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NZ Rugby World column, November 2008
For any rugby lover November is enough to make your mouth water. The All Blacks have combined past, present and future with a classic Grand Slam Tour echoing past glories and an innovative match vs. the Wallabies in Hong Kong. That will be a real scrap.
The Grand Slam Tour should be within this team’s capabilities given the current momentum built up through the Tri-Nations. Graham Henry and the coaching staff did a fantastic job on the hoof during this tournament, learning after every game and this new group of All Blacks will only get better and better. Scotland is the perfect place to start as I believe they’re bereft of imagination and talent. They’re disciplined and strong enough to give us a good workout but frankly there’s a 35 point gap between the two teams.
Ireland are always difficult and the crowd at Croke Park will be 75,000 strong and passionate behind their bhouys. The Munster pack never gives in, O’Gara knows the game backwards, and the Leinster backs will be looking to do some damage. History is on our side (although we’ve had a few narrow squeaks) in the past I think we’ll be too strong, too mobile and too quick for Ireland.
Wales have got great coaching, terrific discipline, a lot of confidence and some very pacey match winners in the backs. We’ll catch them after a tough game at Cardiff vs. the Springboks and then an easier run out against Canada. So they’ll be match hardened and ready for November 22nd. They have belief and they have game-breakers. This could be our toughest game on tour. I believe we’ll be too strong for them in the tight five and the breakdown.
The Grand Slam Finale will be at Twickenham on November 29. Martin Johnson’s team will be committed, predictable, big and tough. Unless Cipriani has moved to the next level though, I don’t think they’ll have the firepower behind the scrum to turn us over.
A Tri-Nations Championship and a Grand Slam would be the riposte for the NZRU, the coaches and the players following last year’s horror.
The Wallabies are also on tour in the U.K. with an intriguing Italy, England, France and Wales lineup. The last three games will be particularly interesting with each of these sides capable on their day of hurting the Wallabies. Perhaps though only France has the through the line game to really put the Wallabies to the test. I must say I was very impressed with the Wallabies midfield and scoring power on the wings during the Tri-Nations and this could prove a handful for England in particular.
The Springboks will be in and out quickly playing Wales, Scotland and England. They should have enough strength and power to do the job if they stay focused. They are though a somewhat volatile quantity when playing away from home and do not make the best tourists so both Wales and England might catch them.
Whilst all this is going on, the USA are in Japan playing two Tests against John Kirwan’s Cherry Blossoms. We’ll hope to be competitive in these two games but it will be another twelve months before Scott Johnson and his team has had enough time together to really show progress.
Our neighbor, Canada, will also be touring the U.K. and have games against Ireland, Wales and Scotland. The Canadians will be disappointed with their progress over recent years because there was a time in the 90’s when I thought the Maple Leafs would kick on. Gareth Rees was their captain then and for two seasons was probably the best #10 on the international circuit. I met Gareth (or as he was called by his teammates, “Large”) for the first time in 1991 when he brought his team to Eden Park to play the All Blacks. New Zealand put 70 odd points up them then but I’ll never forget the gallantry and commitment of this proud Canadian side. It all came back to me last week when I was in Vancouver and I caught up with Gareth. He’s pretty much the same build as he was then. Ex-Wellington lock and author of Confessions of a Rugby Mercenary, John Daniel is a close friend of Gareth. They were at Oxford University together and also taught at Eton together. He described Gareth as not having the most normal build for a first five. In fact, Gareth was more like a 17 stone shot putter who ordered seconds of everything. Gareth subsequently played for USA’s CEO, Nigel Melville, at Wasps, and Nigel was telling me that Gareth was the only guy who trained by eating and drinking more than the back row. Continuing on this theme, I brought up a couple of these stories over dinner with Gareth in Vancouver last week. Much to his credit, he then told me a story of when he was playing an important premier league final he was put through to score an all important try. Ex-England international Damien Hopley was commenting on TV and said, “A large gap opened up and Gareth Rees goes through it to score. Of course it would have had to be a large gap for Gareth.”
Gareth now has a sports consultancy in Vancouver and is coaching his local club’s academy team. I went out to see them play a touring Scottish school and it was just a fantastic reminder of the unbreakable bonds of rugby. Here he was, the most capped player in Canadian test match history and one of the top point scorers in the World Cup, on a field with a bunch of 15-16 year old kids being watched by a handful of friends and parents. He had both teams line up to sing their national anthems to get pride and accountability into the game and made sure that his team (who ran out big winners) let the Scottish lads have plenty of time to get their feed before they piled in to the burgers, beans and barbeque after the game. It was just great to see one of the games great personalities putting so much back in at the grassroots level.
Another fairytale story is Argentina’s tour when they take on France, Italy and Ireland. I have a horrible feeling though that perhaps this is 12 months too late for the Pumas and they may find the going a little bit tough. For the sake of rugby, I hope that’s not the case and I hope they put great performances on the board.
Whichever way you look at it, November is going to be a great month for rugby.
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