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Joined March 2019
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Exactly. Most of those series were shared 1-1, but Australia retained it. Once they lost it, a sudden push for a 3 test series, from Australia.
Now they want to change again.
Bledisloe Groundhog Day: Is it time for changes?
A-ha. Except it’s often been a 3 Test series, and when Australia won it back in the late 1990s, it was they who changed it to a 2-Test series. This artifically allowed them to hang onto it longer because they only had to win one of those two tests and NZ had to win both. Most of those series during the ‘Golden Era’ of Australian rugby, were shared 1-1.
Then when the Wallabies lost it again, low and behold, they wanted a return to the three test series because the holders only having to win one Test to retain the cup was suddenly considered unfair.
Now you want to change the rules again, in a cup where Australia has often had home ground advantage for Bledisloe 1 season after season so you can ‘win’ it back? Be a bit hollow if you don’t win it the old fashioned way wouldn’t it? It’s a bit like Aussie pressing the conference system so they could get teams in Super Rugby playoffs. If anything, the ‘dead rubber’ should just not be played, once the All Blacks have locked it away for another season, it’s pointless.
Bledisloe Groundhog Day: Is it time for changes?
‘International’ League is a joke. Tonga are basically a team of turn-coat Aussies and Kiwis of Island heritage who have basically slapped the systems that brought them through in the face for a country most of them probably only set foot in for a holiday.
Given that the ‘Samoan’ squad at the rugby world cup was 14 Kiwis, 7 Aussies, 10 born in Samoa only 2 (!) of whom had lived in the Islands past the age of 5, that’s just as much of a joke. Tonga aren’t much better. The idea behind competition is supposed to be about gauging the strength of players FROM those countries, not how many players from other countries the Islands can poach. Ironic isn’t it, given all the poaching claims over the years.
Samoa to approach Sonny Bill Williams for international league return
Even more embarrassing for the NH, given their riches, is the insane amount of coaches and players (particularly Kiwi ones) they’ve imported into their systems and clubs to get them up to speed.
This also has the added effect of weakening the SH competitions at the same time. NZ, and to a degree Australia, are also the only top sides in the World who can’t field all their best players. Think McMahon, Fardy and Skelton for the Wallabies, think Charles Piutau, Luatua, Kerr-Barlow, Vito, Faumuina and literally dozens of others all in their playing prime for the All Blacks.
Collective failure of the Six Nations
The Wallabies won the same fixture in a World Cup year in 07, 11, and 15. You’d think everyone would have learned that it doesn’t tend to mean anything other than a one-off win.
The Wallabies were up at halftime in Bledisloe #1 last year too, and frankly, until the red-card you probably would have still backed the All Blacks to win it, simple because no team can flick a switch and go from 0 to 100 quite like they can (again, see last year). You should put 20 points on a 14 man side, if you don’t, then you really have problems.
The media are to blame for the Wallabies' failure
Learn? That certain people who should know better shouldn’t get too carried away with piling points on a 14 man side. Lest we forget the Wallabies were all over a mistake ridden All Blacks in Bledisloe One last year too, and then the Kiwis flicked the switch at halftime and it was all over. Invariably these days, the All Blacks are a one-half team, if they don’t get the first half right, the second usually makes up for it.
If nothing else, the Wallabies did a much better job of putting points on a side a man down than the over-hyped Lions managed, and they had longer to do it. So there’s that.
With the Bledisloe Tests both poles apart, what did we really learn?
Well one thing I’m looking forward to is the silly Conference system being scrapped. The Hurricanes (probably the other form side towards the end) can feel rightly agrieved after finishing second on the overall ladder and yet having to travel away from home to play the Crusaders, while the third placed side got a home semi against the Chiefs.
Another thing is that the NZR should see sense, and start scheduling games post-June during the day. How many great games have we seen under the roof in Dunedin, and yet in the other centres we see error ridden and frustrating games where the ball is akin to a bar of soap. I’m sure the purists love it, but it doesn’t make for great entertainment. You’d think if they were concerned about the ‘product’, they’ve want better games, so in NZ, they should be during the day.
