Notable Inclusions

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Ben Smith

Ben Smith was a surprise call up back in ?? He hasn’t been on the All Black radar since with so many outside back options. He’s a reliable player who makes few mistakes and knows how to find holes to opposition defenses. He seems a little bit ‘dull’ to watch to me though.

Brodie Retallick

Earned his place. The stand out lock of this years Super Rugby competition. With Brad Thorn gone, an injury to Anthony Boric and other contenders being well let’s put it honestly, pretty average this year, Retallick should be a great fit in the All Blacks

Charlie Faumuina

Earned his place. Where have all the good props gone? Seems like prop is the position to play if you want to make the All Blacks this year.  Most of the good ones have buggered off or aren’t worth their salt.  Charlie has made huge inroads into his game this year.  His scrummaging is accurate and steady, his defensive game is sound and it’s not uncommon to see him screaming down the far touch line with the ball at a slow jog.

Aaron Smith

Earned his place. In my opinion, the best halfback in New Zealand at the moment, you simply can’t look past him. We’ve relied heavily on the large, gritty style halfback too long in New Zealand.  It’s time to return to the snipey, elusive, traditional halfback variety like your Gregans and Genias. Aaron can pick the gaps and challenges defenses keeping them guessing, he throws a flat long accurate pass and knows how to recycle the ball quickly. If you can do those things well you’ll be an excellent halfback, he does them all and he is excellent at it.

Sam Cane

Sam Cane

Earned his place. I’m going to make a bold prediction right now. Take a good look at Sam Cane because he is your future All Black Open side flanker. He might even steal that mantel off Richie McCaw BEFORE he’s ready to hang up his bright red Adidas All Blacks boots (I’m sure he never actually wears these in a test match cos Pine Tree would have a few stern words for him but you know Adidas gave him some and he keeps them in his kitlocker JUST IN CASE). Sam Cane is one of those players that comes along about once every ten years. Amazing with ball in hand, wonderful passing/offloading skills, superb defensive work, this kid has it in spades. If you missed seeing him stomp over everyone in the 2011 IRB Junior World Championship, I feel sorry for you. It just wasn’t fair. He was twice the size of every kid he came near, it truly looked like a giant running through a small town laying it to waste, a sight to behold.

Notable Ommissions

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Hosea Gear

Gear has roared back into life this year. His strength on attack unmatched by any other outside back in New Zealand. He is still one of NZ’s greatest finishers. Unfortunately these days you need something called ‘utility value’. If you don’t have this valuable attribute then you better be the best ball catcher, the fastest runner, the best line breaker and the best try scorer in the country or you’re stuffed. Unfortunately for Gear he might only be about two out of four of those things so he’s not on the list. I think the selectors have made a mistake here. I would include him.

Andre Taylor

Andre Taylor, almost Christian Cullen like!

Andre Taylor has arguably been the best performing outside back this season. He has all the skills (see skills above that Gear may be lacking) and may one day be the incumbant All Black fullback if he carries on like he is. He is an awfully fresh face though in a scene that has a glut of outside backs to choose from. There probably just isn’t room for him this year but if he plays like this next year he’d be pretty hard done by to miss out on a wider training squad again.

So why is everything clicking this year? In past years they have had some of the best All Black playing rosters a Super Rugby franchise has ever seen.  At various times they have had up to nine incumbent All Blacks starting for them but still failed to impress.

The players that Ian Foster has had at his disposal over the years have given him no excuse for failure. I’m amazed he lasted as long as he did. He was a big fan of the ‘Rushing Defense’.  Sure every game was exciting but even though they have always been a side that has scored a lot of tries, their defense has often been one of the worst, always playing catch up Rugby because they focussed too much on attack.

This year they have their defense down pat thanks to Wayne Smith and Dave Rennie. Only the Lions have managed to score more than one try against them in a match so far. One has to wonder about the Lions defensive patterns. They probably only need a tweak similar to what the Chiefs have been given this year and they could potentially be title contenders. No other team has pushed the Chiefs on the back foot so much and forced them to scramble the defense like the Lions have.  Mitchell and Spencer are clearly on the money with their attacking strategies.  It’s a shame someone forgot to coach them on how to defend their line.

We can only pray that the All Blacks defense doesn’t come unstuck like it did under the care of Ian Foster this year!

McCaw: "Do you think we had much to do with that winning streak DC?" Carter: "Yeah, definitely"

The Chiefs have a long way to go before they topple the legendary winning streak of the Crusaders. Sixteen wins in a row followed by a draw against the Western Force before they lost their first match in longer than anyone could remember to the Stormers. That streak stretched from 1 day short of exactly one year between April 16 2005 and April 15 2006.

