On Friday I went to a lunch courtesy of IBM. It was a rugby lunch for the Sydney Breast Cancer Foundation.
The highlight of course was a live interview with Robbie “Dingo” Deans. On stage was Deans with Phil Kearns asking the questions. Later there were questions from the audience of 99% Wallybee supporters. The wine was great and the company good despite being behind enemy lines.
Without boring you with the details I can tell you that Dean’s heart is most definitely still with the All Blacks and God’s country. The body language and the tone of his voice gave it away. He wanted that AB coach’s job and he still wants it. He knows he’s got second prize but it is a good motivator for him. One telling question was that he was asked what it will feel like to play the All Blacks in two weeks time? He said it would feel like playing his brother in the backyard of Cheviot as a child. Something for all of us to think about.
Friday aside, it wasn’t the best build up to an All Black test this year and let me tell you why.
I had a BBQ to go to on Saturday afternoon starting around 2pm. I had calculated the trip time and signalled to Melinda that the start of the game was 5:30pm which meant we had to leave the barbie at 4:45pm at the latest. No problems she said, Hossie (the host) has Foxtel so you can watch the game there if it drags on. This was very worrisome for many reasons: what if he doesn’t have Foxtel – you know how women get confused by technical things, what if he doesn’t have a decent TV and I have to watch it on a 52cm old-style telly? What if I am not allowed to sit there and ignore the party and enjoy my rugby? What if the kids are screaming and carrying on all around me and I am distracted at key moments in the game? What if I break the tradition of being in front of the 50” Plasma beer in hand barracking for the All Blacks? What if a kid walks in front of the telly? (Not my kids who know to crawl along the floor when passing by, but untrained feral ones?)
We got to the BBQ a little late at 2:30pm but still a respectable time. It was good to see Hossie and he had put on a fantastic spread of meat and salads etc. His house is great with all these nick knacks, a pool room and fireplaces as well as a great entertaining deck. I quickly did a recon to verify said Foxtel installation just in case we weren’t able to depart at 4:45pm (looking very sus considering it was about 4:45pm that the early dinner was scheduled). I eyed off the local RSL (RSA) club which is conveniently located about 200 metres from his house. It will have a Foxtel on a Plasma for sure I think to myself, in fact, if I can swing it that might be the better venue away from kids, a place to concentrate, a place to enjoy my rugby unfettered by my fatherly responsibilities. A place to anonymously yell and scream at the telly with impunity. A place at which other Kiwis might be hanging out. Certainly a place that may have a Yarpie to wind up.
My wistful musings aside, I spotted the Foxtel unit in record time and relaxed to go and enjoy the party. Today it was my turn to drive and since I was scheduled to go fishing at 5:15am with my good friend Marky Mark in the morning I felt this was a compromise I was happy to make. Melsy got stuck into it to cut off any opportunity for me to escape the driving responsibilities so I settled down for a slow-paced couple of beers and some games of pool. Mel’s brother Clayton arrived with his tribe and the party was on!
I checked my watch at 4:45pm (the last possible departure time) assessed the lie of the land and decided this was where it was all going to happen tonight. Time to make doubly sure that the technology was in place to affect the evening’s entertainment. I switched on the telly much to Melinda’s dismay “you can’t watch TV now the game’s not even on yet”. Brushing my future wife aside, I grabbed the Foxtel remote and jabbed at the buttons until I got to the right channel…….and….WHAT….signal blocked! Reeling with shock, I quickly regained my composure whilst calculating the last possible moment I can leave to walk to the RSL and catch the Haka, when I ask Hossie in a measured tone…”Do you get Foxtel 3?”. Hossie aware of my interest in All Black Rugby assured me that this is his bother’s Foxtel subscription and if he doesn’t have it then Hossie definitely does!” I said, “Your brother doesn’t so let’s start working on plan B”. Well Hossie is a man of action and efficiency. Within 5 minutes we had Fox Sports 3 on and ready to go. Phew! Disaster avoided. I smile at Melsy and remind her why I checked 45minutes prior to kick-off. She smiled at me and reminded me how I forgot to tape the game at home. Touche.
The game was a good one and, despite a rookie ref who should have reminded himself of Umaga’s comments that “this is not tiddly winks”, managed to barely acquit himself of a crap performance. His dismal performance aside, the game at times managed to get some flowing rugby going and in the end I think the Boks could almost claim that they got the short straw with the ref. Matfield’s send off was about as lame as the other head highs.
My summation is that the All Blacks played well and took the right options. The Yarpies played better and mostly took the right options and missed a few kicks. I think Dan Carter only missed one kick in the game. The Yarpies were good on defence and the All Blacks took the kicks at the right time. Synopsis: Yarpies to good.
Above all, I am happy with this loss for the following reasons: 1) You can’t win them all and this was a respectable loss; 2) the Yarpies are the WORLD CHAMPS and had their A team on the field and played their A game this week, and; 3) the All Blacks look to be maturing as a side and making the right decisions. I really do think that they mostly took the right decisions to kick or go for the line. They didn’t do the Ali Williams “we score tries” silliness. Also, we lost three top players either before or early on with Ali.
All of the above gives me a medium level of confidence going into the first Bledisloe Cup match in Sydney in two weeks time. Not enough to give odds or a start, but enough to take a modest bet J
The South Africans may drop the Perth test because they’ve been travelling for a month by the time they leave Perth and they’ve played two hard tests in NZ. However, on the positive side for SA, they are playing in Perth where Krugerrands are as good as Aussie dollars in the shops. They will have plenty of hometown support at Subiaco.
Ahhhhh, Rugby………
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