By Spiro Zavos
November 20th 2008 @ 2:43am
Related coverage
Munster monster All Blacks, rugby tours come alive again
At the end of the enthralling, emotion-charged Munster 16-All Blacks 18 match, one of the commentators claimed that it was the greatest night of rugby he’d ever experienced. He was not far far off the mark.
Like the famous Randwick-All Black encounter at Coogee Oval some decades earlier, this match will live in the collective memories of Munster rugby people and New Zealanders as long as rugby is played in Ireland.
The highly- charged atmosphere received further ignition before the match when the four New Zealanders playing for Munster did their Haka before their team stood in a solid line, arms locking the line in tight, to confront the All Blacks Haka.
Again, the commentators noted how splendid the challenge was, and the stoic, strong way it was confronted by the Munster players. Just an hour or so before this happened, I read a column in The Guardian by Frank Keating saying that it was time to drop the Haka, that it was a hysterical nonsense.
Keating is one my heroes as a sports writer.
I sat beside him when Wales played the All Blacks in 1978 at Cardiff while he puffed his pipe and watched and didn’t take notes. On the Monday, there was a scintillating piece on the Test.
But on the Haka issue he is totally wrong.
He seems to think, incidentally, that in 1905 and on other tours when the Haka was performed, that the All Blacks were an all-white Pakeha team. Someone should tell him that the vice-captain of the 1905 All Blacks, Billy Stead (the co-author with Dave Gallaher of the best rugby book ever written, The New Zealand System of Rugby) was Maori.
I’d be surprised if there has ever been an All Blacks touring side without some Maori players in it, except, of course, on those tours to South Africa up to 1976.
The match itself was a terrific contest, with the red-shirted Munster players pouring into the rucks and mauls like giant spurts of red blood smothering their black opponents.
And with Paul Warwick, the five-eighths, kicking his goals and running the backline far more competently than Ronan O’Gara, the first choice Munster distributor, Munster kept the New Zealand defence under constant pressure.
At half-time the scoreline was Munster 16-New Zealand 10, and Munster fully deserved their strong lead.
Then, for the fourth successive time, the All Blacks held their opponents scoreless in the the second half, kicked a penalty early on (after Stephen Donald had missed four reasonably easy kicks at goal) and with minutes left to play, Joe Rokocovo burst through two tackles to score wide out.
Munster had one more chance to win the bragging rights for the next 30 years when they forced a turnover on the halfway with time up. But Warwick, for reasons that remain inexplicable, though perhaps sheer, overwhelming tiredness is the answer, kicked the ball into touch.
A fascinating aspect of the All Blacks try was that it followed a tremendous rolling maul.
The All Blacks marched forward something like 20 metres before putting the ball wide. A couple of phases later, Rokocovo was making his dash for the tryline.
The point here is that because the maul can now be pulled down under the ELVs, a well-constructed, reasonably fast-moving maul can still be very effective.
The All Blacks seem to be the only team in the world right now that has twigged to this.
The other, perhaps more important observation from the match, is that mid-week games against touring international sides provide a wonderful chance for local heroes to emerge. The members of that winning 1978 Munster side are legends in their province and were lined in the best seats of the grandstand for the crowd to admire.
I covered that 1978 tour of Graham Mourie’s All Blacks for a New Zealand magazine.
It was the first All Blacks side to win the Grand Slam. But my abiding memory, which I wrote about at length in my first rugby book, After The Final Whistle, was those mid-week matches through England, Wales and Ireland, including a memorable match at Belfast where the players and the journalists had to be taken to and from the ground in armoured buses.
Those Wallaby tours, too, when the team was away for months, provided so many memorable moments and stories.
In 1984, on Australia’s first Grand Slam tour, the Wallabies played a night match at Swansea. This dour, dinghy Welsh town has been immortalised in the full-lipped, sensuous prose of Dylan Thomas.
But it is really the a**hole of the earth.
The Wallabies were so reluctant to spend any more time than necessary in this awful place that they booked a bus to take them back to London after the match. The small contingent of Australian journalists covering the tour were told they could come back with the team on the bus.
So in the bitter cold, with slanting rain like hard nails pelting into anyone not under cover, the players and the scribes made their way quickly into the bus, past the coach Alan Jones, who was standing by the driver.
