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I fear for the All Blacks in this year’s Tri-Nations campaign – not to mention next year’s World Cup – if they don’t get their act together sooner rather than later.
In fact, can they rescue anything at this late stage.
Though it is emphasised that Super 14 form is no yardstick for what will materialise in the Tri-Nations, there are some rugby pundits who would beg to differ.
The Bulls’ massacre of Waikato Chiefs in the Super 14 final at their Loftus fortress last season was a forerunner for what was to come in the Tri-Nations, where the national team, the Springboks, showed their class to win the competition.
When the mighty Canterbury Crusaders reigned in each of their seven Super 14 conference titles aquired thus far, the All Blacks stood head and shoulders above their two respective Southern Hemisphere rivals in the Tri-Nations.
Well, for most of the time anyway – the exception being the elusive World Cup, of course!
But that’s not the issue here.
A reasonable argument will be that there’s still some way to go before the conclusion of the 2010 rugby season. But any fan of New Zealand rugby (including its provincial units) has to ponder over the inconsistency of New Zealand teams in the Super 14 – especially this year.
It has been a systematic decline.
The Crusaders, now famous for being notoriously slow starters, managed to get their campaign back on track this season, only to instill more doubt into the heads of their fans over the last two weekends.
Not to discredit the Western Force and Stormers’ (the Cape men were brilliant) performances against the might of Crusaders, but surely the side from Canterbury are not firing on all cylinders.
On the other side of the coin, you have the South African sides, whose introduction to the hurly-burly of the Sanzar tournament in former days was a tough baptism of fire.
Many a Blue Bull fan can probably still recall how the Bulls were the butt of jokes in the then-Super 12 many seasons ago.
Even when Joost van Der Westhuizen was at the helm.
Now it seems the top South African sides have bounced back with a vengeance, not least the Bulls.
New Zeland outfits seem to be the sides on the wane.
One plausible reason could be the retirement or departure of big-name stars from the New Zealand Rugby set-up, of which there have been quite a few in recent seasons.
Or are the week-in-week-out rigours of the competition getting a bit too much for some of the players?
As a Kiwi fan, I do not like what I am seeing from both the provincial units and the All Blacks. But at the same time, I must give unequivocal credit to teams like the Stormers, Bulls, Queensland Reds, the Brumbies and their respective national teams.
New Zealand Rugby ,from where it once was, is definitely on the wane.
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.