All Blacks captain Richie McCaw celebrates a 39-10 victory over the Wallabies during the Rugby Union Bledisloe Cup Australia v New Zealand rugby test match at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand, Saturday, August 2, 2008. AAP Image/Photosport, Andrew Cornaga
I’m not sure when it started, the idea that the All Blacks have an overbearing sense of self-importance or a preening contempt for the weak, but whichever Aussie said it – and it has to be one of my mob I’m ashamed to say – it just ain’t so.
If anything the ABs, as a team, are a pretty dull bunch. Watch the Wallabies or England when they score a try; they’re all over the scorer. They’re jubilant, ebullient, expansive.
Then take a look when the ABs score; they’re much more restrained. Why? Good question.
The NZ crowds are as vociferous and colouful as any as demonstrated by the recent Sevens in Wellington, but the ABs are extremely modest when they out-shove, out-run or out-think the opposition.
Dan Carter never ever smiles, and Richie McCaw never stops looking like a man who can’t find his car keys.
Perhaps the ABs got the label arrogant because a lot of people confuse that word with confidence.
There’s a huge difference. It’s hard to win unless you believe you’re going to win. If you announce ahead of the game that you’re going to triumph, that could be construed as arrogance.
But you’ll notice that Graham Henry and/or Richie always use the word “hopefully” when talking to the media about how they intend to get the better of the other side.
The ABs start with a wonderfully personable haka, then immediately that’s over they go back into their grim-faced shell. They’re a fine team playing great rugby, but arrogant they’re not.
thewoodster
Guest
The weight of expectations lies heavy on them, but arrogant would not be the first word that comes to mind when describing ABs stoic determination. I agree however with the point of fans and media, like i said before the expectations we have of our no 1 team are very real, hell i admit to posting a couple of arrogant comments on this site before and i will do so again. but this does not just come from arrogance but the belief that ABs can win if they play like ABs. they should really make 'All Black' a term for optimum level of excellence.... or is that too arrogant of me? :)
Ben S
Roar Guru
Wow.
Ai Rui Sheng
Guest
Stefan Jewns, a xenophobic anglophile, is the culprit. He almost invariably refers to the Arrogance of the Kiwis in the previously fine "Toimes". Guess who owns it? The Dirty Digger who also owns that "balanced news network" for tea baggers; Fox News.
Ai Rui Sheng
Guest
It pains me that almost no one who ever comments on the BOD injury have ever seen it. Why were they acquitted? Well I have the clip and it clearly shows the clown entering the maul after the ball has cleared by two passes. He appears hell bent on creating carnage and he got his deserved spoils.
jeremy
Guest
That's not arrogance, it's good hygiene.
Ben S
Roar Guru
Two in a row. You're on a roll.
Geoff Brisbane
Guest
Arrogant ,larikins whatever? comes down to a few and the media always going over the top. Just play the game and enjoy the season.
Ben C
Guest
I think the traditional 'wisdom' is that Kiwis are good winners and bad losers while Australians are bad winners and good losers. Like so many cliches there is an element of truth but an awful lot of subtlies get lost. Perhaps the reason the Kiwis are bad losers is that they don't get enough practice. Isn't Henry's winning record at 89% or some stratospherically similar?
Jason
Roar Guru
A winning percentage of 67.86% appears to be 'the natural order of things'.
Ken
Guest
Easy to look arrogant when you're a confident team that usually wins, when you're expected to win every little show of emotion gets over-analysed. The Aussie cricket team used to get the same (although not so much right now...)
djfrobinson
Guest
does that make Australians bad winners, especially after Gregans "four more years" comment?
Tui
Guest
''They nearly always talk about how they lost it, the mistakes they made instead of acknowledging how the the other team was better and where. Sometimes after the excuses they give a one liner saying the better team won very grudgingly. If they are not arrogant in this case at the minimum they are ungracious (bad) losers.'' Wallabies in a nut-shell pal....
Stellenbosched
Guest
To be fair, there is such a fine line between being confident and being arrogant. Perhaps the line is in the eye of the beholder. With rugby being such a physical test you really have to pump yourself up to compete at the top. What I find an odd quirk with AB players, management and fans alike is this instant defending of any AB caught doing something nasty. It's always the same line-What? Player X? You must be joking!! He is fair play epitomised. Anyone but player X. It wasn't at all malicious. Not an AB. Your video is inconclusive. The Pom threw his head into the fist of the AB as the AB was about to help him up.. Etc, etc. See Bazza's comment re Tana above.
Junkscience
Guest
The Wobblies had given the All Blacks a touch up in the previous test. As usual the All Blacks responded in kind the following week. A very good kiwi friend of mine was heard to remark "the natural order of things has been restored" Arrogant ??? I will the you decide -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.
Jiggles
Roar Guru
Are the All Blacks Arrogant? No I don't think so at all. last year they played a very good game but are always quick to congratulate the other team. Some All Black fans and the NZ Media however are arrogant. I get the impression that when ever the ABs loose big matches some fans and the media will find 1001 reasons why that defeat did not matter and why the ABs are still a far better team, almost as if to discredit the other teams ability. But hey there are fans and media personalities like this in every sport supporting every team in the world, its just part of the deal. Wallaby fans can be incredibly arrogant also, and really I can't understand that one too well!
dunc
Guest
We will not be arrogant this year. We are too worried about choking. Think of the pressure the ABs will feel at the RWC Plus the whole arrogant tag is tosh....If anything we suffer from over-earnest sincerity in the shaky isles. Furthermore, the AB jersey is considered a massive national honour (unlike the baggy green oops sorry ouch). Finally, its totally against the Pacific Island culture to be over-proud and boastful.
Blinky Bill of Bellingen
Guest
Arrogant? As a Wallaby fan I find the All Blacks highly annoying with their skills & consistency but actually I reckon they do a better job of congratulating winners than we do, especially considering that they don't lose all that often. As for comments after a game failing to acknowledge 'the better team won', first of all I think it's a given that the better team won and perhaps sloppy of losing teams not to mention it. In defence of losers, we are often more focused on what we did wrong rather than what they did right. I doubt there's too much arrogance there.
Ash
Guest
As an Aussie living in NZ I don't think it's the AB's that are arrogant. It's some of the media and general public. They seem to live in this bubble mentality where there is only one team in the world and everyone else are beneath them in rugby terms. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.
mitzter
Guest
I don't think that the all blacks are really that arrogant. But I understand why people think that of them (and for a long time now) by creating the impression that everything they do is great for rugby and that the way they play is rugby at its greatest. It always seems to be oppositions that do cynical plays never them, its refs that don't pick up on opposition cheating etc. When they do get penalised it's always a surprise as if the ref doesn't know that's how you play rugby! They also seem to push the laws a lot when it suits one of their strengths ( Richie) but demand the ref enforce laws that allow teams to target their weakness' Now I have to admit Australia and every other major country has this problem too, I'm not denying it, but this sense of entitlement seems largest with NZ
ohtani's jacket
Guest
Peter K getting the wrong end of the stick yet again. Will wonders ever cease?