Its 25 -24. If the All Blacks win this one I’ll eat my hat.

You’ll get no sympathy from me. You want sympathy, look in the dictionary between s–t, and syphilis! Thats where you’ll find my sympathy. – Major Payne.

Cullen last played against South Africa in 2002. The boks got 40 odd points put on them in Wellington. Cullen played the full 80.

That’s the beauty of rugby mate. Like referee decisions. It’s all in the eye of the beholder. It’s funny you mention the last 5 South Africa All Blacks matches in Wellington. Just last night I was watching the 2011 match against South Africa in Wellington.

Unfortunately matches against the old foe are so frequent we all too quickly forget some really top notch rugby in the very recent past. We all remember the Germishuys try at Athletic Park as folklore but can many describe the scorcher that Jane scored against South Africa in 2011. I suspect not. Or Dan Carter and Nonu combining to setup Zac Guildford for another slashing try which should be remembered in the top echelon of All Blacks scores. I sadly doubt it.

Completely agree. I hope World Rugby moves to block ALL attempts by players to switch allegiance under these regulations. You make your bed. You lie in it. There is still room for honour in this game.

Agreed. The fawning over this match is laughable. An intense match yes. A typical All Blacks South Africa test match. Nothing more.

51-20

All Blacks man of the match for mine. With Conrad Smith out, he was the glue holding the ship together. I was beginning to think it was just me who saw McCaw in the thick of pretty much everything. Especially when Folau was wading through tackles on his way to the try line under the posts and McCaw was there, once again to save the day.

Apart from a few thunderous tackles, I thought Kaino had a test match he’d probably like to forget. McCaw was the best on the night for the All Blacks, once again. A fantastic player. Joe Moody looks really promising for the front row stocks and Fekitoa held up well in a dangerous assignment. A wallaby team with its tail up, in Sydney with an expectant crowd.

Lets all step back for a moment and look at how this is likely to pan out. All Blacks win at Auckland. Bledisloe gone for another year. 2015 bc series played over two matches. All Blacks win in Auckland. Bledisloe gone for another year. 2016…

If we do it by total number of All Blacks matches and not just tests, then the selection starts to include a few more of the “usual suspects” for all time XV selection:

15. Mils Muliaina. 102 matches
14. Sir John Kirwan. 97 matches
13. Bruce Robertson. 102 matches
12. Ma’a Nonu. 92 matches
11. Bryan Williams. 113 matches
10. Daniel Carter. 100 matches
9. Justin Marshall. 88 matches
8. Zinzan Brooke. 100 matches
7. Richie McCaw. 128 matches
6. Ian Kirkpatrick. 113 matches
5. Sir Colin Meads. 133 matches
4. Andy Haden. 117 matches
3. Ian Clarke. 83 matches
2. Sean Fitzpatrick. 128 matches
1. Tony Woodcock. 110 matches

Squad members:
Don Clarke. 89 matches
Stu Wilson. 85 matches
Grant Fox. 78 matches
Sid Going. 86 matches
Kel Tremain. 86 matches
Ian Jones. 105 matches
Keven Mealamu. 114 matches
Steve McDowall. 81 matches.

I reckon a case could be made for about 10 of that starting XV to hold their positions in a merit based all time XV.

“abnutta – how can you possibly like number 3?”… because my real name is Okey Geffin.

Thank you Eddard for the article. I think this is a great opportunity for an important debate on the merits of these proposals and their place in the game… if any.

When I look at law variations (such as the oft maligned ELVs of 2007), I look firstly at their intent and secondly and most importantly IMO, their probable effects.

Without going into microscopic scrutiny, my first impressions are:

Intent of Law 01: An incentive to score more tries. duh
Effect of Law 01: Bugger all.

Intent of Law 02: To increase ball-in-play time.
Effect of Law 02: Depending on the time limit imposed it may result in more missed points due to rushed attempts or a requirement for increased goal kicking skill. I hope it’s the latter

Intent of Law 03: A deterrent. Conceding a penalty may not necessarily relieve the pressure on your try line. An incentive to maintain discipline when defending eg. staying onside, rolling away from rucks, correctly entering through the gate, immediate release at the tackle etc. Discourage long range kick and hope attempts at goal.
Effect of Law 03: So many possibilities. Increased defensive discipline, fewer long range attempts at goal. Less competition at the breakdown to avoid giving away penalties, more scrums

Intent of Law 04: More ball-in-play time
Effect of Law 04: obvious

Intent of Law 05: Reduce the influence that referee interpretation can potentially have on the scoreboard by 50%.
Effect of Law 05: Delay the inevitable. Increase lineouts and scrums but reduce penalty attempts.

Intent of Law 06: Promote cleaner scrum base clearance
Effect of Law 06: More set moves from the back of the scrum with loose forward interplay

Intent of Law 07: Encourage discipline and safety
Effect of Law 07: So many glorious possibilities, remove a potent attacking threat? Remove a front row forward so that if there’s a scrum there is even more disruption?

