Just on the off-chance that there are any rugby fans floating around…
Well the Tri-Nations series is under way for the year, with New Zealand starting very strongly with two home wins against South Africa. Wikipedia has a good summary of the series here. I went to last Saturday’s game in Wellington, always a good time watching the All Blacks when they’re playing well. Israel Dagg’s stunning try has to be the highlight so far.
I’m a bit surprised by the Springboks poor showing after winning it all last year, what’s going on there? Will Australia be competitive this year? Are the All Blacks peaking too soon for next year’s World Cup (again)? What say you dopers?
The thing about the tri nations is that the distances involved really favour the home team, especially when travelling from or to South Africa.
So the Boks poor showing in the first two tests is more or less how they always perform in New Zealand. That being said judging by how they destroyed Wales and Ireland (biased excuse: we were tired, injured and down to 14 men for most of the match and 13 men for 10 minutes) the All Blacks do look impressive. Would still favour the Boks in the return matches though but I think Morne Styens post Lions honeymoon period is over.
The real question this year is will the young Wallabies team finally start getting some results. Might be able to beat the Boks at home, but I can’t see the Beldisloe Cup moving.
All Blacks peaking between World Cups is a bit unfair, they have been increadibly unlucky. With the World Cup taking place in New Zealand then automatically have to rate them as favourites. Will need to figure out who their number 1 scrum half and centre pairing is first though.
Back to the tri nations. The past few tournaments have left me cold. I’m sure the Irish friendly kick off times for the South African matches will help, but my god playing each team three times is too much. And are the Wallabies and All Blacks going to play a fourth test this year again?!! Bring on the introduction of Argentina. Hopefully the Pumas will add a bit of excitment to the whole thing.
There has been a lot of bleating in South Africa about the “bias” of the referees in the two tests against NZ - there’s always bleating, but this year it has risen to fever-pitch. I haven’t seen either match, so can’t really comment - is there perhaps a neutral who watched and has an opinion?
Grim
As a non-neutral (read rabid All-Blacks fan) I thought the refereeing was reasonable apart from the odd strange decision. I think the main problem remains the differing interpretations of what you can do in the tackle.
I’m also interested to see how Australia shape up this weekend. I thought they weren’t far off last year (and indeed won one against South Africa) so could well be competitive this year.
As to the series as a whole, I agree it’s gone a little stale. Moving to three games was a mistake as it just drags things out, I’d prefer a return to the simple home and away format. Adding Argentina coming in might spice things up a bit though.
I have some sympathy for the argument the old-fashioned tours should come back. However as long as TV contracts are where the money is I doubt we’ll see their return…
Would you care to comment on the direction the “odd strange decision(s)” took - i.e. which team(s) were favoured by them?
Every so often the IRB come up with something along these lines but it’s just unworkable in teh age of the Heineken Cup and Super 14. Just too many matches. But I do think they are making an effort to at least play at least one non test match every tour, particularly in November. The All-Blacks v Munster game in 2008 was an amazing experience and really contrasted with soccer’s endless repetative fixtures. I’m still sore I didn’t get a ticket for it!
As for the refereeing thing, I didn’t see the match but its a serious issue at test level in rugby. Beyond a few referees like Alain Rolland, Nigel Owens and Chris White there is a real shortage of good quality. The fact that Steve Walsh is still refereeing given all his troubles highlights this. Yeah the Boks may feel hard done the last few weekends but how different would last years Lions series have been if there had been some quality refs!*
*Yes I am bitter
The seemingly random penalties that come out of tackle situations are the main ones for me. On balance I’d say they favoured they All Blacks. I agree that rugby needs more competant referees. At least we’ve got a TMO for debateable tries though.