Reinventing the Wheel

So it was back to basic rugby with a convincing win over Australia at Eden Park 39 - 10. The All Blacks looked to be the best team in the world, playing with Passion, Composure, Intensity and Intelligence. One wonders where this has been throughout the past two years – not to mention the Quarter-final loss against France. Or the loss in Perth. Or the loss in Dunedin.

With the return of Richie McCaw to openside, So’oialo moving back to his world class position at 8 and Kaino doing his best impression of Jerry Collins, New Zealand took control of the breakdowns and rucks with relative ease.
The point being this is New Zealand rugby at its best – Playing players in their natural postions and not trying to reinvent new ways to play a simple game. The “experimentation” of the left and right flanker roles was an exercise in frustration. A note to the coaches that this may be the era of professional rugby but it does not mean we need to invent radical ways of playing the game.

With players back to their natural and successful positions –Jimmy Cowan at Halfback, Conrad Smith at Centre, Mils Muliaina at Fullback the only exception being Richard Kahui on the wing – The All Blacks looked more comfortable and confident with the gameplan. I suppose it helped that Australia were on the end of their third successive test match – but hey, this is the professional era.

Simple tactics, executed to perfection seem to work well for the team and this is something we should see in the Capetown test against South Africa. Contesting lineouts, Kicking for territory, Chasing our kicks with vigor. A renewed focus on defense, Retaining the ball in the tackle and Committing players to the ruck. For some reason it seems all too easy to be All Black Coach.

Well done to Graham Henry, Wayne Smith and Steve Hansen for going back to how rugby has always been played in New Zealand. In any case I still hold my breath as the Tri- Nations and Bledisloe Cup is up for grabs. One game doesn’t mean much unless it’s the Worldcup final and that’s four years away.

An interesting and again underlying theme to all this is how the players played for themselves and each other. There was mention of the coaches as part of the family but the strength came from laying down their own personal standards. Perhaps they should play for each other everytime they take the field?