The match started with each side generously giving up a soft try, and then the All Blacks really got going when Franks was pretty unjustly sin binned. Both sides seemed to play better with 14 men. It it just me or does it seem like this Tri-Nations has been the easiest ever to pick up a yellow card? As Tana Umanga once famously remarked to a ref ‘We’re not playing tiddlywinks out here you know’
When Drew Mitchell was red carded (for dumb play which the Aussies weren't happy about http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/international/3979690/Drew-Mitchell-escapes-further-sanction) at the start of the second half it looked like it was going to be a massacre but the Aussies to their credit manned up and played some of their best rugby to score two tries. On this sort of form it could be a while before the AB’s ship three tries again.
Ritchie McCaw was back to his best, and Pocock chipped in a another big match, both of them, in the words of the commentators were ‘Like a seagull on a chip’ when it came to the loose ball.
What can you make of the result? The All Blacks are back to their devastating best , but they still have a few areas to work on. They fell off noticeably in the second half, is that players like Thorne, Woodcock, Mealamu and even the great Ritchie McCaw starting to show their age, great players for 50 minutes then going AWOL in the last 30 minutes?
The Wallabies have issues of their own, particularly in depth, did they have 6 debutants on the bench? And the inexperience of some their younger players showed as well, there was some very average defense shown by Brown and Genia, and you have to wonder how long Horne is going to last in the team. They really have to work on set pieces as well, their kick offs were abysmal and their line outs were all over the place. But overall I wouldn’t be too hard on the Wallabies, they had an awesome second half and their fitness might just tell next weekend.
The new Aviva Stadium
A new era in Irish Rugby kicked off at Landsdown Road in Dublin as the literally gleaming new stadium hosted an Ulster/Leinster combination taking on a Munster/Connacht selection. Note the anarchists were out in force.
The stadium was a lot more interesting than the rugby that’s for sure, as Ulster/Leinster ran out easy 68-0 winners. It was all about their backline ably marshaled by captain Luke Marshall and well assisted by wings Craig Gilroy and Andrew Boyle. Fly half Paddy Jackson kicked all his conversions including several from the touchline. The future of the eastern half of the country looks good.
The attendance was 25000, I caught the train and got in no problem, it was easy to get in and out and to get a beer or something to eat. There was good atmosphere, not dampened by the rain, although it did seem like quite a few spectators got wet, fine when you’ve paid €10 but maybe not when you’ve stumped up €75.
The first of many visits.
Hey - thanks for the add to my blog. You are now on ruggerblogger too. Where are you based? In the UK or NZ?
ReplyDeleteDo you think the reason some of the older players in the ABs were looking tired by 50 was because the game was played at such a frenetic pace?
I'm not sure about Woodcock. He was one of the few ABs that unimpressed me. However, I don't want to be all bahumbug. As a team they were magnificent.
Nice blog too. Wow Landsdowne/Aviva looks amazing, luckily they got the money through before the recession otherwise it might resemble some of the half empty housing estates over there! Unfortunately I never got a game at the old Landsdowne but I used to pass it on the train every day to work. Looked like a craphole really. It makes perfect Irish sense that you have a rarely used, world class stadium just down the road that you can't use for rugby or soccer.... :)
ReplyDeleteOh and about the rugby, Melamu was magnificent, as were McCaw and Thorne. I think what the Aussies did well was retain the ball and hang on with 14 men. We should have dominated a bit more, but to be fair once we were up by that much it was always going to be hard to keep the tempo up. The different between us and the Boks at the moment is that our older players (some of whom I wrote off at the start as past it) are showing their steel and getting better (Muliaina) as opposed to the Boks (Matfield, Smit) who are just looking old
ReplyDeleteHi Ferdy, welcome on board! Your blog is great, especially the humour.
ReplyDeleteI'm in Dublin, and split my allegiance between the Springboks and Ireland so when they play each other it's always tricky.
Age could be a bit of a factor, but I suppose when you're 20 odd points up against 14 men it's going to hard to keep the focus. And the game was played at breakneck speed, there must of been plenty of sore, tired, tired bodies after the match
Hi Blair and welcome
ReplyDeleteYes Aviva is a great stadium, hopefully an unhappy hunting ground for visiting teams! Croke Park is an awesome stadium but the pitch is huge for the hurling and gaelic football, so there's not much atmosphere because you are so far away from the action.
I thought the older AB's were showing their age a bit by the end - Mealamu was just awesome in the first half but I hardly noticed him in the second.
Matfield and in particular Smit look like they have bus passes now, but Matfield was awesome in the S14, and with some careful management they could come roaring back next year.
With this year's Tri nations wrapped up pretty well, I hope they start experimenting a bit, Carter is The Best Flyhalf In The World but the AB's need back up - time to give Cruden a bit of a run?