Grand Slam 2010 has been accomplished by the grand team in the grand finale, as the travel-weary All Blacks stamped their authority with a runaway 37-25 win over Wales at the flaky turf of Millennium Stadium.
Mission possible and mission completed for the ‘All Blacks Five-O’ of coach Graham Henry, assistants Wayne Smith and Steve Hansen, captain Richie McCaw and vice-captain Dan Carter.
The match was at times marred by an over-zealous Irish referee Alan Lewis, who probably instructed more scrum resets than Hulk Hogan body-slamming opponents in his entire career. The penalties were also as constant as flies buzzing around your face at summer time.
Hopefully the atrocious KPIs of the officials such as Lewis is not the dress-rehearsal for the Main Event of 2011, better known as the Rugby World Cup. Otherwise there will be serious repercussions in terms of spectators needing appointments to the audiometrists for hearing aids after putting up with ridiculous whistle-happy clowns.
Seriously though, until these men in the middle get their act together, hopefully the tournament does not turn into a farce with vital players sin-binned while others get away with blue murder.
How Welsh reserve forward Andy Powell escaped even a penalty in taking Richie McCaw out late in the game with a blatant cheapshot, is beyond me. It warranted an immediate send-off but incredibly, Wales were given the scrum feed courtesy of McCaw knocking the ball on from the ensuing impact of the malicious Powell tackle.
Without the need for racial vilification but I have no doubt that, had the tackle been carried out by any of the brown brothers from the Pacific Islands, he would’ve been given his marching orders without hesitation – absolutely. As harsh as the reality of it all, but it’s just the way it is.
Typically of McCaw’s toughness, resilience and cool’n’calm demeanour – unlike the soccer Hollywood divers – he rose and dusted himself off before giving a wink to Powell, that might have translated to, “Is that all you got, you big-for-nothing nymph wimp?”.
Despite the unbearable envy, jealousy and innuendos from all corners, McCaw continues to get on with it like the consummate professional.
The message is, you mess with Richie McCaw, you mess with the All Blacks.
Granted, there was a lack of cohesion and ill-discipline from the New Zealanders earlier in the game although it was not helped by questionable refereeing decisions or off-the-ball niggling by the Welshmen that saw even the hardest taskmasters like Tony Woodcock, Brad Thorn and Conrad Smith venting their frustrations.
Ultimately, the beauty of experience can never be under-estimated as the likes of 2010 IRB Player of the Year nominees McCaw and Mils Muliaina, and new world record Test rugby pointscorer Daniel Carter, brought on their arsenal of skills, patience and composure to execute Plan B before seeing off their opponents with scant regard.
As Ireland had done the weekend prior, Wales were valiant and courageous. Yet they also sent out a reminder that when kicking away possession straight into the danger zone, the All Blacks will callously retaliate with an all-out assault and awesome counter-attack unmatched anywhere in world rugby. Muliaina’s try from 60 metres out was a case in point, when Carter bamboozled the defensive line before passing to his fullback cutting in on the angle, screaming past a couple of embarrassing missed tackles on his way to his 33rd Test try.
Blindside flanker and man-of-the-match Jerome Kaino had a barnstorming match, producing his trademark brutal hits and powerful running game that occasionally swayed the momentum to the All Blacks’ advantage.
Almost every time Kaino got involved, he forced crucial turnovers, if not also setting up great attacking or try-scoring opportunities. An enormous input by the massive enforcer.
Muliaina himself was not far behind, with the veteran custodian having the habit of saving his best for last. He is a class act, also heavily caught up in the battle with a busy game.
Perhaps the turning point came when Muliaina received the ball filling in at pivot, kicked through before chasing like a rabbit only for Welsh inside centre James Hook to hand the ball back on a platter when Muliaina ankle-tapped him.
From there, when the ball was spun out wide with crisp passes through quick superb hands, I had to look again and thought “hang on, this ain’t the backline!?”. The world’s best hooker Keven Mealamu stepped in as stand-off, passed it to Brad Thorn who linked with locking partner Anthony Boric like experienced midfielders, before Isaia Toeava gladly planted the ball in the corner, himself bewildered at how the ball managed to reach him with ease.
Then you have John Afoa, a heavyweight prop sprinting to the try line during the latter stages, that the likes of Carl Lewis would’ve been proud of.
The All Blacks innovation continues when forwards and backs could swap roles without exposing much chink in their armour. And thus, these are the classic examples of the one-in-all-in skill-set instilled in this magnificent rugby team.