If that didn’t let the wind out Chiefs supporters sails then the next statistic certainly will. The longest winning streak at home for any Super Rugby team is also held by the Crusaders with a whopping TWENTY SIX matches! From March 2004  - April 2007 and they say that Loftus Versfeld, home of the Bulls is an inpenetrable fortress? I think not.

To qualify for the play offs or the ‘Top Six’ you need to be the top team in your conference. The next three ‘wild card’ spots go to the next three teams with the highest competition points.  This works well in terms of ensuring fans of each country still have an interest in the competition during the play off rounds because there is a guarantee that at least one of their teams will qualify.  This is also good for competition revenues.  We know that South Africa pumps over half the money into the Super Rugby competition and this is mostly due to the massive crowds that turn up to their games.  If a South African team wasn’t in the play offs the competition would most likely experience a huge shortfall.  So this system makes great sense from a financial point of view.

This system seemed to work well last year when in general the top team from each conference was competitive with the top team in the other conferences.  This year however, there seems to be a huge rift.  The Australian teams are horrendously bad this year, there is no other way to describe it.  Not a single Australian team has managed a 50% winning ratio yet. The South African teams are always lopsided because of their tendency to scoop up any semblance of talent that emerges from the Lions and the Cheetahs each year and use them to strengthen one of their powerhouse teams the following year. In a Super Rugby competition we at least expect ONE Australian team to step up and challenge.

Because of the way the play off system is structured, even though on the whole, the Australian teams are terrible, one of them will qualify as top of their conference and will get a home play off game.  Even if the teams ranked 4th, 5th and 6th have more competition points than them.

Let’s take a look at the current standings and I’ll explain where the injustice lies a bit more clearly:

If the competition ended right now, the Brumbies would host a home play off match in Canberra against the Bulls.  The Bulls have 2 more competition points than the Brumbies.  It would be a HUGE injustice to tell them that after that huge effort they have to fly all the way over to Canberra to play the Brumbies, the best of a bad Australian bunch, who will get the home town advantage over them.

Does that seem fair to you?  It doesn’t seem awfully fair to me and I’d feel grossly agrieved if I was in the Bulls camp.

The only solution I could possibly offer is that YES, if you win your conference you get a spot in the play offs BUT, if you have LESS competition points than your play offs opponent, THEY get home ground advantage.  Doesn’t THAT seem fairer?

The Blues are DREADFUL this year, it’s no secret.  At the start of the season, they had a playing roster that was the envy of every coach in the Super Rugby 2012 competition and most of the players just fell into Pat Lam’s lap.  He snaffled the services of Ma’a Nonu and Piri Weepu without even trying and the up and coming Gareth Anscombe has been a revelation emerging from the Under 20′s.  Rudi Wulf also made a timely return from Japan and most would have thought he’d be lucky to get in the starting 15 before the season kicked off, such is the wealth of talent the Blues possess.

But we all know the story, they haven’t lived up to the hype and are languishing at the bottom of the Super Rugby table with one win (from a bye so technically not even a win).  Yes it’s a shame, but is it a national dilemma?  I don’t think so.  There is an old saying in rugby, “If Auckland Rugby is good, New Zealand Rugby is good“.  I think that’s bollocks.  There is plenty of talent outside of Auckland when it comes to the All Blacks and in the last few years Blues players have only made up about a third of the 30 man preliminary squads anyway.

More importantly though, who cares?  Seriously.  So, one of our teams is doing really badly, it’s not like this hasn’t happened before.  Remember when the Chiefs made the final against the Bulls in 2009?  They came 12th the following year.  Remember when the mighty Crusaders came last in the inaugural Super 12 season?  Did we see every single days sports pages plastered with accusations and blame and leading every single sports story on every news channel every night of the week to figure out what went wrong? No.

Pat Lam : "Use your bloody eyes ref!"

Why are we spending so much precious media time trying to understand why the Blues are failing?  They’re done and dusted this year it’s not going to improve.  Why don’t we focus on our successes?  The Chiefs are having an extraordinary year as are the Highlanders.  Let’s celebrate how brilliant these two teams are!  Let’s concentrate on supporting these guys and backing them to make the final six!  Let’s celebrate the return of Dan Carter and Richie McCaw for the Crusaders and their resurgeance in the Super Rugby competition.

Forget about the Blues.  New Zealand is STRONG in this competition.  We have the toughest conference.  We have the most depth across our five teams and we are the best.  Support our teams that have put their hands up and are challenging for this years title.

