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When the Springboks lost against Japan last year, they actually lost to a side that played the Test of their lifetime.
Springboks was not on top of their game that day, but they were not utterly poor. Last weekend it was a very different scenario. Of course we have to give props to the Italians. They played what was in front of them, they took their chances and they don’t have to excuse themselves to anyone.
A win is a win. But if they think this victory was a turning point for Italian rugby, they are deluded. Because that Test was handed to them on a silver plate.
I have never in my life seen a Test were one team was so focused on losing as the Springboks was last weekend. It was a disgrace for the sport rugby. If someone saw that Test without knowing anything about what is going on in South African rugby, they would have suspect match-fixing right away (a very poor try at match-fixing that is) and they would have expected that more than a few Springboks players would be facing life time bans.
Personally I can’t believe that not any Springboks player have been called out and asked some hard questions about their performance. Because they did not have bad luck with the referee, food poising, faced an opponent who had made a deal with the devil or whatever. They lost on purpose and pissed on over hundred plus years of Springboks rugby.
Short term everyone is blaming Coach Coetzee. The biggest consensus in the rugby world right now is that he is the wrong man at the helm for the Springboks. Everyone wants him out. And the players are not taking any chances, they want him out so much that they are ready to humiliate themselves to make their point crystal clear.
Maybe this is the only way for the players to direct a power play message towards SARU and ANC? As the old saying goes, you can replace a coach but you can’t replace a whole team (player power is a very real when the kak hits the fan and coach Coetzee is a dead man walking).
If they would have kept on winning odd games and competing hard against the best, maybe their would be enough fluff for SARU and ANC to bake a cake that would fool enough people that kak indeed can taste good and that the Springboks are alright? Anyhow – kak or not – that Test left me with a very bad taste in my mouth.
Another Test that also left a very bad taste in my mouth was the one in Dublin. Not so much about that happened on the field – it was an epic encounter for all of us who loves forwards with hearts, ribs and balls made out of steel – but the ultra sour post game debate has done the job all week.
I proud myself being neutral and I am going to try to give my views on the the referee Jaco Peyper. Did he have a shocker? Absolutely not. Did he make mistakes? Hell yes. Did he favour any team? Nope. Could another referee made a difference? Oh yes, but that could have gone both ways. One referee might have come down harder on the All Blacks, another one might have come down harder on the Irish.
Overall Peyper did well while conducting probably the toughest and most brutal Test match I have seen in the last five years. I mean, what are people expecting? Not one single player on the field had a perfect performance, why should anyone expect the referee to have one? Why?
Another thing worth remembering is that despite the nature of the Test, it never got out of hand (Pandora’s box was never opened on the field only off the field by pundits and fans). Of course the players can take a lot of the credit, but Peyper can take just as much credit also. The referee is not only on field to call right from wrong.
He is their to manage the game, protect the players and create an environment that allows proper rugby. Kiwi and Paddy pundits/experts/Roarers who think that Peyper treated their team unfairly lives in an open relationship with the truth.
Enough ref talk for now. What about the rest? Let us start with the Irish. They did not have the edge that was needed to break down an old school do or die All Blacks defence. And they can only blame themselves for that. They had four clear cut chances to score tries, two was held up and two was dropped.
In a perfect Irish world that is 28 points and that would have been enough for a double over the All Blacks. In Chicago they took their chances, in Dublin they did not. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
And their is lots of positives for the Irish. They proved they are more than ready to go the distance against a team almost everyone said was unbeatable three weeks ago. They lost key players during the Test, but most of their replacements filled the bill very well (the talk about Irish player depth is not fiction).
They have the number to the All Blacks and we might have seen the start of a new epic rivalry in world rugby (anyone who would have suggested that Ireland would be the All Blacks biggest rival during 2016 a year ago would have been taken for a fool).
What about the men in black then? Mostly positives also. They are still the team to beat by all accounts and showed the world they are second to none both on offense and on defence.
Beauden Barret demonstrated that he is probably the most complete player in the All Blacks right now. We all know about his razzle dazzle while attacking, but his tackling and positional play on defence in this Test was out of this world.
If we add an individual try (were he almost got his head taken of), a perfect kicking record (including a kick-assist and pin point kick offs) and magic hands (that offload before the third try is rugby porn) we can only wish Aaron Cruden good luck trying to get back the number 10 jersey (Cruden was great when he came on, but that will count for nothing when Barret plays like an alien).
Ardie Savea was another player that really impressed me. And I am starting to get a wee bit annoyed with Shag’s tough love and endless talk about that he needs a couple of extra kilos. In a slower more settled Test than the ones against Ireland I can see the advantages having Richie McCaw-clones like Same Cane or Matt Todd in the middle of the mix. But if the tempo goes up and the team need to throw parts of the game plan out of the window and play more on instincts, Ardie is hand in glove.
I am well aware that this makes him a perfect super-sub, but I think their is enough game in Ardie to start with him and let go of McCaw’s ghost. I both hope and believe that Ardie will send Shag a very strong message about this next year.
But their are some clouds on the sky without silver ferns. As said, the Irish have the All Blacks number now and the rest of the pack have been watching very carefully. The game plan the Irish been using is fairly easy to copy and several other Test teams have the personal to execute it (above all The Lions).
By all means, the All Blacks showed everyone again that they are more than ready to man up and defend their line if the opponents throws the kitchen sink at them, but if they need to play with that intensity and grit in every Test to win, their will be bruises and injuries en masse (and eventually losses). And the referee’s will continue to keep them under the scope.
In a very un-All Blacks way they have let their discipline problem continue to grow for the whole year. They are not a dirty side, but they are the dirtiest side in rugby 2016. In almost every single Test during the year they have walked of the field giving away more penalties than their opposition (even against a toothless Italian side they managed to win the penalty count).
That can be forgotten and accepted if they play the other team of the park, but long term it is a dead end – even for an exceptional team like them – and the further they go without really addressing the problem the more it will come back to bite them.
Just like coaches and players scout their opposition before Test matches, referee’s scout players and teams. And if a team have a bad rep – with stats to back it up – referee’s will take notice and they will get orders from World Rugby to come down hard and make an example if this continues (not exactly ideal with an incoming Lions tour up next).
Something that could prove ideal for both Wallabies and France is that both All Blacks and Irish have spent pretty much all this week talking about the Test last week (both inside and outside their camp). By now everyone should know that players and coaches are no robots (Lex Aaron Smith).
If both the All Blacks and the Irish blows their opposition of the park this weekend, that would be a mighty surprise to me.
France will most likely not win, but I have seen enough of them this year to continue to claim they are – slowly – on their way up again. They did lose against a second string Wallabies (that did not look second string at all on the field), but it was nothing between the two teams. Anyone could have won that Test.
And here comes their favourite enemy to Paris, possibly bruised up, with a point to prove that they are the fair play kings of rugby and with so-so preparations. Even if it is a huge ask, the French would be morons if they did not fancy their chances and gave it a proper go.
Over and out.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.