Sonny Bill Williams had a relatively quiet game apart from another sublime offload that got the All Blacks off to a fine start. Toeava backed up in support and used his power and pace to beat would-be tacklers and offloaded to his wing partner Hosea Gear to score one of his two tries. The unbelievably strong Gear has pretty much owned the No. 11 since his recall, and rightly so.
There will be a lot of excellent players that will not make the cut when the World Cup squad is completed. A player like Luke McAlister may still be in the running as Dan Carter’s deputy, as he will not be able to win back his preferred No. 12, when you have SBW and Ma’a Nonu already arm-wrestling 24/7.
Toeava is the lucky charm because of his utility value. He could’ve been on the bench as Carter’s back-up reserve in that last hit-out, whereas Cory Jane should’ve retained his spot, in my opinion. Anything to get rid of Stephen Donald and once again, it is anyone’s guess as to why he had not played a single minute in his past two games as a reserve.
Officially, we should salute Stephen Donald after he had played his last international game coming off the bench against Scotland. Thanks for the memories mate.
And if there was ever a left-field selection, and if Israel Dagg returns from injury and sets the world on fire to take the coveted All Blacks fullback spot, Muliaina would not look lost at first five-eighth to cover Carter, the only complete all-rounder in world rugby.
Inevitably it is quite a scary probability of what could be, when the world stops the moment kick-off for Rugby World Cup 2011 commences.
New Zealand are clearly the benchmark and have the best team in the world at the moment, but anything can happen between now and then.
As for the fast-approaching tournament, the theme should simply read as, “Beware of the All Blacks”.
Peter K
Guest
Jerry - Obviously. However in general I am not talking about extreme violent acts like eye gouging. These extreme acts will be caught by the citing commisioner AND the offender banned and quiet rightly. I am talking about the cheap shots, off the ball incidents that are shy of suspension and hence shy of being cited. So this type of physical intimidation can reasonably be classified with other forms of cheating. If you look at the punishments by the ref by and large both get penalties. Yes of course more of the physical ones get yellow cards but still within bounds of suiting my stance.
Jerry
Guest
There's a difference between saying "Some cheating is much worse than other kinds of cheating" and hypocrisy, Peter. A person who drives 5km over the speed limit isn't a hypocrite if they don't think murder is acceptable. Moral absolutism is an extremely immature stance, in my opinion.
jeremy
Guest
point taken and apologies for the last para, but... In my book there's two things. (1) taking advantage of the rules / ref (cheating) (2) dirty / foul play (dangerous / injurious) (1) is ok so long as you get away with it, the intent is to win the game, and all teams do it to different degrees, and it doesn't result in injuries. It truly is part of the game as much as sledging, gamesmanship, yelling on the opposition throw, talking to the ref, etc. (2) is not, as the underlying intent is to physically damage / injure the other player in the hope of intimidation. Looking at McCaw IN ISOLATION (there are multiple NZers who specialise in the dirty tricks department) - he operates almost entirely in #1 space. And the method frequently used to combat his rule-bending / cheating is to smack him one on the nose. It's frustrating as I believe he's a clean player in terms of his attitude towards foul / injurious play, but also a dirty player in terms of rule-breaking. That's why I think he's a genius, there are so very few players out there who can do this. But again I take your point, from the broader rugby perspective both tactics are against the rules therefore can be grouped together.
Peter K
Guest
jeremy - OJ is correct. In actual fact I am in opposition to such tactics. I am pointing out the hypocrisy of a lot of AB supporters that view illegal play, ie cheating, as fine for 3 reasons 1) its been in the game since the beginning - so has illegal off the ball play, cheapshots etc as per note above 2) its up to the ref to catch it, if you get away with it its fine - same situation 3) the end justifies the means, you try to win by and means fair or foul So just because its a form of cheating you dont like, on your star player its hypocritcial to complain about it.
ohtani's jacket
Guest
He's trying to be ironic.
jeremy
Guest
Peter, there's a world of difference between intimidation and a swinging arm to the jaw. And this one was pretty nasty, he hits the ground half limp. Twice on tour McCaw has been targetted by overzealous opponents, off the ball, and they've got away with it with the ref and touch judges not seeing it. Add to that the Irish player who tried to knee him in the head while bound in a ruck during the Ireland tour earlier this year and do we start to see a pattern? 'We can't beat him legally at the breakdown, he's too good. Someone punch him in the head.' You know the guy's been concussed onfield before, right? That head knocks for him are pose a significant risk of long-term injury? Why would you wish injury on him? Are you that dissatisfied with your own life that you need to vicariously live out retribution to those more talented than you through foul play on a rugby player from another country?
