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Australian Wallabies halfback Will Genia (bottom right) passes the ball during the team training session in Brisbane, Friday, Sept. 4, 2009. The Wallabies play South Africa in their Tri-Nations match at Suncorp Stadium tomorrow. AAP Image/Dave Hunt
When we arrived at Wellington on Monday, it was like walking into the ice age. My wife turned on the heater in our hotel room, we wandered down to the harbour precinct, and had dinner at Wagamama, where Wayne Barnes was sitting forlornly in his tracksuit, fiddling with his mobile phone.
At least no one harangued him about that RWC quarter-final at Cardiff in 2007.
The wind rose to those stiff pushes of air that give the city its nickname of ‘Windy Wellingto’. It’s likely that Saturday night will see Wellington at its most blustery, with the wind racing erratically around Westpac Stadium so that plastic bags go up on side of the field and down the other.
At the same time.
When Robbie Deans was told the likely gusty and cold conditions, he was disappointed, to say the least. He has been able to select the same young run-on squad for the second consecutive Test.
It’s clear that this is the core squad he wants to take to the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
Deans talks about how the players are playing for each other, and are in the process of creating a team spirit. The team being more important than any individual was the mark, the hallmark, in fact, of the successful Crusaders’ squads under Deans.
For one reason or another, Deans has got rid of a number of grumpy older players: Al Baxter, Nathan Sharpe, Phil Waugh, Lote Tuqiri and Stirling Mortlock.
All in all, the team is a much better construct as a team being rebuilt without these players.
Last week, a number of Roarers took me to task when I suggested that the All Blacks selectors needed to make a number of changes. The team they have announced has five changes to the run-on squad that played so poorly at Hamilton.
One of the changes, Namia Tialata, is not an improvement.
Tom Donnelly. the new second rower, is an athletic and abrasive line-out expert. Adam Thomson will add a bit of pace to the overall speed of the pack, while Isaia Toeava, if his hands don’t let him down, will give some thrust to the backline.
But no one here believes that this All Blacks side is anything like the side that New Zealand will take into the 2011 Rugby World Cup. There are a host of brilliant youngsters playing well in the Rugby World Junior Cup tournaments: Aaron Cruden, Israel Dagg (is this the greatest New Zealand rugby name?), and Richie Robinson, among the best.
What Deans would have done with this talent is causing heartache in New Zealand.
Despite his terrific record of over 80 per cent of wins in his 81 Tests, the second best for All Blacks coaches after the unbeaten Fred Allen, Grahame Henry is once again under attack here.
Windy Wellington, therefore, is shaping up to be a testing venue as a real Test for two embattled national coaches: Deans with one win out of 5 Tri-Nations Tests this year and Henry with two out of 5.