A Special Sunday Wrap
I blame Mike McRoberts. Milliseconds after Australia’s loss to England, the frontman for (NZ’s) TV3 coverage couldn’t help himself:
“Four more years George”
Oh dear I thought. Actually, that is a lie and as this has an R18 classification, here’s what I really thought:
You stupid motherfucking idiot. Hours before kick-off you go and have to put the commentator’s kiss of death on the All Blacks by an unnecessary gloat, don’t you. Didn’t it cross your tiny mind that in four years time, George Gregan will be sipping a latte a million miles away from NZ and probably won’t give a flying fuck about RWC in 2011? Now, where is my pin cushion and voodoo doll ...
You may think I’m angry and upset. Far from it – it took me three hours to stop doing cartwheels after the final whistle blew in Cardiff and only then on the advice of my doctor who was concerned at the sudden spike in physical activity. He also cautioned against walking to the dairy to get a paper as chances were I’d get that huge grin wiped off my face by some locals.
Yes, when it comes to mixed emotions through money and loyalty, money wins hands down every time. That is not to say I share the pain of the nation. I do, just suitably cushioned. But it allows me to be more objective than most here in the Shaky Isles about the earthquake we suffer every four years. Here’s a few tips to get over the grief:
Don’t bag the players. We actually didn’t play that badly. Not suggesting we played well either, but compared to the shocker the Aussies put in against England we were OK. At least our forwards weren’t beaten to the breakdown by a pack of players who should be signing up for the pension instead of playing a semi-final at the RWC.
Don’t bag the ref. There’s no doubt the yellow card was the turning point of the game and we can debate ad infinitum whether it was deserved, but it happened and no amount of moaning is going to change it. And I’m reminded of a game in Wellington 2003 where the AB’s were beaten by a team who at one stage had only 13 on the park. The ref is not a total excuse.
Don’t bag the touch judge either. Sure, with a few minutes to go when we were marching inevitably towards the winning score and some dirty cheating Frog played the ball on the ground with his over-sized mitt in full view of the touchie with the ref on the other side and touchie said nowt … well, he does come from the same country as Suzy the Waitress – what do you expect?
Don’t bag the coach. He didn’t play the game.
Hopefully you’re getting the gist. If you want a scapegoat, send McRoberts back to Iraq or wherever there’s a war going on.
And just remember. The All Blacks are still the best rugby team in the world (any overseas readers want to argue – bring it on). Four-yearly losses to teams they should beat doesn’t change that.
So while the rest of the world mock, laugh and delight in our moment of misery, we should not fall into the 1999 trap of bagging those who after all will be feeling the pain a helluva lot more than us armchair viewers. Unfortunately, it has already started:
Commentator Murray Deaker described the result as nothing short of a national disaster.
"Sadly we are a dumb rugby nation, we don't play the big matches well," he said.
"We play them in a boofhead way. We were a bunch of boofheads playing out there tonight against a French side that isn't that good. On the big occasions we choke."
There’s another commentator I wouldn’t mind sending to Iraq. I repeat, personally I don’t think we played poorly – but we still got beaten. Rugby Union is a game where it is easier to defend and spoil rather than attack and create. Points are more often than not scored through errors and turnovers. We played a team who can defend (see RWC preview peoples) and didn’t make many mistakes. We should congratulate them, be gracious in defeat and share the disappointment of our team. Hopefully we have learnt over the years not to take out our frustration by criticising the players and coaches, but I’m probably hoping for a bit much there.
So well done France. Hopefully you’ll play just as well next week otherwise life could get really unbearable.
“Four more years George”
Oh dear I thought. Actually, that is a lie and as this has an R18 classification, here’s what I really thought:
You stupid motherfucking idiot. Hours before kick-off you go and have to put the commentator’s kiss of death on the All Blacks by an unnecessary gloat, don’t you. Didn’t it cross your tiny mind that in four years time, George Gregan will be sipping a latte a million miles away from NZ and probably won’t give a flying fuck about RWC in 2011? Now, where is my pin cushion and voodoo doll ...
