostly) stick to a winning game plan, he's proven to be the man. The code change and nationality shouldn't be a problem, especially now that they've got 'Aussie Bob' Deans.
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I'm still pushing for a Southern Hemisphere "World Cup" like the European Cup for football
European Nations' Cup, I think you mean, no?
The European Cup of blessed memory is a club competition forever and ever amen.
(Differences: run yearly vs quadrennially, home and way vs neutral, etc.)
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Well said Keir; I'd bitten my tongue hard on that.
The European Cup, now the Champions League, loosely equates to the Super 12 / 14/ 15.
Except for the Franchise aspect.
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A few people have said we missed a prime opportunity to have a look at a quality ANZC 2nd 5/8, but Im yet to see any names put out there. Cruden's been mentioned (and rightly so) as a promising 10, but who's the next best at 12?
Serious question BTW, please don't mistake this as any kind of backhanded defence of Donald. He's the Anna Kournikova of rugby. (OK thats a piss-poor analogy but Im sure you know what I mean).
Have to agree with what's been said upthread re the lineout issue - while it would help if Hore didn't throw like a blind hiccuping darts player, the caller has to take some of the responsibility. Á few people have said that there's no point throwing to 2/4 with Matfield standing 3 feet away from you, but there's a hell of a lot more to lineouts than that. Flat throws, lobbed throws, changes of timing and other subtle variations mean that an experienced lineout pack should be winning their own ball at the front even if Yao Ming is contesting the throw. 2 and 4 can and should be money ball regardless of the opposition, IF THE LINEOUT IS WELL COACHED. Plus, as others have mentioned, a few quick wins gives the unit confidence. Then by all means start looking for the long throws to set an attacking platform from.
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European Nations' Cup, I think you mean, no?
The European Cup of blessed memory is a club competition forever and ever amen.
Ah yes the European Nations' Cup also known as the Six Nations B. I think you might mean the UEFA European Football Championship. Still it's gotta be hard given that it's usually called Euro, and the European Cup (that I confused it with) is usually called the Champions' League. Yeah I'm being facetious.
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Yeah, actually back the line out. Andrew Hore was on TV tonight throwing a perfect spiral "gridiron-style" with a rugby ball. While on the run! Why doesn't he try a different throwing style?
And as for the centres...
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The lineout issue is not a Hore issue. In years past it was possibly an Anton issue becaue his inaccurate throws were lateral.
Now, the issue is one of timing and combinations.
And, once again, guess where the finger points there?
I'm starting to think the Bay of Plenty model looks pretty attractive.
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Actually he's been our best attacking weapon all season, leading try-scorer I think.
Given how short in supply tries have been, not something you'd want to throw on the bench.He's also a very, very good tackler.
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I'm starting to think the Bay of Plenty model looks pretty attractive.
Ewwwww
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The thing is that people use the "no money in it" argument for not playing the PI sides but we play one of Tonga, Fiji or Samoa most years in a test so what difference would it make?
There's some money in having a Pacific Islands team play here - not a lot, but some.
There's no money in taking the All Blacks to the Pacific Islands. Ticket sales might cover local costs and make a small profit from the hosting association, but nothing close to the sort of money that the All Blacks earn for the NZRU by playing England at Twickenham.
I still think that the Pacific Islands deserve to host the All Blacks, given how much they've contributed to NZ rugby, but we shouldn't do it for money reasons.
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There's more to it than just money though Kyle.
Otherwise why is the rugby world cup coming to NZ in 2011? Why did fifa give us the boys WC in 99? and girls WC last year or fiba give us the junior basketball this year?
You go to play in the PI's because you are playing a good side that deserves to get some football once in a while.
That the ABs haven't ever played tests in Samoa and Tonga is nothing short of a national fucking disgrace. You can bold it, underline it and quote me on it.
Not to mention there's something called TV rights.
Compare the likely TV audience to a Samoa v AB test in Apia with the TV audience to Tasman v Wellington on a Thursday night.
I know where they are likely to generate more revenue from and it's not the match being played in front of 3,000 in Blenheim.
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Why use a hooker to throw if he cant throw? As I understand the rules, and my memory as a player, any member of the team can be delegated the job of throwing in at the lineout. I was a hooker in the days of the transition when the nearest winger got the job. I had seen the Irish captain of the Lions take the throw, and later a touring French half did that job.I used to switch around a bit when I was a club player, and decided it was a good idea to use a TALL player. Sorry for shouting but we have all played some form of backyard touch or basketball, and we have experienced the advantage of height when getting the ball over the heads of other players.You just have tio watcj Ali Williams or the Bok locks, in general play to see the advantages superior vision of tall players. I always thought Jonah would have been a good variation thrower at the lineout. I would point out that John Smit is no dwarf, in fact pretty tall.
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There's more to it than just money though Kyle.
I think that's precisely what I said.
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I would point out that John Smit is no dwarf, in fact pretty tall.
Also no longer a hooker, he's switched to prop since 2008.
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