Well done to the All Blacks for retaining the Bledisloe Cup for the eleventh consecutive season.
But last night was this bloke's night:
Richie McCaw summed up Tony Woodcock's importance to the All Blacks when he noted post-match that "Woodie" wouldn't run out first last night to be honoured by his team-mates and the fans. He is the ultimate team man, and nothing will have pleased him more than destroying the Wallaby scrum a couple of times last night.
We salute you Tony Woodcock; New Zealand rugby's fourth test centurion, All Black hard man and doting Dad.
The All Blacks have a mini-crisis at first five-eight. And it hasn't taken the marketing genii at Tui long to cash in, thinking back to the 2011 rugby/whitebaiting seasons:
That's great stuff, but we doubt that Beaver Donald will be required. We have plenty of faith in either Colin Slade or preferably Tom Taylor to step up to the task in hand. Taylor has an impeccable rugby pedigree, with his father Warwick being a World Cup winner in the 1987 All Blacks, and from the couple of matches we have seen him play in the flesh, Taylor the Younger has the goods.
Before the test match in Sydney on Saturday night, there was anxiety over the battle-readiness of All Black captain Richie McCaw. But those who were anxious need not have worried; Wynne Gray reports in the Herald:
As Richie McCaw answered inquiries at the captain's run the day before the resumption of Bledisloe Cup conflict he mentioned his hope to play the entire match.
Only he knew if that was likely and whether his body would last the ramped-up onslaught of test rugby on a diet of lean matchplay minutes.
Eventually McCaw was subbed with eight minutes left and the All Blacks out of sight of the Wallabies.
He could have gone on but the mini-rest gave him time to fill his lungs and settle his thoughts for the post-match interviews.
Test 117 was done for McCaw, his body was intact but sore and the All Blacks had taken the first leg of the transtasman contests.
Shortly before the captain was subbed, one incident showed why his class has endured for so long. The Wallabies were gathering steam and were about 10m from the tryline but momentarily left the ball unprotected at the breakdown.
McCaw drove in, latched on to the ball and earned the penalty from referee Craig Joubert for the legitimate steal.
It was not always so. McCaw admitted his timing was a little rusty in the first quarter, and Joubert concurred.
"I was quite excited to be out there and running around for the first 20 minutes, I was getting a bit over-eager at times but settled into it. It was just good fun to be involved in running around again," he said.
About the only thing he wasn't aware of was that the All Blacks' victory doubled as their 100th test success against the Wallabies.
McCaw led the All Black intentions to slow the Wallaby ball at the rucks and while he was penalised a few times his work rate never relented.
The pressure he and the other forwards applied rarely let the Wallabies find a strong tempo.
And All Black coach Steve Hansen, who played some very deft mind games with his counterpart Ewen McKenzie in the run-up to the match, added his 10 cents-worth:It was an impressive return after so little rugby. Coach Steve Hansen did get a little carried away, though, in a week when he continued to poke some gentle fun at the Wallabies' start to the Ewen McKenzie era.
He prodded those who were uncertain about McCaw's comeback as if those misgivings were treasonous.
"The guy on my left, to come back after having a break, and everyone doubted him, but to get through to the 70 minutes like he did just shows the character of the bloke once again," Hansen said of his captain.
"So hopefully there won't be any more doubters."
Lastly, Wynne Gray notes that the All Blacks had some unfinished business on Saturday night: When McCaw last led the All Blacks out against the Wallabies, in Brisbane last year, they were held to an 18-all stalemate.
It was a sloppy evening's work when the side failed to drive the nail through the Wallabies after two victories earlier in the year.
Rectifying that formed part of the All Black focus in Sydney on Saturday. It was time to make a statement after the 3-0 series win against the French in June, time to nail the Wallabies when they were making their coaching and playing transition.
McCaw and his senior men drove that intent, they collected their experience and playing skills and scorched the Wallabies.
They were by no means perfect. There were scrum and lineout malfunctions and plenty to improve on.
That should worry the Wallabies because they can be sure McCaw will be driving those improvements even harder this week.