Intent of Law 08: Encourage players to stay on their feet at the breakdown
Effect of Law 08: Less sealing off at the breakdown. More forwards required at the breakdown to stop/gain momentum at the breakdown

Intent of Law 09: Encourage contesting the line out
Effect of Law 09: Every line out will be contested, as it should, it’s rugby for goodness sake. The entire game is built around the contest for the ball.

Intent of Law 10: Encourage kicking to land and not to hand.
Effect of Law 10: More scrums, more free kicks, more lineouts. Less urgency to retreat and support the catcher.

Intent of Law 11: Increase the value of a penalty earned in the defensive zone when time is up.
Effect of Law 11: More structured set piece attack at the back end of halves.

Intent of Law 12: more ball in play time
Effect of Law 12: fewer scrums and lineouts.

In summary I think these proposals are ALL great. I guess I’m just an optimist but I’m very interested to hear differing interpretations on the effects that these proposals might have.

awesome

not that interesting

Super Rugby has been an absolute joke for a while now (about 10 years or so), but this isn’t even funny anymore.

If by cannibalisation of the New Zealand regions, you mean disbanding the franchises and returning the original provinces to centre stage, then you are right.. That’s exactly what sheek supports and I wholeheartedly agree.

He sees , as I do, that we are failing to maximise supporter potential by alienating what would otherwise be dyed in the wool rugby lovers. From that perspective my Southland example is entirely relevant to this very article and the wider discussion of the appropriate make up of the teams and who they represent in the NRC.

I count myself as a dyed in the wool rugby man as does sheek, heck I’ve forgotten more about the history of All Blacks rugby than most here on the roar will ever know, but I can’t in all good conscience support a system/framework for rugby that purports to be for the good of the game, when I can see so plainly that it is an undercooked mutton dressed as medium rare lamb.

Same here.

Look at Southland as an example. 20000 turned up to rugby park (official capacity 18000) to watch them play Otago a few years ago but they could only get about 8000 or so to a so called Super Rugby match against the cheetahs. Tribalism and traditional rivalry focuses the passion of the rugby community. Even with the Otago part removed from the highlanders, there is still a lack of identification with the team, the same can be seen with all of the “franchises” in New Zealand with the exception of Canterbury.

As a Hawkes bay man all I can say is I no longer watch or support Super Rugby as a concept. It has damaged the beating heart of the game in New Zealand.

As for the NRC, people like the author are beginning to get a taste of the bitterness that those of us outside of the main centres of Auckland, Waikato, Wellington, Canterbury and Otago have been chewing on for years.

The lemmings will say let’s just support it because it’s what we have, but some of us like sheek and Mark who see a better way must continue to speak out and continually ask the questions. To paraphrase The late Edward Kennedy “we see rugby the way it should be and ask why not.”

This NRC will be to Australia what the NPC has become to New Zealand. Good for development but that’s about it.

My hope like yours, I suspect, was that the NRC would place itself to become Australia’s defacto conference in an expanded Super Rugby competition. In this endeavor I hope it succeeds so that we kiwis and South Africans can have back our tradition and history.

Johnny Smith and Conrad Smith in the centres would be pretty formidable feeding Ian Smith (world record setting Scottish winger of the 1920s) and George Smith (1905 All Blacks winger) with Ben Smith at fullback.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear to be an irb problem here. It’s the hand of the almighty dollar at play here.

Have the All Blacks wear their alternate strip in the European market. It’s that simple. Adidas recently acquired apparel rights to the French team and reverted them back to their traditional royal blue which meant that the All Blacks would in theory not have a clash of playing strips in future.

I believe that irb regulations state that if there is no agreement between the two unions in the event of a playing strip clash hen the away team must wear an alternate strip. If the French trot out wearing a darker shade of blue this week it may go some way to mitigating the foundations of my cynicism.

And the rugby team won the schoolboy match – I assume you refer to the hybrid match that was developed by the likes of Mark Ella and. Bob Fulton etc

Minutes after the match I Commened on the live scores thread that it was the greatest test match ever played.

I was at the Sydney match in 2000 and I have no hesitation in saying that I would have rather been at Ellis Park yesterday! I’ve watched the match 6 times already… The wife is not happy!

Cullen scored his 7 tries when there were only four matches in a Rugby Championship campaign! 2000 I believe it was only the match in Sydney where he didn’t score a double. As far as I’m aware the only player to score a try in every match of a Rugby Championship campaign, although Howlett may also have shared that honour… Can’t remember off the top of my head sorry.

Quite right Johnno,

That match was eerily reminiscent of the Ellis Park match in 1997. The boks were hyper pumped for that one too after conceding the series to the All Blacks the year before.

The greatest test match ever played!

Ps. I was at the Bledisloe cup match in 2000 at Sydney. It was the first time I had attended an All Blacks test in the flesh. I have no hesitation to wish I could trade that experience to be at Ellis. Park today.