For All Blacks to win RWC, it’ll be all the way with SBW
Columnist By David Lord, 12 May 2011 David Lord is a Roar Expert
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- All Blacks, Dan Carter, Richie McCaw, Rugby Union, Rugby World Cup, Sonny Bill Williams, Super Rugby
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It won’t be the world class Richie McCaw, nor Dan Carter, who loom as the spearhead to an All Black victory in the Rugby World Cup final at Eden Park, on October 21. It will be Sonny Bill Williams.
Sure, McCaw will be right in the thick of it, and Carter will land goals from all over the park. Those key factors are a given.
But it’s the explosiveness of Sonny Bill Williams in attack and defence that will send shivers up opposition spines, and he’s only been in the game for “10 minutes” since his controversial walk-out from the Bulldogs rugby league club in July 2008.
Didn’t that cause an all-time stink?
Traitor, defector, no loyalty, ban him from rugby league for life – just some of the ammunition fired at the big bloke. His name was mud.
The 13-man code stopped just short of wanting to hang Sonny Bill Williams at dawn. Toulon settled some of the dust by paying the Bulldogs around $500,000 to give Sonny Bill the right to play rugby, for the first time in his life – not as a second-rower, where he was a top quality Kiwi rugby league international, but as a rugby inside back.
Unheard of before or since.
Sure Craig Gower made the switch from Kangaroo hooker-halfback to Italian rugby fly-half, but that transition wasn’t nearly as dramatic as Gower was always around the set piece and ruck areas in both codes.
But Sonny Bill Williams took to rugby like a duck to water.
He’s a natural, using all his massive 192cm (6 foot 4), 108kg frame to destruction levels reminiscent of Jonah Lomu at his best on the wing.
There’s a lot of powerhouse Lomu in Sonny Bill Williams’ rugby, but there’s also Mark Ella’s hands, Reg Gasnier’s sidestep, Roy Prosser’s ability to rip possession off an opponent, and Artie Beetson’s extraordinary knack of off-loading under intense pressure.
That all adds up to one helluva footballer, and add the defensive hits of a Simon Poidevin, Kevin Ryan, or a David Gillespie, and that’s a mighty handful for anyone directly marking him. Or for anyone else finding himself in the unenviable position of having to halt this runaway train.
When Sonny Bill Williams made his All Black debut on November 6 last year against England at Twickenham, it was only 26 months after he’d played his first game of rugby – swift recognition to elite status in the world’s best team.
The 25-year-old played outside the vastly-experienced Ma’a Nonu. Between them, they tipped the scales at 212 kgs, the heaviest centre combination in All Black history.
The Men In Black won 26-16.
The next week at Murrayfield the All Blacks thumped Scotland and man-of-the-match Sonny Bill Williams had a blinder in only his second rugby international.
SBW had arrived, and he’s here to stay.
Not bad for a bloke who knocked back $2 million a season at Toulon for three years – the biggest offer in rugby history – to sign with the NZRU for $550,000.
The reason? He always wanted to be an All Black and win the Rugby World Cup, especially on home soil.
If the All Blacks are successful, it will be thanks to Sonny Bill Williams delivering.
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May 12th 2011 @ 6:15am
Damo said | May 12th 2011 @ 6:15am | Report comment
Ah yeh , but can he throw into a lineout?
May 12th 2011 @ 3:29pm
jeremy said | May 12th 2011 @ 3:29pm | Report comment
Yep, very similar to his passing style, they give him the ball, then get one of the linesmen or backs to trip him up and he offloads in the process of going to ground.
Magnificent to watch albeit somewhat unpredictable.
May 12th 2011 @ 6:18am
Damo said | May 12th 2011 @ 6:18am | Report comment
I am one waiting for Stubbie to complain about Lord talking up an ‘Aussie’?
May 12th 2011 @ 7:14am
Darwin Stubbie said | May 12th 2011 @ 7:14am | Report comment
I actually agree with you – it is over the top to suggest that the kiwis will win because of Williams – he’s a cog and, given his improving performances, starting to look like a vital one – but I’d suggest more possibly to make the ever nervous kiwi fanbase a little more comfortable about putting sides away – during various times the AB’s get a kick on to be a step ahead of the pack which is usually due to tactics or adapting quicker to rule changes – but Williams may prove to be the kick on factor thi time around – who knows yet … but I think the kiwis could win without him – but they’d certainly struggle without Carter or McCaw ..