Jones was having a feud at the time with arguably Australia’s best rugby-writer and multiple Walkey winner, Evan Whitton.
Saturated and pleased to finally get inside the warm bus, Whitton was told curtly by Jones: “Not you. Out.”
Other journalists on the bus told me that it was so cold and miserable outside, any thoughts of supporting Whitton by joining him by way of a protest at the callousness of Jones were quickly eliminated by the sight of the indomitable reporter trudging his way though the dark and sleety rain back into town.
Bring back touring, I say, for the local and international players, for the supporters, and for the reporters, even if there are sometimes hardships that have to be endured when things are written that the powers don’t like to read.
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jools-usa said | November 20th 2008 @ 4:03am | Report comment
Spiro,
A sparkling & gripping game made all more by the underdogs (Munster) taking it to NZ.
Ref was a bit wobbly but fair to both and was probably as exhusted as all 30 players.
What a far cry from the majority of brain-damaging Internationals.
Gotta have more “side” games like this.
Jools-USA
MarkH said | November 20th 2008 @ 7:43am | Report comment
Jools I agree. Good on the Kiwis for doing it. National teams need to have a crack at the local sides. It may unearth asomeone who was over looked for national duties. Good work NZRU. Loved to have watched it. Munster looked the part on the News.
Davout said | November 20th 2008 @ 8:05am | Report comment
Spiro
What would it take to get Evan Whitton to contribute to The Roar? His intelligent writing in the SMH actually got me following rugby. He has to be bored just writing about the Law!
cheers
David said | November 20th 2008 @ 8:12am | Report comment
Great column, Mr Zavos. One of the best games I’ve watched of a touring party was the match between a second-string Brumbies side against the British Lions in Canberra. The Brumbies, minus their Wallabies - which was about 60 per cent of the team back then) really took it to the Lions who had to scramble to pull out a win. After the match, Austin Healey called Justin Harrison a ‘plank’! I think Harrison had spend much of the match getting under the skin of the Lions, including Healey.!! We need more Wallabies with the sense of mongrel in them!
sheek said | November 20th 2008 @ 8:24am | Report comment
Spiro,
One of the travesties of the modern era has been the demise of the tour matches, or ‘non-test’ fixtures. The 1984 Wallaby grand slammers played “only” 18 tour matches, including the 4 tests plus Babas game. Their 81 compatriots had 24 or 25 games scheduled.
It wasn’t unusual for tours to the UK, Ireland & France before that to include over 30 matches, sometimes over 40 matches.
Of course, those days are well & truly gone. But there’s no reason, with these regular tours now to the northern hemisphere, to include at least one non-test game with each test, plus a couple more pre-first test matches. In other words, a tour of 3-4 test matches might involve 8-10 matches all up.
They’re usually away for 4-5 weeks anyway. All we’re doing is adding mostly midweek games, which are an excellent blooding venue for young up & comers, who can play alongside established & experienced stars, in the national jersey, without the pressure of it being a test match.
And sometimes you get classics like All Blacks-Munster & All Blacks-Randwick. And thank God that the British & Irish Lions are determined to continue traditional touring despite many pressures upon them.
Who Needs Melon said | November 20th 2008 @ 9:09am | Report comment
I think there has been a prevailing perception that such games are ‘practice runs’ for the 2nd string touring players. My view is that a lot of established club teams (especially strong NZ, French and UK clubs) could give ANY touring side a run for their money. And if a country sends a poor side overseas (hello England) then it could get downright embarassing for them… which might be the REAL reason countries don’t want to do it.
Like everyone else so far, I say: Bring it on!
Dublin Dave said | November 20th 2008 @ 9:37am | Report comment
Never mind the quality, feel the passion!
What a match and what an occasion! This had everything that the much more precise, professional, predictable but utterly turgid international match on Saturday hadn’t. Excitement, errors, faith in the incredible, players putting their lives on the line. A 25,000 crowd going berserk. A result in doubt until the final whistle. In short, the sort of match that stirs your heart.
So what if there were few examples of sweeping back play, deft passing, scintillating counter attacks. Quality is all very well but if we got excited by meticulous mechanical monotony then we’d get turned on by watching a bunch of accountants at work.