Six talking points from the Super Rugby final
‘Aussie’. Indeed. Bit of a joureyman Kiwi player who got in when Australia were at a rather low ebb in that position.
Aussie abroad: Mike Harris
What is the Aussie obsession with Angus Ta’avao? Even the game commentators couldn’t stop going on about him, like he’s a great lost Australian talent. He’s Kiwi, born and bred. Played for Auckland, then had a great year with Taranaki, when the Waratahs swooped in.
He’s always been a good player, but in reality he’s behind Franks, Laulala, Tu’ungafasi, and possibly Lomax and Moli now (who can play 3). It’s not like he’s suddenly become the great lost Tighthead of world rugby.
Super Rugby team of the week: Round 18
The kick I hate the most, the highly overused and telegraphed Box-Kick. I’ve seen so many tries scored directly from them (for the team formerly without the ball) that I wonder why they bother. They’re such a low percentage play with little upside and even less distance gained that I drop my head every time a Halfback sets up for one. That and you can tell they’re coming about 10 seconds before they attempt it.
As for the Blues, the first player they should look for is a descent half-back. Jonathan Ruru is so far out of his depth it’s not funny. He single-handedly gifted Canterbury their big lead half-time lead in the Mitre 10 Cup final last year, and is giving away try after try from his errors this year at a level of rugby he has no business being anywhere near.
As for their 12 problem. The Blues *had* Orban Ledger in their squad last year, one of their best performers and the U20 second-five (alongside Braydon Ennor). And…they let him go. The Blues are the best around at losing talent.
Six talking points from Super Rugby Round 16
“Greg Smith was capped 46 times for Fiji” and is of course, a Kiwi. Which is where a lot of my problem with the stuff coming out in the last week is just people (like Kiwi former Manu Samoa captain Dan Leo) venting for the sake of it it seems, and presenting a somewhat cherry-picked argument. Gregor Paul in particular writes this argument a lot, while (like Leo) ignoring a lot of facts about who’s actually propping up who’s rugby teams.
Case in point. The ‘Manu Samoan’ team that ran out against the All Blacks at Eden Park in 2017. 13 born and bred Kiwi’s (7 of the pack), an Australian, and ONE player who was actually born in the Islands. Tonga is going down the same road, essentially roaming around NZ poaching (let’s call it like it is) players who are probably don’t see themselves troubling the AB selectors anytime soon. No wonder the Samoan Prime Minister publicly complained that his team had no pride playing for Samoa, because they’re not from there!
If World Rugby *really* wanted to screw the Islands over, they’d push through a rule that says you have to live, play rugby, or at least be born in the country you intend to play for. This would wipe the Samoan and Tongan teams out in one fowl swoop. And it’s not like importing C-list Kiwi players is helping their cause either, because the most home-grown ‘Island’ team is Fiji, who by far the best of them.
Saying Australia, and particularly NZ ‘owe’ the Islands, for players born and bred in Aus/NZ, is a bit like they also owe Britain for every player of European heritage. It’s also a fact, which is apparently too non politically correct for any journalist to go near, that it’s the Island teams taking players developed by NZ and Australia (more the former) for their own teams, and essentially being no better than these NH clubs who let a country spot, and bring a player through, only to nab them when they deem fit.
It’s funny how for years the NH accused NZ of poaching the Islands whenever they saw a player with brown skin in their team (fact, Island born players only make up 3% of their total players ever and there are none in Hansens top XV), and yet they of course now take players from NZ via 3-year residency, or the ridiculous ‘grandmother’ rule. And yet for all Europes convinient rugby citizens, it’s actually an Island team that is the most imported in World Rugby.
Fiji deserve their place at the table, but frankly, until they stop roaming around NZ building up side purely based on heritage and not from the Islands, Tonga and particularly Manu Samoa should take their whining elsewhere.
The Wrap: World League, Super Rugby and The Smiths
The most puzzling talk since this game. ‘Bring back Jesse Mogg at fullback’.
Let me tell you, unless it’s another player with the same name, no selection in the past had All Black fans and the All Blacks themselves happier. He’d have his moments, but once he had a bad one, his game would implode.
Wallabies DIY player ratings from Bledisloe 3: The results