Williams’ improvement has been rapid and really if there is any fault that’s still outstanding is his defending as part of the midfield unit – but i’ve no doubt that that will either be bedded down either by the end of SR by the crusadrs or by the AB coaches
May 12th 2011 @ 6:35am
johnny-boy said | May 12th 2011 @ 6:35am | Report comment
He’s actually a bit of a clumsy galoot but he’s a b…. big, clever clumsy galoot. Lomu was great but he was an embarassingly terrible defender as I recall. No better than Cooper I suspect. That would be an interesting stat comparison. Boys ? His star will fade a bit soon as teams work out the best way to deal with him (a lot easier to do in rugby than league as less one on one) and he can be very injury prone once he goes down.
May 12th 2011 @ 6:59am
thurl said | May 12th 2011 @ 6:59am | Report comment
Oh I dunno, people have had 8 or 9 years to work out R McCaw and D Carter. Their stars certainly haven’t faded, judging by what the NZRFU want to pay to keep them around.
Everybody gets worked out, but its their ability to adapt their talents that keeps them at the top of the class. I’m sure Mr Williams will evolve
The thing I recall about Lomu was yes he was a poor defender but it wasn’t because he couldn’t tackle or was afraid to. He could never work out the best position to be in when defending which made him easy to beat
May 12th 2011 @ 8:06am
Fog said | May 12th 2011 @ 8:06am | Report comment
For Jonah, I think defending partly depended on motivation. Before one test Ben Tune said he thought of Jonah as just another winger. I can still recall the image of Tune flying through the air like a rag doll after encountering “just another winger”. He was also absolutely nothing like Cooper who is a truly hopeless tackler albeit not quite as bad as the all time Australasian crap standard set by Danny Cipriani
May 12th 2011 @ 9:13am
Jerry said | May 12th 2011 @ 9:13am | Report comment
Cipriani has a better tackle completion rate than Cooper. He’s only missed more cause he’s attempted more.
May 13th 2011 @ 1:10am
Spencer said | May 13th 2011 @ 1:10am | Report comment
Come on Jerry give it up…where are you getting the missed tackle rate stats. This is the second time of asking.
May 12th 2011 @ 2:36pm
Mike said | May 12th 2011 @ 2:36pm | Report comment
I don’t think Lomu was a bad defender – he didn’t miss tackles – people did not run through him – but his size made him slower to turn around and run back when a kick was put behind him
May 12th 2011 @ 6:57am
Wal The Hooker said | May 12th 2011 @ 6:57am | Report comment
David the forwards will win the cup for any team on the day. Even without SBW if the ABs forward pack stay together (not injured) and dominate there’s plenty of fire power out back.
May 12th 2011 @ 7:32am
David Lord said | May 12th 2011 @ 7:32am | Report comment
Valid point on forwards Wal, but it’s fair to assume 50% possession is the norm, so it’s how that 50% is used that’s the key to success – and that’s where SBW will come into his own to make the difference with a classy backline feeding off him.
May 12th 2011 @ 8:42am
de la said | May 12th 2011 @ 8:42am | Report comment
Agree Wal. The battle at the set piece and breakdown will determine the amount, but more importantly, the quality of the AB’s possession. SBW, like any 12, will need reasonably good quality ball to play like he has been. He’s been a star this year, but he won’t be if the AB forwards get beaten.
May 12th 2011 @ 11:17am
soapit said | May 12th 2011 @ 11:17am | Report comment
dont forget that good backs make the forwards work a lot easier.
May 12th 2011 @ 7:02am
johnny-boy said | May 12th 2011 @ 7:02am | Report comment
And it’s never been easy to turn an ocean liner in a hurry
May 12th 2011 @ 7:15am
johnny-boy said | May 12th 2011 @ 7:15am | Report comment
Your lordship, I bring up the stats query because I saw an interesting article recently where Ewen McKenzie was quoted as saying Coopers tackling stats where not much worse than Mils Muliana’s. This surprised me as there is no question Muliana (apologies re spelling?) is a prince amongst fullbacks. Are McKenzie’s stats correct I wonder or is he just running shotgun for Cooper ?