Last night it was the very unpredictability of a prop, say, disrupting a scrum half by sticking his toe on the ball and hoofing it 25m downfield to put an already rattled defence under even more pressure that set the pulses racing. Amid all that mayhem the occasional example of a cool head directing things was all the more impressive because of the contrast.
Peter Stringer may be in the process of being phased out at both Munster and Ireland but he was magnificent last night, directing the traffic with the wisdom of the elder statesman he now is. Mick O’Driscoll, captain for the night, led by example, busting his guts out in the process. The young kids, many of them still in the academy, stepped up to the mark and enjoyed their moment in the limelight.
The minutes leading up to half time gave a hint as to how the match might be decided but also reminded us that nothing was guaranteed. Having just gone behind, the All Blacks decided they were going to even things up before the break. They attacked in waves, phase after phase. Wonderfully controlled passing, spinning it when needed, popping it when appropriate. Inexorable, relentless, unpanicking retention of possession and momentum. They were bound to score. Only they didn’t. A ferocious tackle, a forced error and the ball was sent hurtling downfield again.
Finally, they were forced to accept that they were not going to achieve any more in this half and ran the ball into touch to bring proceedings to a halt. In that moment, there was one of the other delightful cameos, following on from the “Munster haka” which illuminated the evening. Having raced into touch and crashing into the advertising hoarding, the All Black defender saw a young lad in the front row and dropped the ball into his lap. You’ve never seen a bigger smile on any kid’s face. That was one ball the Munster branch didn’t get back!
When they finally lost the lead with about three minutes to go, Munster’s approach should have been the same as the All Blacks 40 minutes before. Work the ball downfield. Keep possession. Hang on to it until you got a penalty or, more likely, a drop goal opportunity. But for some reason, probably sheer exhaustion and an addled brain, they didn’t do it and kicked to touch to set off the final whistle.
Still, it would be a dull world if everything was certain. There was nothing dull about last night. Just a fantastic occasion.
Memo to the law makers. Quit tinkering with the rules to try and “make the game more attractive”. At the end of the day, honesty, pashion and faith in the odd miracle will provide the sort of contest that anybody will want to witness.
Gordo said | November 20th 2008 @ 10:46am | Report comment
Agreed - great game and there should definitely be more tour matches, especially when teams come to Australia. Would love to see the Woods (perhaps a team of Woods greats) flog some poor travellers.
Regarding Swansea, I think Dylan Thomas described it as an ‘ugy lovely town’, however it is more commonly known as a ‘pretty s***ty city’….
Greg Russell said | November 20th 2008 @ 11:30am | Report comment
I haven’t seen any mention here of the fact that this match was brokered by adidas, the apparel sponsor of both teams. This rather makes a point: tour games are subject to, and therefore a victim of, commercial realities. Commercial reality is that there is a “November window” for tests, and at other times the clubs - the entities that pay the majority of the salaries - have first dibs on international players. So there is really no opportunity to have tour matches against full-strength clubs: if the matches are during the November window then the international players are in squad with their countries, if it’s outside the November window then the clubs are involved in competitions for which they need to be at full strength. It’s hard to see a way out of this.
What made this match is that a half-strength Munster was able to be very competitive against a dysfunctional group of New Zealand understudies. But if these New Zealand ‘dirt-trackers’ played every week, then they would approach their potential, and opposition like yesterday’s Munster reserve team would be thrashed. Would people still be so keen for such matches then?
This was a great occasion, but I tend to put it down as a one-off: the instigation by adidas, the opening of a new ground, and the dysfunctionality of the tourists.
stuff happens said | November 20th 2008 @ 1:10pm | Report comment
I agree with you Sheek it’s a great pity that midweek matches are now rarely possible ; money I’m afraid .Probably the most famous mid week victory in my native Wales was Llanelli , coached by Carwyn James, against the ‘72 All Blacks, although both Cardiff and Llanelli beat Australia on the ‘84 tour.The more extensive British & Irish Lions tour of SA next year will be a big financial success I suspect. Part of the reason for this is the ease of supporters flying to SA from UK .
