Steve Hansen in a moment of levity this week. Photo / Dean Purcell
Steve Hansen in a moment of levity this week. Photo / Dean Purcell
ANY GIVEN MONDAY (Saturday edition)
It's a big night for Beau'unga. It's a big night for footy.
In these days of Insta-gratification it's tempting to bestow great significance on the mundane but make no mistake, this Bledisloe Cup test holds as much importance as any of the 143 before itand more than most.
The All Blacks might have a 16-year stranglehold on the big jug and it might have been 25 years since they've been toppled at Eden Park, but you have to go a long way back – 2009, perhaps – when they've appeared this vulnerable.
Cracks have appeared in the All Blacks' infrastructure and tonight will go a long way towards determining whether Perth was the day the dam burst or whether it was nothing a bit of No More Gaps couldn't fix.
Whatever way you look at it, rugby has got really interesting again. You could even go so far to say this untimely form slump is the shot in the arm the sport desperately needed.
Steve Hansen's dumping of some big names for tonight's encounter – and let's not ruin the moment by playing the "squad rotation" and "opportunities to create depth" cards – is an indication that his team's straight-line route between 2011 and 2019 has veered off course.
This brings us to the most intriguing aspect of this campaign: the promotion of Richie Mo'unga in a twin-pivot formation with Beauden Barrett.
As head coach, one of Hansen's most impressive feats has been his ability to control the message (something he was singularly unsuited to in his earlier days as Graham Henry's pugnacious caporegime), though being unfettered makes that task easier.
For the first time in his reign at the pointiest end of the All Blacks, Hansen is faced with second-guessing rather than blind faith. His messages are still getting through, just not unchallenged.
The All Blacks' twin-pivot plan with Richie Mo'unga and Beauden Barrett is the World Cup masterplan we never knew we needed. Photo / Getty Images
Take the rendering of the Mo'unga-Barrett twin-pivot plan. It's been sold with all the vigour of those people who show up at your door trying to get you to change power companies and received with all the cynicism of the consumer who thinks, "Yeah, it's nice of them to throw in a free smart TV but do I actually need another one?"
Beau'unga is something we never knew we needed until it was apparently an indispensable part of the World Cup plan.
Tonight it's time to find out why.
There is a significant portion of the rugby populace who are satisfied only when the All Blacks are laying waste to every team by 30 points while playing "running rugby".
The problem with this is it's unsustainable and like an addict always needing more to achieve the same high, the crash hits hard when it doesn't come.
For some of us though, the deep fascination with the All Blacks is how they react when things are not coming easily – and for the first time in close to a decade, things look difficult.
Wins against the Wallabies at Eden Park are taken for granted these days. Should it happen again, masterminded by world-class performances at Nos 10 and 15, this one will mean more than most.
