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Was England’s win over the All Blacks several weeks ago the turning of the tide, or a mere slip up by the world’s best?
The English played a terrific game, but in my opinion they were allowed to by an energy-sapped, flu-ridden All Black side.
A 38-21 scoreline against the All Blacks was exceptional and against all trends.
But the English never mentioned the dinosaur in the room and, even worse, neither did the All Blacks.
The principal symptoms of Norovirus can last for up to 60 hours (according to conventional medical wisdom), but according to some comments here (by those who have had Norovirus) it can take two weeks.
That is certainly not enough time for the affected All Blacks to have recovered.
However, we decided to take the defeat on the chin.
“No excuses,” said coach Steve Hansen, and Richie McCaw is still adamant that there were no flu-based reasons for the loss.
Unfortunately, for Richie the whole game was one big fade.
There was an obvious lack of All Black energy out there.
Dan Carter denies that his injury was behind his below average game. However, in my opinion his injury was obvious.
International media aside, the Australian-owned New Zealand media went berserk with more praise than I can remember for a winning team, while plastering every negative they could find on the beaten All Blacks.
The rugby media is caught up in politics. In the aftermath of the loss, media figures used emotive, generalised words like ‘excuse’, ‘blame’, ‘vicious’ and ‘horrendous’.
These words are used far too often. Accuracy, and an honest attempt at astute analysis, should be the norm.
The media’s poor performance included the demonisation of Andrew Hore, and Mark Reason’s demand that Hore and his coach do the decent thing and “say you’re sorry!”
All of this while Scott Higginbotham gets to say, “I am not sorry for what I did to McCaw”, with the very same media’s silent blessing.
After the game, Hansen needed to get the facts surrounding his players’ sickness out there. No more than the facts.
Rest assured, behind closed doors, Stuart Lancaster will need to keep his players grounded. When conducting their post-match analysis, the English undoubtedly considered the All Blacks’ illness.
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.