Weekend Wrap
Well I guess there were only two things we cared about over the weekend; however, after flicking channels in the early stages of the rugby and catching two ad breaks and a 100m Alinghi lead I kinda lost interest in the yachting quickly. The depressing thing about the boat race is these things tend to be one-way traffic, so don’t be surprised at a 5-0 loss for Team NZ – I hope I’m wrong.
But one-way Tri-Nation rugby tests are a rare beast (49-0 last year notwithstanding). For the second week in a row, we watched the favoured team come back from a nine point deficit early in the second half to get over the line. There are a few things we can take out of the game, but let’s correct one thing before it gains momentum; it is far too early to triumph the success of the reconditioning programme just because the Boks ran out of gas towards the end of the game.
In fact, NZ commentator Tony Johnston really got up my goat with his effusive praise of this as we ran the legs off the Boks from 60 min on – especially as a couple of moments earlier he told us an “exhausted” Byron Kelleher was being subbed. Well Tony, if the Reconditioning Prog – nah lets call it the ABRC ‘cause it’s a fkn long thing to type – was such a success, how come ol’ Byron, who should have more stamina than Makybe Diva given who his ex-girlfriend is, was so bloody “exhausted”???
International sporting contests rarely involve two opponents in an equal state of preparation or fitness. It’s my opinion that the physicality of rugby has been ratcheted up a notch or two, as players (ALL players, not just those wearing a black shirt) get stronger, faster and fitter. An equally plausible explanation for the weary legs of the Boks could be the effect of the physical encounter they had a week prior.
So before we champion the success of the gurus running the ABRC, let’s see how they react to that bruising, physical encounter next weekend shall we? Let’s see how much “gas” the All Blacks have in the last 20 minutes at Melbourne on Saturday after recovering from that game and a 14-hour flight.
Or are we that arrogant to think we have some exclusivity to ideal methods of physical preparation for rugby players? No, the strength of rugby in New Zealand is its depth, and having the likes of Weepu and MacAlister come on at the hour mark would make even Maurice Greene look like a slow pony. And let us not forget SAF had five front-line players out (Smit, Smith, Spies, du Preez and Habana) and while they don’t exactly have a bare cupboard either when it comes to replacements, I do wonder how the game would have panned out if they had those five and we had our first-choice locks.
So let me re-iterate a previous point – combatants don’t arrive at the battlefield “equally ready”. Which makes this coming weekend’s game against Oz potentially as interesting as the one just gone. One team gingerly walking off the plane while the other having an extra week to freshen up. Licking my lips already – just need the bookies to make the ABs $1.30 favourites.
(PS: Yes this was written on Sunday - I see our yachties got one back overnight)
But one-way Tri-Nation rugby tests are a rare beast (49-0 last year notwithstanding). For the second week in a row, we watched the favoured team come back from a nine point deficit early in the second half to get over the line. There are a few things we can take out of the game, but let’s correct one thing before it gains momentum; it is far too early to triumph the success of the reconditioning programme just because the Boks ran out of gas towards the end of the game.
In fact, NZ commentator Tony Johnston really got up my goat with his effusive praise of this as we ran the legs off the Boks from 60 min on – especially as a couple of moments earlier he told us an “exhausted” Byron Kelleher was being subbed. Well Tony, if the Reconditioning Prog – nah lets call it the ABRC ‘cause it’s a fkn long thing to type – was such a success, how come ol’ Byron, who should have more stamina than Makybe Diva given who his ex-girlfriend is, was so bloody “exhausted”???
International sporting contests rarely involve two opponents in an equal state of preparation or fitness. It’s my opinion that the physicality of rugby has been ratcheted up a notch or two, as players (ALL players, not just those wearing a black shirt) get stronger, faster and fitter. An equally plausible explanation for the weary legs of the Boks could be the effect of the physical encounter they had a week prior.
So before we champion the success of the gurus running the ABRC, let’s see how they react to that bruising, physical encounter next weekend shall we? Let’s see how much “gas” the All Blacks have in the last 20 minutes at Melbourne on Saturday after recovering from that game and a 14-hour flight.
Or are we that arrogant to think we have some exclusivity to ideal methods of physical preparation for rugby players? No, the strength of rugby in New Zealand is its depth, and having the likes of Weepu and MacAlister come on at the hour mark would make even Maurice Greene look like a slow pony. And let us not forget SAF had five front-line players out (Smit, Smith, Spies, du Preez and Habana) and while they don’t exactly have a bare cupboard either when it comes to replacements, I do wonder how the game would have panned out if they had those five and we had our first-choice locks.
So let me re-iterate a previous point – combatants don’t arrive at the battlefield “equally ready”. Which makes this coming weekend’s game against Oz potentially as interesting as the one just gone. One team gingerly walking off the plane while the other having an extra week to freshen up. Licking my lips already – just need the bookies to make the ABs $1.30 favourites.
(PS: Yes this was written on Sunday - I see our yachties got one back overnight)
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posted by Rob Crawford at 9:00 AM
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