KEY POINTS:
Springbok coach Jake White says that no team has ever won the World Cup based on attack. "World Cups get won on defence, not attack. It will be the same this time."
The commment comes in spite of Graham Henry's stated ambition to play an attacking game at the tournament in France. The battle of minds between the Southern Hemisphere's two leading rugby coaches could yet decide the outcome of the 2007 tournament.
Would losing the Bledisloe Cup and Tri-Nations matter if the ABs go on to win the World Cup? Here is a selection of Your Views:
Lisa (Auckland)
Yes, winning the Bledisloe Cup and the Tri-Nations is important for team morale. It will also intimidate the other teams in the Rugby World Cup and make them realise that the ABs are not a push over.
Kilted krew (Sydney)
Yes, losing to the yellow and green-eyed monster is the worst we can do. The World Cup is only something every 4 years, while beating the Aussies is like being the best brother. Bring back fear and trembling when you play the Blacks.
John
I am of the opinion that the Tri-Nations and Bledisloe Cup are more important than the RWC. The RWC is just a one off tournament spread over a few weeks, you could hold a tournament like this and give any name (like the French Rugby Open) whoever wins it has really only won a tournament. Take England, they won the last world cup! What have they done since? Have they even got a ranking at the moment? Is this a true indication of who is really on top of world rugby? I say not. Isn't it a better way to award points for winning test matches or test series and accumulating these points to find out who is the top nation in the world, rather than basing it on one tournament? and wouldn't this make every test match count and actually hold some value? Something to think about. As for Jake Whites comments, I feel sorry for the game of rugby if teams are going to focus on playing a defensive style of game, this can only lead to its downfall as a spectacle, as it is starting to at the mom!
Ian Morine
I totally agree with Anton Vernall's (Seattle) comments re Reuben Thorne's performances for the AB's. But I would just like to add - Thorne reminds me of the National Party Opposition here in NZ, "full of ex leaders on the front bench" and just about as useless!
Wade (Beachlands)
Yes I think it would. For Aussie would have so much more confidence and that is not a good thing.
Lozza (Brisbane)
Again Jake White highlights the frustrating mentality that a lot of international coaches are adopting regarding the failure of the team they coach. If he was proud of the collective spirit of the 'Boks and thought they gave the All Blacks a shake up, then he must be out of his mind! How can you justify losing by 27 points? Irrespective of the so called spirit and well-drilled defensive patterns, did Jake think that his 6 points were worth their endeavours? At the end of the day, his team goes home with another L for Lost in the stats column - and aren't results what coaches are paid for? You win games by scoring more than the opposition! It is all well and good to rest your best players (As an ABs fan I have no problem with this, considering we pioneered this rotation brouhaha) but let's not harp on about the so called positives when your team has lost by an unflattering margin. The ABs were second rate on the day with a few good individual performances and both SA, NZ and Aussie fans of union I have spoken to agree that if the ABs passes had stuck (considering the huge amount of line breaks!) then it could have been a cricket score. Better to be average now and still winning up to the World Cup than losing and demeaning the national jersey by trying to cover up your team's obvious flaws with trite lines about spirit and so forth. That's good for rugby, this once sacred principle called winning - it tends to make everything better. Irrespective of the team you send, just go out there and have a crack at the opposition - you never know what might happen. Remember Bay of Plenty vs Auckland, 15th August 2004? There is no glory in a loss. Period.
Pedro
Winning is a good habit that once lost is hard to get back. It's important to start to perform. This is very close to 'the best team', only minor changes now required I believe. I think it's only a matter of time until the passes stick. The pack will easily win the up front joust so the backs should have plenty of ball. With the best midfield now playing two tests in a row I think the magic will start to happen. JW says defence wins. I never want the ABs to win like that. Win and win well. We have before and we will again. It's important that we stick to our guns. The Aussies and the Saffies have already started with the mind games. It'll only get worse when we get to Europe. When the rest of the world starts to question your bottle and play mind games it's because they know that they would get murdered on the park. Best way to play these guys is on the park. Win and win well.
Macca
I agree with Jake White that defence does wins the tight contests. So I thought it was worth a look at the recent Tri-Nation For/Against stats to see how our southern RWC rivals are tracking.