It’s this kind of action where the player can’t really use their arms, they’re just throwing their body into the fray to push the player out.  Unfortunately in this circumstance Ranger did not time his run well and ended up landing on the players back with his full weight.  It was not intentional and although it was a bit clumsy, in the 79th minute of a game, most players lose their accuracy in such encounters.

Ranger got what was coming to him, it was a yellow card offense for recklessness.  Considering the match was already won, it’s a real shame. He was also given a white card though so that he’d be reviewed by the judiciary… the South African judiciary.  One can only imagine that they must have been feeling a little sour about the Bulls losing that day.

The judge ruled that in his mind it was a Red card offense and gave Ranger a two week suspension!  Completely over the top in my opinion.  He wasn’t endangering the players life nor is there a specific rule in the rule book that says he can’t do what he did.  YES, he failed to use his arms which is in the rule book, so a Yellow card was warranted.

RENE RANGERS NO ARMS TACKLE ON BJORN BASSON

Last week Francois Hougaard was suspended for one match after being dished out a Red card on the field for a tip tackle.  As we know, referees look very seriously at tip tackles and the law is quite specific that if a player is raised above the horizontal and let go with their head angling downwards it’s an instant red card.  As was the case here the referee had no choice but to give the red card.  Hougaard got a 1 week suspension.

I could see very little difference between the dangerousness of this tackle compared to Sam Warburtons that resulted in a 4 week ban. This was probably fair, there was no malice in the tackle and as far as tip tackles go we’ve seen much worse.  Sam Warburtons was much worse in the World Cup semi final even though it was not intentional.  When judging the fairness of Hougaards penalty though, 1 week was probably getting off light when you compare it to Warburtons 4 weeks and Rangers 2 weeks.

FRANCOIS HOUGAARDS SPEAR TACKLE ON EBERSOHN

I can’t help but think the South African judiciary has ruled favourably on their own player in this situation, although for their sake I hope they just genuinely got it wrong.  It’s a huge blow for the Blues who have only just secured their first win.  They are now without Isaia Toeava, Jerome Kaino and Rene Ranger, three very key players in their plans.

To get the most up to date comments, follow us on Twitter.  Our favourite commentators of the tournament Ken Laban and Scotty “Sumo” Stevenson

Wellington Rugby Sevens Day 2 Results

Big Names

Koiatu Koiatu - Cook Islands

Koiatu Koiatu

From the Cook Islands comes veteran Koiatu.

Massive on defense and massive on attack with the ball in hand, he leads from the front and transforms games.

He has a very green, fresh squad under him, full of energy and excitement.  We know that Koiatu Koiatu can spark something from nothing and if he can get the Cooks on the front foot and maintain some possession they will score some tries and turn some heads

Watch out for these guys on Day 2.  They’ll take a while to get started but may pull some upsets.

Ben Gollings - Ex England

Ben Gollings

You might be asking, “Where is Ben Gollings?” I feel your pain.  The man that epitomises Sevens is no longer required by the England team.

He’s been asked to make way for the new blood.  In my opinion it’s obsurd, he’s done nothing wrong and as of his last tournament in was in inspirational and electric form.  Big mistake.  He is the only player to score over 2000 points in Sevens. Why would you leave anyone out with that record if they’re fit and playing well?

Also, for such a stalwart of the game, I believe they should have dedicated an entire tournament to him as a tribute to his contribution to Sevens

Hosea Gear - New Zealand

Hosea Gear

The big drawcard for the Wellington Sevens circuit.  All Black and unwanted in the original World Cup squad has thrown his name into the hat to for the Sevens to further his prospects for getting his All Black wing spot back.

He will make a major impact on the New Zealand Sevens squad, is bound to score a lot of tries.

The only question mark will be does he have the fitness to last 14 minutes constantly sprinting with the best of them? We’ll have to wait and see.

Todd Clever - USA

Todd Clever

Fan favourite Todd Clever is a no show at the 2012 Wellington Rugby Sevens.  We do not know why but I am reliably informed by Scotty Sumo Stevensen that he is a definite no show.

Todd Clever won the hearts of New Zealanders in the 2011 Rugby World Cup and with his aggression, his charisma and his do or die attitude, traits that kiwis recognise in our own favourite sportsmen have made Clever a mainstay when it comes to the hearts and minds of New Zealanders and international Sevens Rugby.

USA is now a fully professional unit with 9 contracted full time players and a brand new Olympic Rugby Sevens training facility in their bid to compete for a medal at the next Olympics.

