I love the All Blacks, I love watching them win tests and I love my iPhone but there wasn’t much to love on Saturday.
Before a test I would normally be a lot more enthusiastic and pumped waiting for the kick off whistle but on Saturday I wasn’t. I don’t know why and maybe in there somewhere is the answer to what went wrong.
On Saturday afternoon I watched Jesse’s U17 team bash Hills 28 to 10 in an excellent display of clinical rugby. Jesse’s team wasn’t the bigger or faster team but they played hard, held on to the ball for long periods and took penalty points when they were on offer. In short, smart team rugby. Hills weren’t able to get any momentum even though they had a superior backline. The result, a good win against a better-side-on-paper on a sunny but chilly Sydney afternoon. The perfect preamble to a great game of test footy in the evening one would assume. Ah but we know what assume means don’t we!
Mel and I sat down in front of the plasma with a few tinnies and I turned the volume up loud enough so that conversation was impossible. The kids evacuated to their bunkers to avoid me for the next 80 minutes – they are well trained indeed.
I don’t need to go over the details of the test we all saw. Same crap start, same lack of passion, same catch-up football, same France hoodoo, same inability to match the passion, same Nonu blunders he saves for test matches, same dodgy selections, same intercepted passes, same same same… Groundhog Day.
I note that Henry’s usual deflection ploy was at work immediately after the game. “France were fantastic, spectacular defence, lucky intercept, very physical”…. blah de blah de blah. Why doesn’t Henry tape himself and replay it next time so he can go and have a whisky half an hour earlier and miss the press conference altogether? The bloke simply can’t accept he and his team stuffed it up. The Frogs actually were good, very good, but they just did what they always do – play like men possessed, never give up and rely on rush defence, marginal forward passing and the intercept brought about by AB panic. Learn to EXPECT this and you have yourself the beginnings of a game plan. I mean it was only when Whepu came on in the second half that they started to work around the rush defence!
Our bunch of new All Blacks ARE good enough to beat them if we are prepared and have a decent game plan.
It’s my firm belief that at this level psychological preparation is probably the most important aspect of a test match and Henry and his team get a big fat ‘F’ for performance and ‘F’ for aptitude on this front during his entire tenure (examples abound but last year’s first Bleddy in Sydney is a good one). Why, year after year, when the important matches come around are we left marvelling at the oppostion’s passion!? Why are we left looking like we came for a picnic and found it was a serious game? Did we believe it was the usual B-grade French side they send out at this time of year? Did we believe that the French are only good every 4 years? Did we believe our own press? Did we believe the TAB knew more about Rugby than the French players? Apparently we did. The sad thing is that I am guilty too.
Henry, fall on your sword now. This will give Deans time to drop out of Aussie rugby and come back to NZ where he belongs and get us through the next world cup. There won’t be a better opportunity for the All Blacks to win probably ever. Tew needs to stuff Henry’s contract back in the bottom draw for at least a few more weeks in the hope he’ll resign and avoid a messy dismissal.
Henry: LESSON TO BE LEARNT FROM LOSS: Something has to change because whatever you’re doing ain’t working so usually that means you need to try something new.
Somewhat dazed and confused, I stayed on to watch the Wallabies dick the Azzurri albeit with the volume down on the telly and conversation was welcomed. It is becoming clear that the Deans factor is starting to play out. Dingo Deans had to play all those big names last year in his first year so that they could prove – or not - they aren’t the players to take Australia to the RWC 2011. He’s done that and now he’s letting go of the dead wood and bringing up a young team with a few old blokes to keep them focused. Sure, the pretty boy O’Conner was in the right place at the right time and they were playing the Italians after all, but the Aussies are, if nothing else, great a building momentum and belief in themselves this way. The O’Conner factor will play out in the press and the team will bask in the reflected glory and avoid real questions being asked of the side and therefore buy them precious weeks to build for the big matches. Even Deans is learning about the Australian psyche. I watched him being interviewed on The Rugby Club (Fox Sports program) and he dropped in a self deprecating joke and a little jibe at one of the commentators. It was wooden to say the least, and I doubt any Kiwi watching it was convinced, but the Aussies loved it! “Deans and charming the media”, only an Aussie would believe that.
But the Aussies do it every year, start off with easy-beats and build and hone their team to peak at the tri-nations or world cup. No sense in starting off with a bang and ending in a whimper.
The All Blacks on the other hand win mostly because they’re the best not because they plan, prepare and build towards a result. I am almost of the opinion that the second France game doesn’t matter either way. We have shown ourselves to not be mentally up to the challenge of the big games once again. A monumental dicking of France in Wellington will actually work against the All Blacks and prove our problems are mental. Perhaps the only way out now is to be beaten again by a “once in 15 years great french side”?
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