So far this tournament...
#1 NZ 74-47 (27 diff)
#2 AU 64-54 (10)
#3 SA 66-103 (-37)
and for 2006 ...
#1 NZ 179-112 (67 diff)
#2 AU 133-121 (12)
#3 SA 106-185 (-79)
So SA not only have the worst attack (that we can see for ourselves) but Jakes defence is also the worst over the past two seasons! His comments are designed as mind games to unsettle the AB game plan, which he's clearly worried about. However these stats show he's actually putting the pressure on himself, maybe he should heed his own advice? His comments are as well thought out as one of his game plans!
LT (Perth)
Tournaments are there to be won. Whether it be pee-knuckle, roller hockey or marbles, you try to win don't you? We have been called the No.1 team between World cups for 20 years, so yes, we must win this week. Henry and co have "conditioned" the "cream of the crop of NZ rugby" all year. They should be bloody bullet proof by now! Settle on the real test team and let them play. That's what happens when there's too many coaches with too many ideas. No use having depth if you don't have combinations for the starting team. Like the old saying goes, "you can't please all everybody". For Christ sakes Graham, make up your mind. This ain't a rush call, you've had three years to do it.
Rob (Brisbane)
Yes the Tri-Nations and Bledisloe mean everything. I actually regard them (especially the Bledisloe) over the world cup. I don't agree with G.Henry changing the team all of the time. The time to experiment was last year, not now when we are getting down to business. The players need game time together to develop. Do you know what it is like over here when we get beaten by these bloody oockers. I'll tell ya, unbearable, so come on boys deliver the goods and shut them up once and for all. Oh, don't play part-time centres against Mortlock. Didn't we learn from the last world cup?
Sherls (Sydney)
To Grant from Perth who wrote:
"from an Aussie perspective, it is the prestige of the World Cup as the pinnacle of world rugby that middle Australia is interested in - we don't care for rugby as a spectator sport that much (with the exception of some remnant areas in Queensland and NSW) is a bit stop-start for the Aussie Rules palate. We consider the Tri-Nations a relatively boring and incestuous competition, that is nonetheless necessary for use as a platform for the World Cup."
Rubbish! I also am an Aussie and I can tell you that whoever wins the silverware available this weekend will have a huge mental advantage leading into the RWC. Some of us are extremely passionate about our rugby in Australia and don't find it boring whatsoever. This weekend the Wallabies have a rare opportunity to knock the best team in the world of its perch. Forget the World cup if we can't get this one over the line. The All Blacks would be mad not to throw everything at the Wallabies to try and mentally crush the Aussies now as there is every chance these two teams will meet up in the semi-final.
Phil
The old saying a champion team will beat a team of champions comes to mind with this year's All Blacks. Probably for the first time ever a sizeable number of ABs loyalty is in doubt and it is that which is impacting upon performance in tests. Drop all of the blokes who are shooting through after the World Cup and go into a camp with what's left plus a few from outside the squad if there are gaps to be filled. Players would also benefit from getting a couple of NPC games under their belts - firstly to keep those basic skills polished and secondly get the heads outta the clouds and back into the simple delight of playing footy. Sweep 'em back up into camp and turn on a possibles V probables or a North v South to game get everyone reading off the same page, then send 'em off to France. There is no need to make things so complicated or to allow the 'white ants' to hang around. If Henry can deliver the basics for the ABs - they will deliver, for no other reason than all the other sides are in an even more dysfunctional state than circumstances have reduced the ABs to.
Eril da peril - deep in the Southern Alps
Hell, we need as much practice as we can get!
I am worried that our back-line is not up to scratch. I am not convinced Smith the coach gets the best out of the backs. Their passing is so often slow, poorly directed and I often see the centre standing still waiting for the pass. Why doesn't anyone move in anticipation? How can this maximise their ability to do something? Too often passes are not at the right height or are not just in front of the player - they have to reach up or down or behind. Our half-backs are especially poor in that regard. They both nearly always take 1 or 2 steps before passing and then at least 25 per cent of the time it is poorly directed as I said above. Brendan Leonard was much better in that area.