We agree; the All Blacks were irrepressible on Saturday night, even though they didn't nail some of the basics such as scrums and lineouts, and even though they gave away too many penalties. Just imagine them getting better.We reckon that it will be a long week for Ewen McKenzie as he contemplates the return match in Wellington on Saturday night. But as for Captain Fantastic; he'll be better for the run, as they say in racing circles. The bloke is truly remarkable; quite possibly now our greatest-ever All Black.
Someone in the captioning booth got the black team confused with the red team that thumped Australia at ANZ Stadium a couple of months ago. But there's no confusion in the numbers:
Well done to the All Blacks.
We've long admired Peter FitzSimons' work; he is one of Australia's best columnists and authors. And this piece on Robbie Deans is a great read; FitzSimons opines:
In the end, it had to come, and Robbie Deans knew it. After six seasons in charge of the Wallabies, and the side always promising so much under his leadership without ever quite delivering, the patience of the Australian Rugby Union, was wearing thin. A series victory over the British and Irish Lions would be a bare beginning to keeping his job, but even then he would have needed a Bledisloe Cup series victory as well to have his contract renewed.
Alas, after the Wallabies disastrous performance in the Third Test on Saturday night, losing the match 41-16 and the series 2-1, the ARU's patience was worn out and as Georgina Robinson has reported, on Monday morning he was handed his hat and gently told that Ewen McKenzie will be taking over forthwith.
Yes, I was a bitter critic at his appointment – on the grounds of the humiliation of having an All Black coach the Wallaby side – but I take no joy at his departure.
I disclose Robbie Deans to be a close friend and had a long breakfast with him on Monday morning so my view may be skewed, but it is this: he has been unlucky. He is a fine man, and a great coach with a rugby resume second to none in the coaching world, at least at provincial level. In terms of his engagement with community rugby in Australia he is second to no Wallaby coach, full stop.
He was, furthermore, good enough to get a Wallaby side to within a whisker of beating the extremely strong Lions in the first Test, and by a whisker in the second Test. He was also good enough to have the Wallabies as incumbent Tri-Nations champions – even if his conspicuous lack of success against the All Blacks is the thing that has hurt him most. On his watch, world class talent has been identified and brought through and – all else being equal – Ewen McKenzie really is inheriting a side that has far more potential to succeed than the one Robbie took over from John Connolly.
But yes, in the end, as he well knew, there was no way forward after that disastrous loss to the Lions. Without quoting him, as it was not that kind of breakfast, his view was that it had been an honour and a privilege to coach the Wallabies, and as there are only two kinds of coaches – those who have already been sacked, and those who will be sacked – this day was always going to come sooner or later. It was sad that it had come sooner than he wanted, but he went off to his morning meeting with ARU CEO Bill Pulver with his head held high, and so he should have.
His tenure as Wallaby coach ultimately did not work out as well as he, or we, would have liked, but he could not have given any more than he did to the task at hand, and he leaves with the broad goodwill of most of the rugby community, including, I know, the majority of the board of the ARU, who nevertheless feel it is time for change. Go well, Robbie. You will be fondly remembered in Australian rugby by the vast majority of those who had a personal association with you.
From what we've been reading and hearing out of Australia, Robbie Deans' contract may well have come to a premature end irrespective of the result of the Sydney test match, but the series loss to the Lions provided a justifiable catalyst for change. There were elements within Australian rugby that were never happy at having an outsider coaching the national side.In that manner, Robbie Deans was in the same predicament that David Shearer finds himself; facing an enemy within that represents far more of a threat than the enemy without. The ARU must bear some of the blame; its continued tolerance of behavioural excesses by certain annointed players is completely at odds with the Deans team-first ethos.Peter FitzSimons' point about Deans' engagement with grassroots rugby in Australia is significant. Australian rugby is top-heavy, and the fact that it has five sides in Super Rugby belies the lack of depth in the code across the ditch. If greater depth can ever be established at state level and below, Australia could become the world's rugby powerhouse. For that, we would definitely NOT thank Robbie Deans!Where Robbie Deans goes next is anyone's guess, but there are sure to be plenty of lucrative offers, and it is unlikely that anyone in New Zealand will be able to match the riches available offshore. If Deans still has unfinished business in terms of coaching the All Blacks however, he's the kind of bloke for whom the lure of many pounds or francs might not be enough.