May 12th 2011 @ 7:28am
Moaman said | May 12th 2011 @ 7:28am | Report comment
” Your lordship ” Nice manners JB!
It’s ‘Muliaina. And there is absolutely no comparison in their respective defensive abilities.Mils goes in around the bootlaces.QC does the matador impression.
May 12th 2011 @ 7:36am
Jerry said | May 12th 2011 @ 7:36am | Report comment
I saw that article, but the stats I’ve seen on Cooper show his tackling percentage to be well below the 60% McKenzie claimed. More like 40%.
May 12th 2011 @ 7:42am
johnny-boy said | May 12th 2011 @ 7:42am | Report comment
But what are Muliaina’s stats ?
May 12th 2011 @ 8:10am
Fog said | May 12th 2011 @ 8:10am | Report comment
90 something tests. If he was a lousy tackler it would have been obvious by now.
May 12th 2011 @ 9:47am
jeremy said | May 12th 2011 @ 9:47am | Report comment
….I don’t think you can draw a like-for-like comparison between the two even if there are specifics??
Muliaina – 94 tests, 54 of which were against SA, Aus or England (close to 60% against top opposition)
Cooper – 24 tests, 11 of which were against SA, NZ or England (45% against top opposition)
So…Mils has played close to five times as many tests against top line competition as Cooper has – how will a tackle % comparison between them be fair?
May 12th 2011 @ 12:57pm
Moaman said | May 12th 2011 @ 12:57pm | Report comment
Another key point Jeremy is the respective areas of the field they have to defend in-and the quality of the defenders around and in front of ,the individuals.Too complex to really bother about.
May 13th 2011 @ 1:13am
Spencer said | May 13th 2011 @ 1:13am | Report comment
Do you understand how percentages are calculated?
May 13th 2011 @ 10:18am
jeremy said | May 13th 2011 @ 10:18am | Report comment
I do, aside from knowing what the measurement period is for the comparison, ie whether it’s career-length, season-length, international-season-length, etc, and this has a significant impact on how the stats can be interpreted.
Career-length stats can’t be compared fairly between the two, because there’s a massive difference in sample sizes. Season-length stats in the S15 are irrelevant, as the teams aren’t playing exactly the same competition week in, week out, and so on.
May 12th 2011 @ 8:46am
Winston said | May 12th 2011 @ 8:46am | Report comment
The attention he draws on the field really opens it up for those around him. When teams commit 3 players to tackle him its creating huge space + plus he’s got the gas and power to go himself. A
Scary thing is he doesn’t seem to stop improving and is playing the house down without Carter at 10
Comparing Cooper’s defense to Jonah and Mils. WTF!
May 12th 2011 @ 9:03am
saliosi said | May 12th 2011 @ 9:03am | Report comment
SBW is good but he’s nowhere near great he still comes up with errors and devensive lapses all this crap about him being the messiah is junk.
May 12th 2011 @ 9:30am
burrman said | May 12th 2011 @ 9:30am | Report comment
get rid of phil waugh…..he is a belter!!
May 12th 2011 @ 9:40am
thurl said | May 12th 2011 @ 9:40am | Report comment
I think that’s what they said about Jonah Lomu before the 95 world cup….:-)
May 12th 2011 @ 10:50pm
Trevor Deangelo said | May 12th 2011 @ 10:50pm | Report comment
Saliosi, have you watched all his games? Over the last 2 months his defense has been awesome, granted when he was playing in the itm cup he looked unsure position wise in defense, but he is tight as now, Is error rate is higher because of the types of passes he throws – most come off, and many contribute directly to tries, The guy is unreal and will become a renowned All Black for sure. He has skills that very few rugby players have. P
May 12th 2011 @ 9:36am
CraigB said | May 12th 2011 @ 9:36am | Report comment
Is there a stat anywhere that shows offload to advantage? IE an offload that didn’t hit the ground and went to a man who continued the movement. I read that SBW has more oflloads and the entire super comp combined, but I see many, many of his efforts hitting the deck and providing no benefit.