And when did we last run straight? Instead of across the field? Or when do we run other lines so the opposition had to think rather than just shuffle across in time to shut down our predictable efforts? Or does Smith have a whole lot of these tricks stored away for later in the World Cup? Is he just lulling the opposition into a false sense of security? Gawd I hope so - otherwise there are 4 or more teams more than capable of stopping our limited options and beating us by being smarter. We are the best team aren't we? So why do we continue to play so dumb?
Not From Christchurch
It must be considered that after all media and mostly supporters attention towards Reuben Thorne's playing ability that current selectors have inherited all burdens amassed by their predecessors. Did he not captain the All Blacks at the last world cup? How many times has Reuben been overlooked to be named in a 22 man squad since then? Even the indignity of an ex-captain to be asked to lead a 2nd XV wasn't enough clue for Reuben to rethink his career. Yet, here he is on the brink of the next RWC outlasting many who we thought were capable of applying themselves 10 times as hard on the field. The patience selectors have shown Reuben must be tempered with at least a directive from head office that dues are somehow still owed to Mr Hard Done By. Where's the balance? Where is the love? If Reuben is selected to with the RWC best, at the very least I hope vengeance and redemption will kick start a promise made 5 years ago.
Becks (Auckland)
The current "3 wise men" are probably the best we've had so far to lead our men in black. Their tactics to rest our best players with the "Reconditioning Programme" worked marvels as we saw in the game against South Africa in Durban. Even the South African coach has adopted this method (resting his best players) because he knows that it works! We no doubt have some of the best players in the world so we obviously expect a lot from their performance for every single match. However we never seem to acknowledge plays we were successful in e.g lineout wins, turnovers.. we only concentrate on the errors. The headlines say the win against South Africas "B" team was unacceptable & weak, giving no credit to the other team, suggesting maybe they stepped up their game making it difficult for the ABs to perform. Sure there were a couple of bad and incomplete plays, but to me a win is a win. We are going to take out the Rugby World Cup 2007 - no doubt! Then the ABs can shut up their critics.
Rob - Kiwi in the UK
I don't think it would make much difference at all - the burning issue is, can they rid themselves of someone else's monkey? Of more importance to me at least, is the issue of commentators. Don't get me wrong - they're dreadful - pitiful, the world over. In NZ you don't have to sit and listen to the utterly moronic Miles Harrison of Sky UK or the equally boorish Eddie and Brian show. The Australian twits fare no better not least because of the Australian addiction to themselves and their mouths. But please, surely it has reached the point in a semi-civilised New Zealand society, where it is possible to have someone in the commentary booth that is actually alive? These dreadful commentators with their witless lack of mental agility sell New Zealand as a place of unparalleled boredom. Watch 10/7, a test from NZ and you're left thinking NZ is a country full of thick drongoes.
Moses (Eastlakes. Sydney)
To his detriment Jake White criticises the ABs game as 1 dimensional attack even though the ABs have beaten the Boks twice by defending well and scoring great tries. The ABs have won 5 of 6 international tests thus far in 2007 by playing tough (hard to watch) but exciting rugby.
Change of subject: An Oz told me the ABs lost at the MCG rather than the Wallabies won, but to me it is the marketing of 'AB trailers' that do the most damage when the Bledisloe is played here in Oz because its what puts the 'fire into the Ozzie bellies' of players & supporters.
A 'trailer' of 5-10 current & past ABs praising their Wallaby opponents, no better encouragement could they hope to televise. The Aussies used this same tactic prior to the 2003 World Cup semi-final and they stole the finals birth from us, that's how dangerous this tactic is. The ABs must be told their interviews are being exploited to the max by the Oz-Media, so they should be cagier with their praise in the future, or even better refuse to do Oz-Media interviews, who now have enough AB interviews in their archives to roll old trailers for a couple of hours 'don't give them any more new AB interviews'.
Lindsay
If Jake White is right about how to win the World Cup, then I am glad I am not wasting my money going to France this year. While I am disappointed in the All Black's performances so far this season, and wouldn't bet on them to win the World Cup this year, at least they are trying to make the game worth watching. If White's view of rugby is correct, then we might as well all watch the NRL instead.
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