The results for the Wellington Rugby Sevens on Day 2 are as follows:
(Winning team named first)

14 – 5 – Kenya vs Scotland
10 – 0 – Wales vs USA
33 – 5 – Australia vs Japan
14 – 0 – Argentina vs Cook Islands
22 – 7 – New Zealand vs France
26 – 7 – England vs Tonga
15 – 12 – Samoa vs Canada
21 – 5 Fiji vs South Africa
14 – 12 – Scotland vs USA
17 – 10 – Cook Islands vs Japan
12 – 7 – Kenya vs Australia
26 – 0 South Africa vs Tonga
21 – 12 – England vs Samoa
24 – 7 – New Zealand vs Fiji

Wellington Sevens Day 1

The results for the Wellington Rugby Sevens on Day 1 are as follows:
(Winning team named first)

21 – 0 South Africa vs USA
27 – 12 England vs Cook Islands
31 – 0 Fiji vs Argentina
14 – 14 Wales vs Tonga
19 – 14 – France vs Canada
35 – 10 – Kenya vs Australia
29 – 7 – New Zealand vs Scotland
29 – 14 – Samoa vs Japan
43 – 0 – South Africa vs Cook Islands
29 – 0 – England vs USA
17 – 14 – Tonga vs Fiji
19 – 7 – Wales vs Argentina
26 – 17 – England vs Kenya
14 – 12 – Canada vs Australia
54 – 0 – New Zealand vs Japan
21 – 14 – Samoa vs Scotland
26 – 22 Cook Islands vs USA
24 – 14 Tonga vs Argentina
21 – 14 – Canada vs Kenya
14 – 10 – South African vs England
19 – 0 – Fiji vs Wales
10 – 10 – Australia vs France
19 – 7 – New Zealand vs Samoa

Bull Allen is thinking: "Those jeans are disgraceful to Rugby you ponsy git"

Joel gives the thumbs up as verification that we have enough Waikato Draught before kick off

I won’t bore you with any details about the game, you’ve already heard and seen it all over a hundred times.  Instead I’d like to talk briefly about my experience on the night.  My wife and I and a group of our very close friends booked a table in a bar in the Hamilton Fan Zone in New Zealand.  We had a nice view of a couple of decent sized screens plus we could soak in the atmosphere of everyone milling about in the closed off Hood Street.

There were three moments I will remember for the rest of my life.

The first was singing the National Anthem at the top of my lungs with my arms around two of my best mates, Jay and Joel.  I had tears streaming down my face I was so proud.  This was followed by the very passionate Haka led by Piri Weepu where the French advanced.  This received massive applause from the crowd around me, everyone was on their feet screaming in ecstacy.

Nez kisses the Gilbert for luck!

The second moment was when Donald came on and was lining up his penalty goal.  I started a chant with my table, “Beaver! Beaver! Beaver!” and within seconds there were THOUSANDS of people all around me screaming it out at the top of their lungs pumping their fists into the sky.  Then he got it over and everyone just ERUPTED!  It was an amazing experience.  Having supported the Chiefs for a number of years it was an extra special moment for me and vindication for a wonderful player.

Pictured: Joel and Nez - Probably not safe to drive at this point...

Third, when the final whistle blew, and everyone realised, the All Blacks had won the Rugby World Cup 2011.  The bar had kindly let us bring in our white replica 1987 Steinlager cans so that we could drink them in celebration if we won.  After a bit of obligatory screaming and hugging we cracked them open and skulled them back furiously.  Some of the beer even made it into our mouths.  We wore the rest like a wet badge of honour on our All Blacks jerseys.  Pure euphoria!

Joel and Jay go bananas as the final whistle blows

I think it was better than being at the actual final.  It was better to have been able to share the experience with friends as we did, in a pub atmosphere, but still with tons of supporters all around us.

It got a wee bit messy after that.  We drank several quarts and steins of beer, followed by an entire bottle of Agavero Tequila, the next thing we knew a fight erupted nearby and my brother in law, an innocent bystander wore a glass bottle on his face.  Our group was kicked out while the two parties involved in the fight got to stay in the bar, such is life.  My brother in law got about six stitches and went home in not too bad shape but it was a shame that on such a wonderful nights that some idiots made some poor decisions that somewhat ruined the end of ours.

I thought I’d be done with Rugby for a few months now after being saturated in it in all but one weekend since February this year.  To be honest, I’m looking forward to the forthcoming Super 15 Squad Announcements and which All Blacks will join the exodus bound for offshore riches.  Next year should be fascinating.  The old hands have done their bit and those in their shadows will step up and become the incumbents.

