Looking forward to seeing how some of the possible All Black contenders will shape up this weekend for the end of year tour. Go Lions.

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The All Blacks and their unholy triumvate of coaches made mistakes leading into the QF that every New Zealander seemed to pick. We have already dissected many times the countless reasons, but as the parallel point I make in regard to Wellington in the ANZC is that the best teams don’t always win championships as much as the best - or in my belief - most pragmatic gameplan.

The Wallabies were simply shut down in their forwards in their QF, their perennial weakness.

But - as much as I give credit to the Bok’s for winning the Cup, only the most partisan and one eyed South African could actually admit that it would have been far harder to win if they had to play any of the - at the time - other top five ranked nations; NZ, Aust, France or Ireland.

I love to fantasise of course about the “what if”, but 2007 is ancient history and 2008 has seen the boys reassert themselves - I look forward to a Grand Slam to cap of a great year of redemption for NZ rugby.

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I think it’s important to draw a distinction between NPC sides (I can’t stop using that term) and S14 sides - they are quite different. To pick up on your point, Canterbury have not been dominant during this period perhaps because Carter and McCaw don’t actually play that many games for them, and when they do they are fairly rusty. Eg last year when they reappeared to lose the semifinal. Last weeks appearance from the bench was Richie’s 29th for Canterbury - he’s played more than twice as many tests, and twice as often for the Crusaders. Carter has only appeared 19 times, compared to 58 for Crusaders, and 54 tests.

VDM, The Boks beat who they had to to win the World Cup. I think by their standards since professional rugby started they’d be about average. ABs also about average, and Wallers below average, in my estimation.

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It was a comment that was burned into me, especially as I watched an average Springbok team win the Cup doing exactly the opposite, playing a simple, all but boring and effective gameplan to win the championship as England did four years previously.

In the lengthy world cup review that was commissioned by the NZRU, it was revealed that in the last moments of the game against France that the AB’s brainstrust did indeed instruct the players to attempt a drop goal to win the match - but interviews with McCaw and So’oialo revealed that they thought that they would break the French line “by playing rugby”.

In the AB’s magical four years of dominance between 2004-2007 they were great conquerers of the world, but careful review of their losses, namely in Rustenburg and Melbourne - showed that arrogance and a insistence to be flamboyant proved their undoing, with the men in black kicking half as much as the opposition showing a consuming desire to run the ball from anywhere and not playing the percentages.

I digress from the point, but it has been shown now in all sporting codes that to play “attractively” is never a guarantee to the result, and it is methodical structured gameplans that will shut down flamboyant gaming operations - and as a Wellington supporter I hope the Lions don’t get to cocky as it would be a terrible waste for the dominant team of the 2008 New Zealand domestic season not to hoist the trophy.

As for the remark about Canterbury being perenial overlords on the surface it is a inaccurate statement, as Wellington especially, even in the Super 14 has become a truly consistent force. But unlike the 80’s and 90’s where Auckland was the powerbase of New Zealand rugby it would be fair to say now that Canterbury - if anything on the back of their Super rugby success - is now that giant, if not for their results, for the simple fact they wield the All Blacks twin jewels, and no doubt the worlds best players, McCaw and Dan Carter.

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But when and where was R McCaw quoted as saying “at least we played attractive rugby” after Cardiff? I never heard that before, and it doesn’t sound like him to me, in the context of other things he and others said at the time.

Also we should note (I’m from Canterbury) that the Crusaders have been dominant but that Canterbury have been less so in recent years (in reference to ‘Perennial Overlords’ tag). Overall, Canterbury have won 5 NPC/ANZ Cups, one more than Wellington, and 11 less than Auckland’s 16. Canterbury lost semi last year, and lost in QF in 2006 (both to Wellington). Last win was in 2004.

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