Incidentally Spiro I had a happy childhood and went to school in Swansea which has some lovely areas - the Gower peninsula is quite beautiful.It is disappointing that a even rugby journo is so insulting.Presumably you don’t like it if someone insults Australia or Greece or perhaps you just don’t care - well I do.I also find it bizarre that you write an article praising mid week matches and then insult a place you went to.You are confirming what many Brits believe about so many Australians - nice guys with a beer in their hand but basically a bunch of cultural morons.
By the way, the reason the Australian team went straight back to London after the Swansea game was that they were playing England at Twickenham 4 days later.
And Gordo, Dylan Thomas’ phrase about Swansea was ‘an unlovely town by the Welsh speaking sea.’
brad said | November 20th 2008 @ 3:16pm | Report comment
Hopefully adidas can broker a deal so that the All Blacks can play Stade Francais (Paris). That would be an awsome game and would easily draw an 80,000 plus crowd that stade already get for some of their top 14 matches. watch this space
Andrew Logan said | November 20th 2008 @ 4:51pm | Report comment
Spiro - this was a piece that deserved to be written and I’m glad you beat me to it. I saw the second half on Setanta and the most incredible moment for me was the silence in the stadium as Donald tried to convert Rokocoko’s try. For those who missed it…the stadium was in total uproar, borderline hysteria cheering on the Munster men, but as Donald lined up the kick it just went silent. Not a soul said a word. Even the ref was reduced to whispering on his mike a’la a Pot Black commentator. It was the most eerie thing I have ever seen on TV sports coverage.
Greg might be right about the dirt trackers coming good after several games, and some spankings being on the agenda, but that isn’t new to professional sport. Roar contributor Jim Boyce once scored 6 tries (yes S-I-X!) in a Wallaby tour match in New Zealand in the 60’s so being walloped by a touring side isn’t new.
But I for one would love to see say, England play the Waratahs….France play Sydney University….Italy play NSW Country…or the Wallabies playing the likes of Natal, Waikato, Leicester or something.
If the matches were carefully scheduled by the home unions, it could be a boon to the ARU. And we could use the matches. We have so few games of top level rugby after the S14 finishes - these type of games on inbound tours would be enormous.
However, back to the point…….Munster vs All Blacks was just brilliant. I was proud to call myself a rugby man when I saw that game and the bits that went with it.
Andrew Logan said | November 20th 2008 @ 4:55pm | Report comment
PS…..I have reread my paragraph “If the matches were carefully scheduled by the home unions, it could be a boon to the ARU”. which implies that the ARU would make money on OS games.
I was rushing when I wrote this…..what I meant was…”If the matches were carefully scheduled, it could be a boon to the ARU on inbound tours”.
LeftArmSpinner said | November 20th 2008 @ 7:23pm | Report comment
the mid week games would be a great back to the future “innovation” and gives some of the 2nd tier players a real chance as well as spreading the word outside the core stadia and audience. Imagine the Boks playing Randwick at coogee or Uni on campus? Oh yeh!
So much better than carrying Tuqiri for four games because he can’t train on his own!!! Give me a break. hard, tough, sportsmanlike and a bit of Biff for good measure. My 14 year old son (and he’s a full back) still talks about Duncan McCrae (for the tahs) belting one of the Irish players!!!
brad said | November 20th 2008 @ 7:33pm | Report comment
All blacks must be lamenting that they let Tipoki go. He is clearly a leader and could have taught Toeava a thing or 2 if he had stayed on at the blues. His commitment was outstanding and Munster in your face defence is exactly what upsets the all blacks natural game. The game really made me miss the good old tour days. Rugby may be getting richer but “what profits a man if he gains the world but loses his soul” the club men need to start coming to the party and offer the touring sides a game as well. Andrew the wallabies are in the best position to tour as their season ends after super 14 they could easily play warm up games before the big tests.
True Tah said | November 20th 2008 @ 8:51pm | Report comment
brad,
Tipoki has to be commended on his excellent use of his elbow to take out Waratahs players.
mick said | November 20th 2008 @ 9:30pm | Report comment
stuff happens,
Granted, there are more than a few cultural morons in aus, but before you mix your cultural moronity and tar us all with the same brush, the cultural moron you berate here stems from across the ditch in nz. sorry.
mick said | November 20th 2008 @ 9:34pm | Report comment
by the way, I met a lovely girl from Swansea once. She was a good friend for a while. Swansea must be a beautiful place.