Bring on Rugby 2012!

The trans Tasman clash to decide which Southern Hemisphere team will face off the best Northern Hemisphere team will be a huge occasion. Let’s not kid ourselves, the Wales vs France match is big but the All Blacks vs Wallabies match feels like the real final.  Whoever wins this match up is going to be a hell of a lot more confident about stitching up the tournament.

The year before David Kirk lifted the William Web Ellis Cup in 1987 was the last time the Wallabies beat the All Blacks at Eden Park and I reckon Captain Kirk and his mates from ’87 will be quietly confident that our current All Black lads can keep that record.

The Wallabies have been harping on all week that it’s our tournament to lose and that we’re under the most pressure.  In a way they are right, we live and breathe Rugby here and to be fair, most Australians don’t give a toss.  But that doesn’t mean they want it any less.

Let's NOT give these guys the satisfaction shall we?

I’m sure the likes of Will Genia, Quade Cooper and Digby Ioane would love nothing more than to complete 2011 with a Super 15 crown, a Tri Nations crown (and most notably, the LAST ever Tri Nations crown!) and the World Cup mantle and right to be referred to as ‘The Best Team in the World’.

Anyone else glad that we don’t have to listen to the Springboks being referred to as ‘World Champions’ for at least the next four years?  Please comment if you do!

Man for Man Stack Up

Man for man and pound for pound, the All Blacks stack up against the Wallabies in the Rugby World Cup Semi Final II Show Down!

The first obvious thing that stands out is the hamstring injury to Kurtley Beale.  Beale is central to the Wallabies success, he IS their counter-attack.  O’Connor and Ioane  are very talented men but they rely on Beale’s brilliance to spark it and O’Connor has never played that flash against the All Blacks in the past.

If he has limited (or no) involvement in the game, the All Blacks will have license to air raid the Wallabies for field position all day and put a lot of pressure on the Wallabies.

Robbie Deans is leaving it right up until kick off to announce if Beale can play.  Either way it’s great for the All Blacks.  It means that poor Adam Ashley-Cooper has had to train this week not knowing if he will be centre or fullback, two VERY different positions (You can be forgiven if this is a theme you’ve read here lately!) .  We know he can play both but you want to concentrate on ONE position before a match as important as a World Cup final (slip of the tongue, did I say final?).

The second thing that stands out to me is the inclusion of Pat McCabe at 12.  This is also great for the All Blacks.  We know he has been struggling with a shoulder injury and until very recently I’ve never given him any credit as a player.  But the last two times I’ve seen him play, wow, the kid can tackle.

He’s carrying an injury though so Kaino and Nonu WILL target him and with Ashley-Cooper in two minds they could easily exploit weakness in the midfield.

If Anthony Fa’ainga does come into the mix (if Beale does not play and Ashley-Cooper plays at fullback, I know, it’s all very confusing thanks to Robbie’s crazy new formula) then the midfield is even more exposed.

So we’ve got one guy who has played very little in this tournament and didn’t look too comfortable out there, with one guy who full credit to him, is a MONSTER on defense has a badly bunged up shoulder. It doesn’t look too flash against one of the best midfield combinations in world rugby does it?

Thirdly, the bench.  It seems to be an unwritten All Black squad rule to ALWAYS have one outside back on the bench to cover wing and fullback.  It’s common sense right?  Apparently not so common sense for a Wallabies bench that’s already very thin on depth in the back three.

You would think with an injury cloud over Beale, that would be enough to warrant picking an extra outside back.  You would think, that with Ioane recently back from a nasty thumb injury, that would warrant picking an extra outside back.  Apparently not.  They have someone who can back up at 10 or 12 in Barnes, center with Horne and at halfback with Burgess but no cover for the back 3.  Only O’Connor you could be 90% confident to play the entire match.  Risky much?

On the All Black side of things I would have rather seen the dependable and versatile Isaia Toeava as the utility reserve back for the All Blacks but of course they’ve opted for the magic of Sonny Bill Williams.  Let’s hope his defensive liabilities don’t get found out.  Let’s hope Kaino, Weepu, McCaw and Cruden all nullify their opposites, our midfield shines and our tight five go to TOWN on the ‘at best average’ Wallaby tight forwards.

Also, if you’re planning on saying any prayers on Saturday night, please spare one for Stephen Donald.  Let’s ALL pray that Beaver leaves ALL the kicking to Weepu, because we simply can’t afford a trademark Stephen Donald brain explosion in a match THIS important.