Peter Bills: Twickenham stunner delivers powerful lesson

Sonny Bill Williams of the Crusaders in action during the round six Super Rugby match between the Crusaders and the Sharks. Photo / Getty Images

Where now then for the consistently hopeless Northern Hemisphere rugby? No more excuses about being unable to play Southern Hemisphere-type rugby on grounds in the Northern Hemisphere.

Where to now for all the apologists north of the equator who have tried to pass off years of tripe as top-class rugby?

Monday at Twickenham, and the first Super 15 match outside the Southern Hemisphere, was a defining moment for both hemispheres.

The Sharks might have got belted, overrun at times in the first half by the sheer genius of the Crusaders. But, especially after halftime, they still played their part in a game that stuffed years of excuses back down the throats of Northern Hemisphere rugby. This was as good as rugby gets.

Quick ball? It was there in abundance. Straight running? It was commonplace. Good decision-making? That was to be seen all over the field. Courage, commitment, physicality? It was everywhere to be seen.

Timing of the pass? Angle of the attacking run, off-loading in the tackle, especially by the extraordinarily skilled Sonny Bill Williams? All sublime. So too was the subtle way Dan Carter launched his backline. Every pyrotechnic display takes someone to light the fuse and Carter did it in style.

This was a rugby lesson like no other to those in Britain and Europe. The slow, ponderous style of play they have hallmarked will be cruelly and brutally exposed at the World Cup this year, if Graham Henry holds true to his pledge to retain this type of dynamic, attack-based, ball-in-hand playing style.

And maybe South African rugby will be exposed too by the New Zealanders if they play anything like the Crusaders did in the first half in the Twickenham sunshine. To see the potential Springboks front row, Jannie and Bismarck du Plessis and John Smit, destroyed by the Crusaders' pack, was a warning to Boks' coach Peter de Villiers.

What it ought to have told him is that forward power alone is unlikely to be enough at the World Cup this year, certainly not against the All Blacks. And what other game do the South Africans have to offer if Plan A fails?

It certainly did for the Sharks. To see their scrum in headlong retreat was a huge shock.

They were not only cut to pieces by the genius of the Crusaders behind the scrum but hammered in the forward exchanges too.

As John Smit, loosehead prop on the day, retreated to the sideline after 50 minutes, after suffering an absolute mauling at the set pieces, you just sensed the whole debate about whether the World Cup might be a tournament too far for the great Springbok captain might not be reignited.

All around Twickenham, there were thousands of empty seats for this spectacular rugby feast. Almost two entire tiers in fact, which was an utterly shameful sight.

Put that down to the myopic British rugby public who only want to watch a lethargic war of attrition riddled with penalty kicks.

Never has the ignorance of the rugby public in this part of the world been more emphasised. Twickenham should have been filled to bursting.

But the good old Brits swallow, hook, line and sinker the clap-trap trotted out by blinkered British media that they are seeing the best rugby in the world each week. It is a lie that was nailed forever at Twickenham on Monday.

We should applaud the players of both teams for such a spectacular show. At times, the Crusaders might have been on another planet to their South African rivals. Yet long before the end the Sharks restored their pride. And they should feel proud to have participated in stuff as good as this.

* Peter Bills is a rugby writer for Independent News & Media in London