You may think I’m angry and upset. Far from it – it took me three hours to stop doing cartwheels after the final whistle blew in Cardiff and only then on the advice of my doctor who was concerned at the sudden spike in physical activity. He also cautioned against walking to the dairy to get a paper as chances were I’d get that huge grin wiped off my face by some locals.
Yes, when it comes to mixed emotions through money and loyalty, money wins hands down every time. That is not to say I share the pain of the nation. I do, just suitably cushioned. But it allows me to be more objective than most here in the Shaky Isles about the earthquake we suffer every four years. Here’s a few tips to get over the grief:
Don’t bag the players. We actually didn’t play that badly. Not suggesting we played well either, but compared to the shocker the Aussies put in against England we were OK. At least our forwards weren’t beaten to the breakdown by a pack of players who should be signing up for the pension instead of playing a semi-final at the RWC.
Don’t bag the ref. There’s no doubt the yellow card was the turning point of the game and we can debate ad infinitum whether it was deserved, but it happened and no amount of moaning is going to change it. And I’m reminded of a game in Wellington 2003 where the AB’s were beaten by a team who at one stage had only 13 on the park. The ref is not a total excuse.
Don’t bag the touch judge either. Sure, with a few minutes to go when we were marching inevitably towards the winning score and some dirty cheating Frog played the ball on the ground with his over-sized mitt in full view of the touchie with the ref on the other side and touchie said nowt … well, he does come from the same country as Suzy the Waitress – what do you expect?
Don’t bag the coach. He didn’t play the game.
Hopefully you’re getting the gist. If you want a scapegoat, send McRoberts back to Iraq or wherever there’s a war going on.
And just remember. The All Blacks are still the best rugby team in the world (any overseas readers want to argue – bring it on). Four-yearly losses to teams they should beat doesn’t change that.
So while the rest of the world mock, laugh and delight in our moment of misery, we should not fall into the 1999 trap of bagging those who after all will be feeling the pain a helluva lot more than us armchair viewers. Unfortunately, it has already started:
Commentator Murray Deaker described the result as nothing short of a national disaster.
"Sadly we are a dumb rugby nation, we don't play the big matches well," he said.
"We play them in a boofhead way. We were a bunch of boofheads playing out there tonight against a French side that isn't that good. On the big occasions we choke."
There’s another commentator I wouldn’t mind sending to Iraq. I repeat, personally I don’t think we played poorly – but we still got beaten. Rugby Union is a game where it is easier to defend and spoil rather than attack and create. Points are more often than not scored through errors and turnovers. We played a team who can defend (see RWC preview peoples) and didn’t make many mistakes. We should congratulate them, be gracious in defeat and share the disappointment of our team. Hopefully we have learnt over the years not to take out our frustration by criticising the players and coaches, but I’m probably hoping for a bit much there.
So well done France. Hopefully you’ll play just as well next week otherwise life could get really unbearable.
Labels: RWC2007
posted by Rob Crawford at 10:58 PM
4 Comments:
Nice summary, some of the best comments on the game I have seen. France really did have one of those nights and I thought the AB's played okay especially compared to the Australian debacle. It really hurts that it was England we played so badly against, I'll be cheering heartily for Les Bleus when i am in France next weekend (sadly not at the rugby though).
It will be interesting to see the shape of Australian Rugby in the coming years with Gregan and Larkham gone. I'll be surprised if the ABs don't continue to dominate World Rugby for the next couple of years.
Positives? Its unlikely that the AB players will be sitting out half of next seasons Super 14 competition...
NZ have been favourites for all 6 world cups and have only come away with 1. Why? Surely the "beaten by the better team on the day" reasoning only goes so far.
NZ may well be the best team but unless you can win when it counts that doesn't mean much.
With so many of the NZ players coming to play in the Northern Hemisphere the future is not looking so good.
Small correction James - NZ were not favourites for the 1995 World Cup, Australia were.
I'm not so sure player drain will affect us too badly in the short-term; time will tell.
It has been interesting reading some of the stuff in the NZ herald. For the reason you mention - 1 loss not changing NZ being the best in the world - do you think sacking Henry is a bit knee jerk?
He was slated by a lot of the players after the Lions tour but he seems to have done a decent job with NZ. Although the constant rotation of players is one thing I would suggest was a bad idea.
Good blog by the way.
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