All Blacks coach Steve Hansen comes into question after All Blacks loss, Ajaz Patel reflects on Black Caps win and Japanese Daredevil does the unthinkable in Auckland.
COMMENT:
In the wake of Ireland's glorious victory over the All Blacks in Dublin – their first ever on home soil – the Irish rugby union released a behind-the-scenes video of the minutes before this most epic of tests and the immediate aftermath.
Here's a challenge for All Blacks supporters: find it on YouTube, watch it, and try not to be moved by it, especially at the utter joy shown near the end by Bundee Aki, a 28-year-old midfielder born in Auckland of Samoan heritage who was one of Ireland's best players in the 16-9 victory at Aviva Stadium.
He was certainly one of their proudest. The video shows him at the final whistle facing the crowd and slapping the Irish crest on his jersey; the manifestation, probably, of his happiness at being part of something so special for his adopted nation – he qualifies by virtue of his playing for Irish club Connacht since 2014 – and, possibly, something else, something less positive.
Looking from afar, and I accept I may be taking some things out of context, Aki was clearly targeted by the All Blacks in the build-up to this test, just as fellow Kiwi Brad Shields was before the test against England at Twickenham. Messages were floated in the media; some subtle, some more overt. It all seemed to get a bit personal, and, to be brutally honest, it's left a bit of a sour taste.
It probably also backfired because both Aki and Shields played superbly, and all credit to them for it. At Twickenham, Shields wasn't in the position to celebrate like Aki but, given the All Blacks won by only 16-15 and that England had a try disallowed and probably should have won a penalty in front of the posts at the end, he has every right to think he deserved to.
Ireland's Bundee Aki with Dane Coles and Jack Goodhue of New Zealand. Photo / Photosport
You could argue that there's nothing wrong with putting a bit of pressure on opposition players or coaches and I would agree with that, up to a point. What I don't agree with is the criticisim of players who have tried for many years to fulfil their dream of playing for the All Blacks and who go elsewhere to further their careers after that door is shut in their faces.
Players have only a limited professional career – probably 10 years for most of them. Some have much less time at the top. So they have to do what's right for them and their families, just as coaches have to do what's right for the team. Sometimes the two things don't match up, but where it gets a bit tricky is when those coaches doing the criticising have enjoyed their own overseas experience – in fact they're encouraged to by New Zealand Rugby – and have returned with bank balance and their bank of intellectual property significantly improved.
I have an element of sympathy for all international coaches, and players for that matter, who face the media in the days before big tests.
Sitting up there on the top table, some of them must feel scrutinised down to the way they pour their water into their glass, and most do their best to answer truthfully and openly on all manner of things – to do otherwise would be to invite criticism.
But there seemed to be an undercurrent of resentment from the All Black coaches towards loose forward Shields, whose parents are English, for giving up on his All Black dream to represent England, and it seemed more overt a week later towards Aki, a former Chiefs player who didn't appear to be in the frame for the black jersey but has fulfilled a different dream elsewhere.
It struck as odd because Steve Hansen, Ian Foster and their colleagues normally get it so right – and they did again, graciously, after the Ireland defeat.
Professional sport can be a tough and cruel business, but rugby has always played off its reputation as being a hard but fair one, one in which respect is still important – no, more than that: a key principle.
I just feel Brad Shields and Bundee Aki, two proud and hard-working Kiwis now working abroad (something that many of us can identify with), deserved a bit more of that respect.
