The ‘contest’ between New Zealand and South Africa on Saturday night was not worthy.
It may have been the much hyped 100th match between the two Rugby Goliaths but it did not do justice to the feature.
Hell, it didn’t even do justice to the subscription price.
As rugby people, we are kidding ourselves to think that match, first against second in the world no less, was in any way a good advertisement for the game.
I’ve spent decades telling anyone who will listen how great the game of Rugby Union is. The continuity and flow of the game, the rewards available for sides who dare to dream.
If you want aerial ping pong watch Aussie Rules. If you want boredom watch a nil all soccer draw. If you want a lack of imagination watch leaguies run into brick walls.
Yet on a night that league produced a gripping semi and the AFL a pulsating grand final, we got drivel from the Boks and All Blacks.
How do you defend the game to ‘leaguie’ mates and grumpy uncles anymore? How do you argue that ‘Ra Ra’ as they call it is more than the pre-match entertainment?
“Watch something else if you don’t like it” you may say. Well the sad fact is that many are, not just in Australia. The game is much more fragile, especially in the Southern Hemisphere than many like to admit.
Some have pointed to the easy target, an English referee, as being the main detractor from the spectacle on Saturday.
Admittedly, he did dish out 26 penalties and 2 free kicks in 80 minutes but he was only applying the laws as they are written.
Sure those laws are confusing and inconsistent. Pedantic referees compound the failures of pedantic law makers.
But it’s too easy to simply put this one down to the ref and world rugby.
The real culprits were the sides on the field, both sides.
The Boks predictably persisted with their kick-and-chase master piece. They kicked 38 times from hand versus New Zealand’s 18 and passed 65 times as opposed to 141.
Just let those stats sink in. Kicked 38 times in 80 minutes of Rugby. Passed 65 times, less than once per minute of the game.
The Boks are quite clearly fearful of playing rugby. The current coaching staff are so blinkered they are now damaging their country’s reputation and tarnishing the side’s past achievements.
In a city where Jonathan Thurston is a living legend and testament to running and passing a ball, the Boks disgraced themselves once again.
Sure they might not know or even care who Thurston is. But they don’t appear to remember or care who William Webb Ellis was and that’s a problem, for them and the game we love.
Sure, as we are constantly reminded South Africa have several trophies with Bill’s name on it but I bet he’s turning in his grave.
The All Blacks didn’t cover themselves in glory either.
The only positive I could find from their performance was the emergence of young Ethan Blackadder. The son of a gun can sure play.
The rest of the All Blacks let themselves down. Basic skill errors, unforced by any looming dark green presence were perhaps the most startling.
Some have said the Boks put New Zealand under enormous pressure. I simply didn’t see it, it was to my eye no more pressure than the Lions or even Wallabies were put under.
The South African game plan and personnel were mostly unchanged from the weeks before.
(Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)
Pressure at the set pieces, especially the line out was applied. The game was slowed down by South Africa resting at most stoppages. Breakdowns were hard fought as they always are. And box kicks and ‘up and unders’ dominated the Bok ‘attack’.
Yet the Kiwi wingers chosen for their prowess under the high ball somehow dropped more than they caught. That must be a cause for concern. They were even worse in this aspect of the game than the Wallabies were.
The lack of leadership on the field was also a major problem for New Zealand. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, a side that’s lost Richie McCaw, Dan Carter, Kieran Reid, Kevin Mealamu and Conrad Smith all relatively recently was going to suffer.
That gaping hole in the leadership core certainly wasn’t helped by the absences of Sam Cane, Aaron Smith and Sam Whitelock.
The All Blacks were headless chickens at times and put in their worst performance in at least 15 years on Saturday night. Again, a horrible occasion to turn it in.
I was astonished after the game to read comments such as “A close match at this level is always a good one”. To my mind, the closeness of a match means nothing when it is married by 26 penalties, dozens of handling errors and turnovers accompanied by an endless aerial assault.
Fans need to stand up and say “So far and no further”.
The 100th test played by these two great nations should be declared a no contest and voided, both sides ordered to return next week and try again.
Oh and they can invite the Argentinian Captain to attend another photo call too. They may not respect the game on the field but there is no excuse for not doing so off it.
Dean
Guest
I have a different perspective Ray. I've watched plenty of league and AFL in my time, and I think the difference between the best and worst games in those codes is much narrower than for union. A great game of rugby is far superior to anything other football codes can offer up. But a bad one is far worse. When South Africa play another team of a similar style (eg England or BI Lions) or one that makes a lot of silly errors (ABs in most recent game) they make league and AFL look like very attractive alternatives. We are more sensitised to poor quality rugby spectacles in Australia, due to the ready availability of reasonable quality spectacles from other codes.
wre01
Roar Guru
That’s exactly the point. I don’t think this is a South African thing – Joost could box kick but was a beautiful runner and passer, perhaps the greatest 9 of all. The 95 and 99 Bok sides were lead by kicking 10s (de Beer and Stransky). Yet they played incredible rugby. That’s before you get to Habana etc. An idea for an article actually…
Kane
Roar Guru
What I was alluding to was that even if they're not advancing they can stand still and still be 50m offside but after 5m of the opposition running with the ball they can be back onside again.