Trevor DeAngelo
Guest
Peter K you seem such an angry man towards McCaw and the All Blacks. You get really worked up and a bit imbalanced in your view. Why so much hate? McCaw is an awesome player and the AllBlacks are a pretty consistently amazing team. Why the hate? Is it because they win so often?
stillmatic1
Guest
i think peter wants to know if there was any "intent" in what the welshman did to Mccaw. but then i guess he already knows what the welshman was thinking whilst he put the forearm to Mccaw's head!! the response from Mccaw was quite apt and exactly shows what i was talking about in another thread. "if the ref didnt see it and the touchies didnt see it and the video ref didnt see it, but 1 million others did, the incident still didnt happen and couldnt get penalised" and Mccaw pretty much just got on with the game, didnt he peter? the ref didnt have a good game at all and not so long ago the abs wouldnt have been able to handle it and lost their cool, composure and lost the match. i think this AB team has a lot going for it, pretty much has had the full spectrum of game conditions this year and obviously has excelled, and to be fair, i think this quality is what sets them so far apart and as has them looking incredibly goo for next year. the team has the same qualities of the 03 poms and 07 boks, infact probably every WC winning team in that almost anything can be thrown at them and the self belief in what they do will see them through. great 2nd half by the wallabies too, just a shame the french played worse than any team this season in that 2nd half aswell. i had high hopes too!!
Ralph
Guest
I suppose bitterness is an opinion of sorts.
Peter K
Guest
just supplying my opinion on such a balanced article whinging about tactics by the opposition
Jerry
Guest
Why do you watch rugby, Peter?
Peter K
Guest
late hits on McCaw are fine. After all intimidation has been in the game since day 1, and the kiwi attitude is the end justifies the means AND it is only illegal if you get caught, if the ref doesnt see it then its fine, or does that only apply to the AB's?
nath
Guest
massive amounts of offsides from the Welsh, but you're right they never got pinged. what were the touchies doing?
pfj
Guest
It was good to see Toeava providing early on and scoring late but also a bit worrying that he butchered two possibles early on, the sort of scores that would have knocked the stuffing out of Wales completely. The first was a schoolboy penalty for diving on a Welsh player after Smith's well weighted chip through. Admittedly the Welsh gathered but there were 3 ABs to get the ball back plus overwhelming support should they have. 2 minutes later Toeava made a break but completely ran away from his support, Williams on the inside and Smith on the outside. He didn't even seem to know they were there - instead he jagged left back into the only defenders left when either Smith or Williams could have straightened back and right for a try. Then Toeava disappeared until the end. Jane's vision would have made something of both such chances and a rout would have been on. The selection of Ice and the Duck remain a mystery to me.
Fili Tupua
Guest
G'day "Heat Lop", I usually just sit back and relax and try to enjoy the comments or feedback regarding my article/s, be it good or bad, but when it comes to accusations of "plagiarism" for no apparent reason, then it is a personal attack on my integrity. That's just not my style, but if you're happy to keep reading your 'Mills n Boon' stuff, then good for you. Honestly, I am just an amateur writer that is passionate about my team and pretty much voice my own opinion that the real-time professional journalists don't necessarily share nor agree. I am the 'William Hung' of sports writing! lol Here's a small and simple advice, if you can't say anything constructive nor intelligent, then it's best not to say anything at all. Last and not least, thank you for reading. Cheers.
eric
Guest
Who did they play, and where? Oh, Wales at Cardiff, I remember. And I didn't realise it was only "brown brothers" who get penalised for high shots. Berrick Barnes must have a good suntan! Really balanced article, NOT!
Sylvester
Guest
Anyone hoping for a relatively whistle-free match had their hopes dashed pretty early, when Gear was penalised for supposedly taking out Stephen Jones.
Derm
Roar Guru
"ypically of McCaw’s toughness, resilience and cool’n’calm demeanour – unlike the soccer Hollywood divers – he rose and dusted himself off before giving a wink to Powell, that might have translated to, “Is that all you got, you big-for-nothing nymph wimp?”. Did you actually write that yourself or was it a paragraph you copied out of Mills n Boon?
Sam Taulelei
Guest
ha ha Jeremy, had the same thoughts myself after reading this.
jeremy
Guest
Well, Dingo Deans, the official Australian Referee Manager, is also from New Zealand...