Dublin Dave said | November 20th 2008 @ 10:05pm | Report comment
Left Arm Spinner
“My 14 year old son (and he’s a full back) still talks about Duncan McCrae (for the tahs) belting one of the Irish players!!!”
Was that when McCrae pinned Ronan O’Gara to the ground (while he was playing for the Lions, actually) and beat the head off him while he was prone?
The famous playwright Noel Coward is alleged to have said somewhat sniffily after the ultrastrict theatre censorship laws in Britain were relaxed in the 1960s that if one wanted to see people in the nude one went to the Turkish baths, not the theatre.
If the sort of “biff” you described is what turns your little boy on, I suggest you send him down to the sort of waste land drinks party where chavs in hoodies get pissed on cans of scrumpy and Carlsberg Special. He can see that sort of thing every Saturday night.
Admission free. Potential for audience participation, willing or not, quite high.
swifty said | November 20th 2008 @ 11:35pm | Report comment
I’m just loving a thread with references to Thomas and Coward.
re McRae - not a highlight i am particularly fond of from an otherwise great tour. prefer to remember the more legal hits from nathan grey. for all the kudos Jonny Wilkinson gets for his tough defence, he has never terrorised or intimidated an opposition the way Greysie did.
I remember seeing wales play NSW country in Moree (or was it Inverell) in the mid 90’s. There had been a drought up there for a couple of years that broke on game day and it poured down so hard you could barely see the game. The welsh really brought the weather with them. I remember the locals built grandstands out of a few parked up semi-trailers and a few hundred bails of hay.
Shit game but great memory.
ohtani's jacket said | November 21st 2008 @ 12:09am | Report comment
I’m surprised no-one’s mentioned a more recent Swansea match, Ospreys’ win over Australia in 2006.
Gordo said | November 21st 2008 @ 1:19am | Report comment
Stuff Happens - didn’t mean to offend. I actually thought Swansea Jacks were proud of their home’s rough reputation. I do have to admit my line re the Thomas and the pretty city is stolen from one of my favourite movies ‘Twin Town’ which is based in Swansea. Surprised you haven’t seen it. The movie also touches on the Welsh love of rugby which appeals.
The BBC (and I don’t think they’re Australian) would also seem to disagree with you regarding Thomas and the town:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_west/4039387.stm
OJ - was hoping no one would bring that up…
Stu James said | November 21st 2008 @ 1:53am | Report comment
I have had the privilege to be at a few brilliant rugby matches in the last ten or so years, but nothing has rivalled the experience of standing on the south terrace at Thomond Park last Tuesday night - a lone Aussie standing with 8 kiwi mates amongst a sea of Munster Red.
The atmosphere was truly amazing. From the “Munster Hush” when a kicker was taking a shot at goal, to the hakas reverberating around the stands, picked up by the microphones on the pitch, to 25,500 people singing the Fields of Athen Rye as one, there was not an idle moment in the stadium. It certainly helped that the All Blacks were still behind with 4 minutes left on the clock, and then, even after Rokocoko’s try in the 76th minute, Munster had a chance to win the game.
The All Blacks were ordinary. Despite these guys being some of the best in the world, it just showed that you can’t throw 15 guys together and expect them to gel as a team, even if that team is wearing the All Black jersey. Toeava was unconvincing at 12, and Tuitavake even less impressive at 13. Donald overplayed his hand (despite backing himself and scoring the first try) and together with Toeava were too often found going sideways. Messam only realised he was in a rugby match in the last 20 minutes. Much though can be attributed to the intensity of the Munster defence and around the park generally, so aptly describedt by Spiro.
Warwick, the Munster fly half (an Australian) played brilliantly in the first half, controlling the game with solid kicking, deft goal kicking and a thundering drop-goal. It seems he was injured a bit when Rokocoko slammed into him after he kicked the ball late in the first half, as he wasn’t on-song in the second half, although moving to centre when Tipoki went off.
As a rugby fan, you are doing yourself a disservice if you never journey to Limerick to watch the Munster men and hear the Red Army:
“And low lies the fields of Athen Rye,
Where once we watched the small free birds fly.
Our love was on the wing; we had dreams and songs to sing,
Its so lonely round the fields of Athen Rye.”