WEST
Roar Guru
Especially when they have so much talent at their disposal, just standing around not being utilised. It’s criminal.. They have great players who can use the ball to score great tries. Always have, like Brian Habana, Percy Montgomery. Jean de Villiers. Legend Joost van der Westhuizen. Jaque Fourie, just to name a few.. it just seems like they’ve taken this strategy to far?
wre01
Roar Guru
Spot on: NZ passed 142 times, Australia 161, Argentina 126 and …. SA 66 times. Not a typo. Most of the time Pollard and Faf weren’t even looking at the overlaps.
therealnews
Roar Rookie
They won the 3/4 playoff in '99...
wre01
Roar Guru
Spot on… if you look at the 10 year record, the sides have played 19 times and the Boks have won 3 (16%). To my memory, I don’t think SA have beaten NZ at a RWC since 1995?
woodart
Guest
definitley a lack of leadership with the All Blacks. not surprising really ,ardie is third or fourth in the pecking order, but t.j. and beauden b didnt have good games. with their experience, probably the biggest disappointment overall.
Eltski
Roar Rookie
Not sure what game you watched but I enjoyed just for it's brutality. Siya Kolisi and Blackadder were phenomenal. All Blacks and Springboks were evenly matched with only the conversion separating them at the end. Great clash of styles. Springboks found their mojo that seemed to have gone amiss over the previous two weeks playing the Wallabies and the All Blacks proved they still have what it takes to close out games even when placed under enormous pressure. Looking forward to seeing the Championship next year after the Springboks have had a year to find their feet after their long absence. I think next year will be a cracker - Wallabies will have more internationals back, AB's will still be there as they always are and the Boks will be a lot more settled.
wre01
Roar Guru
I think the Springbok broke my heart. Again, kicking 38 times and only passing 65 times in 80 minutes. That ain’t rugby. And those who defend it are the sad minority.
The Ferret
Roar Rookie
He might be poking a pit of shade but he does make a good point. When did Bok forwards who pride themselves on being so tough start either a. Being the most injured forwards in world rugby or b. Faking injuries. Refs are in a bad position here. Very hard for them to tell someone to stop faking an injury invade they are actually injured. They need to do their duty of care and make sure they are ok. But something does need to be done about this after the game because it is more than obvious 9 out of 10 are just to give their team mates a breathe.
The Ferret
Roar Rookie
You are right there Merlin about the ABs not playing two bad games in a row. We have seen the wallabies put a win over them and then turn around in 6 days and the ABs win by 40. I’m interested to see their response.
The Ferret
Roar Rookie
MK… but the boks did have 500 mins to prep for this so they technically have no excuse.
The Ferret
Roar Rookie
WRE that is exactly my thoughts. I was chatting to a kiwi mate of mine and he believed the wallabies would have put a convincing win on the ABs If they played like that in any game over the last 2 years. The ABs through horrible passes that usually go to hand, the dropped every second high ball, the failed to offload in the tackles, they did not have 2,3 or 4 players lined up during a line break and their general in field kicking was below average. It does not matter how many players are missing, how many were rotated last week. This team simply failed to execute on basic skills the ABs have been the best at for the past 15 years.
The Ferret
Roar Rookie
First… they are laws and not rules Second… if the ref tells a chasing player to stop advancing they must stop advancing regardless of if you enter a 10m circle or the attacking player runs x amount of meters. The ref has descresion to make these calls and I believe he did against the boks on 1 occasion.
The Ferret
Roar Rookie
I do remember teams using this aggressive in the air tactics against Israel Falau. The argument then and now is that the chaser who is simply taking out the attacking player is that they are in the space and playing at the ball. They do this by doing their best to slap at or knock the ball back. It is a fine line because the boks wingers on more than one occasion did successfully achieve this.
The Coaster
Roar Rookie
Surely you jest?
Dontcallmeshirley
Guest
When did Springboks become so weak? Pretending to be injured is not manly. Former greats will be turning in their graves.
The Coaster
Roar Rookie
The worse performance before this one was 2019 semi-final in Japan. Close finishers for worst game were the games last year, losing to Australia and Argentina
Merlin
Roar Rookie
And they will try again this Saturday ???? Should be really fascinating….I feel the ABs will have learnt a lot and generally don’t play two poor games in a row.. Hopefully not humid conditions as well.. And we need a good ref to stop the slowing down of play…