The climb to reach the top of a Rugby World Cup hill is hard and long. Once reached, the slippery slide downhill is easy. This is noticeable with the Rugby World Cup Class of 2011 All Blacks.
We watch Super Rugby and it is loaded with many of those All Blacks who played in RWC 2011, yet as Super Rugby players they have fallen from form and commitment. Those with the Blues and Crusaders are most noticeable.
The playing Blues, now one step to the wooden spoon, have used RWC 2011 All Blacks Ali Williams, Mealamu, Nonu, Weepu, Toeava, Woodcock, and Boric in their abysmal outings of six losses and one win.
Faring only slightly better, the Crusaders, playing RWC 2011 All Blacks Flynn, the Franks brothers, Whitelock, Read, Ellis, Carter, Dagg and Guilford have four wins and three losses.
Selectively it could be said that Jimmy Cowan’s performances have been poor by Cowan’s standards, yet players like Jane, Conrad Smith, Sonny Bill Williams, Kahui, Thompson and Hore are still putting in some dynamic performances.
Why are the three NZ franchises, Chiefs, Hurricanes and Highlanders, with the six remaining All Blacks from RWC 2011 players scattered among them, doing so well?
Could it be that the exciting new talent of those franchises is on the hard uphill climb, and the All Blacks of RWC 2011 are on the massive slide down?
Coaches catch the flak of poorly performing teams, and if it continues season after season as it has at the Blues, then yes, Mr Lam, please move on.
However, behind these coaches are the CEOs and selectors, and they too should be held to account and shoulder just as much culpability as the coach, and move on with him.
Mark Hammett was pilloried when he emptied the Hurricanes of Nonu, Weepu and Hore, yet Hammett had the foresight to retain Smith, Jane, Vito and Eaton as his nucleus, then fill the team with young gun hopefuls who have not let him down one bit with their dynamic record of five wins, two losses to date.
Similarly, we have the Chiefs and Highlanders, notorious for doing poorly in Super Rugby, now being the leading lights of the NZ franchises. There appears to be no rhyme or reason as to why these previously bottom teams are now on top and the previous favourites visa versa.
Could this unexplainable phenomena be due to some players thinking that they could play on reputation and now no longer have the heart or desire to give top performances, thereby being a liability to their franchise?
Top rugby is really a game of snakes and ladders. They climb the ladder and slide on snakes. Or are there just old and lazy ones hiding in the grass looking for the quick meal before their eternal bedtime?
rae1
Guest
Ummmm..when did that rule come in? I thought you only had to win the final.
mania
Guest
jason - yeah alby's a bit unimaginative and doesnt really relieve any pressure off his 1st 5. however the problem with the blues isnt lack of play makers. its the stupid dropped balls. cant believe the amount of unforced knockons the blues are doing. its something so simple yet they havent addressed it. even missed tackles the next big problem happens much less than stupid knock ons. its like watching children play. all the NZ franchises were guilty of dropping a lot of balls in the first few games but they've improved except for auckland. cut the knockons out and the blues would be a dangerous team. at this stage they're jsut killing themselves
mania
Guest
sprigs - most kids who aspire to be AB's dont actually like watching rugby and prefer playing it. when the canes played in wellington i was busy that day. 8am had my younger sons rugby training and game, 11pm had my other sons rugby game. by 1 i was rushing the boys to a birthday party for one of his team mates. by the time it was the canes game i was exhausted and decided against going. i figured my boys are still too young to appreciate sitting still for 80+ mins to watch the game. my point is we spend more time supporting the game in the background than we do watching it. i think this applies to most kids; and supporters and parents are there supporting them when they play. so yes kiwi's arent so big on going to the games but that doesnt mean that every single parent and supporter out there isnt contributing to the AB's. thats why we produce so many great players. when fans are in their armchairs complaining about the game we're out there taking our kids and teams to games. by the time the SR games come around, we're just plain exhausted and rugby'd out. this wouldnt apply to all kiwi's but does to a lot of them. i see all these kiwi's every weekend in the winter, in coats and gumboots, out in the cold supporting their kids, some carrying water bottles, others bringing a bag of cut oranges, others filling in as touch judge. i see literally hundreds and hundreds of supporters at my kids game making it all happen. so our crowds maybe down, especially after a long 2010 season but that doesnt mean that we've stopped developing our next generation. thats the key to NZ rugby, always always looking after the next generation. while everyone is looking at the performance of the current SR teams and AB's a lot of us are caring for the next brrod to come through
steve.h
Guest
shaks don't have the bye log points yet which would see them move to 6th but considering they are playing an outstanding chiefs side this may have no really effect on the standings. Come on the sharks!!!!!!!
bluerose
Guest
i think we should worry more about Australia's rugby players and discuss how they're playing instead of focusing on other countries
Sylvester
Guest
The reality is the All Blacks will be still playing in December. I'm not sure it's realistic to expect all of them to be playing at the peak of their powers in March/April.