Ian Noble said | November 21st 2008 @ 2:27am | Report comment
Spiro
One of the joys of NH rugby is the intensity of the contest and the fervour of the fans. In addition to Munster, Leinster, Ulster, Llanelli Scarlets, Leicester, Gloucester immediately come to mind as teams that other touring sides should visit to appreciate the true spirit of rugby. As far as I am aware it is only the Lions who insist upon playing mid week matches and it will be a major feature of their tour to SA.
Even at Quins over the last two years the noise levels has increased with free flags for kids and other more older middle aged kids to wave but we are still light years behind the fervour of the supporters of other teams.It is not surprising that many supporters in the NH prefer following their club, region or province in perference to the International team it is more fun and immediate. My big disappointment was that Quins A v Munster A was cancelled on the Monday evening before the ABs match, now I can understand why, as they all played against the ABs which makes their performance even more noteworthy.
Stu
I don’t know where you are based in the NH, but if you are in London over Christmas then you might want to see Quins v Leicester at Twickenham known as the “big game”. Quins have sold 20,000 tickets for a game on 27/12, before Ticketmaster sales are recorded or sales by Leicester. Hoping for 50000 crowd which seems a bit ambitious. Quins have decided to go for broke and try and ape Stade Francais who will have 80000 at the Stade de France for the HC game v Quins.
jools-usa said | November 21st 2008 @ 3:32am | Report comment
David,
I think Harrison was called a “plod”. Anyway, he had the last laugh.
At the deciding 3rd Test the Lions had a line-out on OZ 10 metre line.
A push-over try or penalty (I think), would have won the game .
Harrison stole the ball & OZ ran out the clock.
Some “plod”.
Jools-USA
Dublin Dave said | November 21st 2008 @ 6:34am | Report comment
Stu
Not wishing to be pedantic but it’s Athenry, not Athen Rye. It’s got nothing to do with cereal growing. It comes from the Gaelic Ath an Ri, which means the ford of the king.
Oh and as we Leinster fans never tire of pointing out, it’s in Galway, not even in Munster.
sheek said | November 21st 2008 @ 7:54am | Report comment
Greg,
I’m going to be totally mischievous here. If ‘commercial reality’ underpins all sport, & rugby union is no different, then having two rugby codes is eventually doomed.
In Australia, the sooner the ARU does a “Vichy” on NRL’s resources, then the better for rugby union.
Now, this bold statement will no doubt have some of the natives around here hopping mad!
stuff happens said | November 21st 2008 @ 6:21pm | Report comment
Gordo thanks for the response on Swansea and the link to the BBC. Very interesting..
This is Dylan Thomas on his home town - one sentence.
I was born in a large Welsh town at the beginning of the Great War - an ugly, lovely town, or so it was and is to me; crawling,sprawling by a long and splendid curving shore where truant boys and Sandfield boys and old men from nowhere, beachcombed , idled and paddled, watched the dock-bound ships or ships steaming away into wonder and India, magic and China, countries bright with oranges and loud with lions, threw stones into the sea for the barking outcast dogs; made castles and forts and harbours and race tracks in the sand; and on Saturday Summer afternoons listened to the brass band, watched the Punch & Judy, or hung on the fringes of the crowd to hear the fierce religious speakers who shouted at the sea, as though it were wicked and wrong to roll in and out like that, white-horsed and full of fishes.
(Reminiscences of Childhood)
Cheers and enjoy the rugby this weekend
Vinny said | November 21st 2008 @ 9:28pm | Report comment
Dublin Dave, there’s a Athenry in Waterford too?
Stu James said | November 21st 2008 @ 9:43pm | Report comment
Ian
I’m in Highbury in London, but unfortunately won’t be around at Christmas to see the Quins Leicester game. I did see the corresponding game back in 2006 though. I agree that the atmosphere is what makes these games so enjoyable. The rugby is also entertaining - think Leceister v Ospreys last year. For mine, the best NH “rugby town” has got to be Biarritz though. Super 14 games in Australia cannot compare as far as the atmosphere is concerned. The smaller grounds certainly help, as well as as more concentrated fan base.
Dublin Dave
I work with an Irish guy who has 2 caps for Ireland. He’s a Leinster man, so I am well aware of the provincial rivalries!