All Blacks and England players after the drawn test at Twickenham. Photo / Photosport
All Blacks and England players after the drawn test at Twickenham. Photo / Photosport
OPINION:
Chris Rattue runs through the sporting winners and losers from across the weekend.
WINNER/LOSERS: England/All Blacks
England’s three-try blast in the final nine minutes against the All Blacks constitutes one of the great comebacks in rugby history even if Owen Farrell’s troops opted not to go on with thejob.
It was also yet another nail in the coffin of All Blacks’ superiority. A team once famed for its 80-minute expertise, who engineered the greatest of all escapes against Ireland nearly a decade ago, went AWOL when victory was virtually assured.
He turned a Bledisloe Cup game into a laughing stock this year with the time-wasting penalty that gave the All Blacks a get-out-of-jail card.
Now he’s helped wreck another major international with his officious nonsense.
The draw between England and the All Blacks turned into a remarkable game, but it was a plodding bore for too much of the time, and Raynal stopped any chance it had of getting some flow.
LOSER: Pedestrian New Zealand rugby
New Zealand Rugby needs to be more proactive if they want to secure the best coaches.
England are circling Scott Robertson while Ian Foster’s All Blacks stumble around. New Zealand missed out on the brilliant Jamie Joseph/Tony Brown partnership in similar circumstances.
WINNER: The All Blacks player of the year is…
…Ardie Savea, obviously. But even then, he has yet to join Buck Shelford, Zinzan Brooke and Kieran Read in the pantheon of great All Blacks No 8s, which says a lot about the status of this current team.
LOSER: The biggest All Blacks flop this year is…
Richie Mo’unga.
A few years ago, I thought he’d done enough to deserve being installed as the No. 10. You have to love the magical way he plays, at his best.
But instead of growing into the position, he looks intimidated by it.
Former test pivot Carlos Spencer, a Mo’unga fan, has rightly argued there’s no point picking him unless the All Blacks play to his attacking gifts.
But the All Blacks gave him an excellent initial platform at Twickenham, and he still couldn’t do enough with it.
Mo’unga is flaky, lacks command and makes unacceptable errors. He failed to put a foot on England’s throat when they were there for the taking. He’s not even the preferred goal kicker anymore.
Mo’unga’s career is turning into a very frustrating business.
(I thought he came across superbly though, when interviewed after the game).
Richie Mo’unga during the Johannesburg test against South Africa. Photosport
WINNERS: The best All Blacks rising players of 2022 are…
Power hooker Samisoni Taukei’aho; the surprisingly good Mark Telea — a slippery wing; maybe Jordie Barrett at second five-eighths; Dalton Papalii as a No 7 option — a tough nut loosie who scored a great try at Twickenham.
LOSER: Most overrated…
…Caleb Clarke lacks the skills required for a top-notch All Blacks test wing.
LOSER: Sam Whitelock’s captaincy takes a hit
Whitelock is an absolute legend beyond criticism, and yet…
Sam Cane has a lot of naysayers as All Blacks captain. But Whitelock was the man in charge when the All Blacks let an almost unassailable lead slip against England.
If Cane had been the captain in those circumstances, he’d be copping it left, right and centre.
WINNER: The mystery prize goes to…
…all the people responsible for the All Blacks scrum and maul.
WINNER: Lydia Ko…(back on top)…her mum….Ryan Fox
Fantastic. The Kiwi golf genius Lydia Ko is the LPGA player of the year, after her victory (and extraordinary prizemoney) in the final tournament in Florida.
It was a stunningly short road to the top for Kiwi Ko in her younger days, and a surprisingly long road back.
But she has had a golfing re-birth and is back near the summit of the world rankings.
So, is she a better golfer today?
“My mum jokes to me at times, she’s like, ‘You played so much better when you were like 15′,” Ko told Golf.com.
“I was like, ‘Thanks, mum. Okay, what am I meant to do with that information?’”
Mothers, eh?
Lydia’s take on the comparison to her younger self: she isn’t necessarily better, but “different”. For starters, she hits the ball further now.
Ryan Fox may have missed out on winning the DP World Tour order of merit title to the legendary Rory McIlroy, but finishing second is still a wonderful achievement.
Lydia Ko poses with the trophy after winning the CME Group Tour Championship. Photo /Getty
WINNER: A league recruit…
Said it before, will say it again. The All Blacks should find themselves a great defensive coach from rugby league.
England exposed their defensive line frailties yet again at Twickenham.
I still believe Rieko Ioane makes poor decisions and doesn’t exert the sort of control needed from centre. Prop Nepo Laulala struggles for speed and is thus often targeted.
This is only a layman’s view of course. But something isn’t quite right on the defensive side. So let an expert fix it.
WINNER: Samoa…thanks to its rugby league team
The amount of flag-waving support for Junior Paulo’s team around Auckland over the past week has been amazing.
Toa Samoa didn’t fire a meaningful shot in the World Cup final against Australia. But that didn’t stop the celebrations.
It was heartening to see a Samoan oval ball revival, their rugby team having been betrayed by union bosses since the inspiring World Cup days of the 1990s.
Samoans show off their pride and support for Toa Samoa at the Otara fan zone this morning. Photo / Hayden Woodward
LOSER: Rugby league women’s World Cup
Australia’s 54-4 final victory over the Kiwi Ferns was a disaster for the credibility of the women’s world tournament.
This follows the Jillaroos scoring massive-to-nil victories against other opponents.
I suspect State of Origin in Australia is the best avenue to drive the game forward, rather than a faux world tournament.
Yet it means some of the same Aussie-centric nonsense from the men’s game will probably hit the women.
For example: Northlander Botille Vette-Welsh, who plays for the Māori All Stars, flipped to New South Wales and Australia a couple of years ago.
LOSER: FIifa and Gianni Infantino
The bizarre tirade by Fifa boss Infantino on the eve of the World Cup in Qatar wasn’t completely off the mark.
The Arab world is treated with disdain by the West, most notably in movies where Arabs are almost always stereotyped in one-dimensional and negative ways. (And those movies are very influential.)
There is also a major element of hypocrisy in the way the West overlooks its own atrocities and indiscretions when moralising about others.
But Infantino’s ridiculous speech drew a long bow in order to brush Qatar’s crimes against freedom and decency under the mat.
Linking the well-founded condemnation of Qatari practices to his own childhood as an (allegedly) bullied redhead was beyond belief.
Apart from anything else, his speech emphasised how out of touch Fifs is with the real world.
It also came across as an attempt to use genuine grievances of minority groups to cover up Fifa’s history of corrupt practices, rather than any genuine concern on his part for the disaffected and disadvantaged.
Bottom line: the less we see of Infantino during the tournament the better.
WINNER: Carlos Alcarez
At 19, the US Open winner is about to become the youngest-ever world tennis number one at the end of a year. The Spaniard pips Aussie Lleyton Hewitt, who was 20 when he achieved the feat in 2001. Alcarez is so young he gets to overtake his idol Rafael Nadal for the top spot.
WINNER/LOSER: Max Verstappen/Lewis Hamilton
Formula 1 pundits suspected last year’s championship — where Verstappen controversially beat seven-time champ Hamilton for the title — was a watershed.
But the extent of the change has been a shock.
Verstappen won in Abu Dhabi and finished 2022 with a record 15 victories, while Hamilton went through the season without a win or pole position for the first time. Hamilton had the perfect excuse — a dud car.