Emric
Guest
Shungmao Home Internal Conference matches Blues 27,847 Chiefs 12,086 Crusaders 18,723 Hurricanes 14,647 Highlanders 23,600 Cross Over Home Averages Blues 18,800 Chiefs 11,822 Crusaders 17,500 Hurricanes 11,103 Highlanders 13,460 Blues Average - 24,831 Warriors Average - 20,715 The Warriors have had a single crowd which was bigger then the blues and that was its opening round against Manly.
Lippy
Guest
So using your train of thought the Reds aren't worthy champions after all the played all the top teams at home bar the Stormers who let us not forget the Crusaders beat at home twice. Did you note Ted the ABs still hold the Bledisloe and neither SA or NZ contested the 3N seriously
ted
Guest
the bottom line is the Kiwis deserved to win the RWC and like the Poms in 2003 timed it beautifully to finish their rep careers....legends like Brad Thorn McCaw & Carter two of best EVER the winning away from home bit was a bit of fun....lighten up geeeez
west
Guest
oh ted stick to clown school mate your better suited there. I agree with this article a lot of the players who got us threw the RWC are at the end of there careers.....BIG DEAL. New blood is coming Carter is going, McCaw is past his best. Nonu ect ect list goes on. This isnt the END its the Beginning for the All Blacks faces change but the results and outcomes will still remain the same.
Michael Warren
Roar Guru
Thanks Vanilla,...similar thinkings...
Campbell Watts
Guest
On the money there Damo! Is it home-time yet??
Sprigs
Guest
There were more people on the cable car than in the cake tin for the match the other weekend, and as for Eden Park at the last game, well there were probably more people parked up the top of the volcano than in the ground. Perhaps they were all on their La-Z Boys watching cable. Or perhaps the spinmeisters are massaging the attendance figures for some grounds. There were more watching the game in Perth than in Auckland. How weird is that? That being said, that secret underground machine NZ has for turning out top players is whizzing overtime at the moment. That Horrell, for example.....who saw that guy coming?
Campbell Watts
Guest
We beat the Frech twice during the RWC - don't forget that too!
Damo
Guest
Yes BMW. The season is still a long way from over as well. Reckon we are all a bit bored waiting for 5.30pm Friday
bmwwilliams
Guest
While I think the article might be overstating NZ's post-World Cup slide, the same seems to be true of the Aus teams at the moment. Wallabies incumbents have been playing poorly thus far (with some exceptions), and it has been the new faces who have been the positives for most of our teams. Granted we didn't win the world cup - suspect it has more to do with backing up from a long season last year.
ted
Guest
some dubious refereeing got them through the semi and the final..... besides to win the RWC properly you have to win it away from home.....Oz twice, SA & England once each
Lippy
Guest
Did you miss the Semi where the ABs gave the Wallabies a touch up, the same Wallabies who dispatched Wales in the Bronze medal match? The ABs were clearly the best team in 2011 and your bunch of sour grapes wont change that. Funny how Joubert is lauded as the best ref in the world unless he is in charge of a WC final that NZ happens to win...... As has been said above lets wait until the ABs play in 2012 before drawing conclusions!
Samvandamn
Guest
What is the Shungmao dude on? TV ratings are up, that is official. Crowd numbers are also up across the board. The Chiefs turnouts have been average-good but much higher than last year. Same for the Canes 2 Sellouts for 2 games in Crusaders country The Highlanders have had massive turnouts. The Blues lowest turnout was 18,000 for the worst team in NZ. Haemorrhaging? Mate are you trolling? Get your facts sorted.
ted
Guest
Easy on.....they won the RWC by 1 point on some fairly dubious refereeing against the 5th best team in the tournament.....don't reckon they would have beaten Wales if they had been properly refereed in Semi or the Wallabies if they had taken an easier path to final.....give them a break.