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The Bledisloe Cup was a better series when the Wallabies held it

All Blacks players celebrate victory following the The Rugby Championship & Bledisloe Cup match between the Australia Wallabies and the New Zealand All Blacks at Melbourne Cricket Ground on July 29, 2023 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Morgan Hancock/Getty Images)

I’ve been watching Bledisloe Cup rugby since 1980.

When I think back on the intervening years, I can say without reservation that the series’ I enjoyed most were when Australia was the holder. Or, at the very least, a legitimate threat to claim the cup.
Bledisloe Cup rugby is better when the Wallabies win it.

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Man, there were generations of Australian players and coaches that I absolutely loathed. Now, I couldn’t care less about them.

They’re not a threat and therefore not worthy of the strong, often irrational, feelings I had towards them as a boy and younger man.

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I reckon I was just about the last person left in the old Sydney Football Stadium, after the Wallabies won 19-14 there in 1998. I think it was the All Blacks’ fifth loss in a row that season, from memory.

I just couldn’t believe New Zealand had been beaten at the death and I eventually had to be dragged disconsolate into the night, long after the players had left the field.

The Wallabies won the Rugby World Cup the following year, to underline the superiority they enjoyed at the time.

I’m less invested in the outcome of this year’s matches, mostly because I assume they won’t be contests.

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In terms of wins and losses there might be nothing between the All Blacks and Wallabies this season but, in reality, I suspect we’ll see that one side is clearly better than the other.

That disappoints me for a couple of reasons.

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First, as I alluded to, professional sport only matters when the result means something.

In that period between 1998 and 2002, when Australia were last Bledisloe Cup holders, the games were often phenomenal. Fans, players, coaches, media and administrators were utterly immersed in every kick of the ball.

Winning was everything and, try as they might, a succession of All Black teams weren’t good enough to wrest back the cup.

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I miss those days very much, which is why I believe the Bledisloe Cup would be enhanced by Australia holding it again.

Second, retaining it this time will only paper over the evident cracks in the current All Blacks.

It’s easy to write off this season’s defeat to Argentina as a bad 30 minutes or dismiss losses to South Africa as respectable, even encouraging performances away from home against the World Cup holders.

But a good portion of this All Blacks team has been losing games for years now, without any obvious repercussions for them or changes to the way they try to play.

It will be easy – and also extremely lazy – to beat Australia comfortably in this Bledisloe Cup series and assume that everything’s hunky dory.

To proclaim lessons have been learned and that the methods of this new coaching staff are starting to take effect.

Defeat to the Wallabies, however, would necessitate serious scrutiny and soul searching. It might even end one or two careers.

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Ultimately, I think that would be a good thing.

Being an All Black doesn’t appear to be an uncomfortable occupation. In fact it looks like quite a cushy one, where the pay’s good, scrutiny limited and there’s paid sabbaticals to Japan, France or Ireland if you fancy it.

There’s no jeopardy for poor performances, because everyone’s become accustomed to you losing anyway and only the fringe guys ever get dropped.

But such is New Zealand’s collective disregard for Australian rugby at all levels, that the surrender of the Bledisloe Cup to this rather embarrassing Wallabies side might end the armchair ride that many All Blacks appear to be enjoying.

I certainly hope so.

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Comments

6 Comments
L
LW 197 days ago

This author is such a numpty. No substance about rugby ever just topics to annoy people

D
DC 198 days ago

no it wasnt ask john hart how he felt losing 5 in a row and tane randell as well losing to australia

J
Jmann 197 days ago

are they still alive?

B
B 198 days ago

Well it sucked in the year 2000 when John Eals converted the penalty and the Wallabies retained the Bledisloe Cup for the next 3 years.


I guess 21 years on it must be bloody torture for the Wallabies and fans to see the All Blacks still polishing it.


Unless theres a dramatic turn around in the performance of either team, balance will see the current holders put it back in the display cabinet.

D
DS 198 days ago

For quite a period Aust had the Bledisloe and the W Cup. They were outstanding with some of the best ever rugby players. A highly competitive Australia is essential for SH rugby.

C
Cheers 198 days ago

Like Martin Luther King I too have a dream, That Australia never get there lil convict fingers on that trophy ever again

F
Forward pass 198 days ago

And Rugbypass was a better media source when Hamish Bidwell didnt write such crap. How one man can write so angry at his own team is baffling.

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Comments on RugbyPass

I
IkeaBoy 4 hours ago
Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

“Why are you so insistent on being wrong? Man United won in 2008 (beating Chelsea in the final). In 2009 Barcelona won, beating United.”

Good lad, just checking. So you’re not a bot! Chelsea bombed the 2008 final more than United won it. John Terry… couldn’t happen to a nicer fella.


“The gap between wins ignores the finals contested. 2 in 2 years with his City Triumph. The most recent put him in the elite company of managers to have won it with multiple clubs. Yet more late career success and history.”

Again - you’re not correct. City won the CL in 2023, and made the final in 2021. Those are the only two CL finals they have made.”

So the difference between 2021 and 2023 would of course be TWO YEARS. 24 months would account for 3 different seasons. They contested ECL finals twice in two years. The first in 2021 - which they lost - was still the first elite European final in the clubs then 141 year history. Explain clearly how that’s not an achievement? Guess what age he was then…


“I think your take on Gatland is pretty silly. Gatland was without Edwards in the 2013 and 2017 Lions tours and managed to do alright.”

I thought you don’t care what certain managers did 10 years ago…

Why would I address Eddie Jones? Why would he be deserving of a single sentence?


“I am aware Les Kiss has achieved great things in his career, but I don’t care what he did over ten years ago. Rugby was a different sport back then.”

So you haven’t watched even a minute of Super Rugby this year?


“lol u really need to chill out”

Simply frightful! If you’re not a bot you’re at least Gen-Z?

171 Go to comments
f
fl 5 hours ago
Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

“Pep didn’t win the ECL in 2009. It was 2008 with Barca”

Why are you so insistent on being wrong? Man United won in 2008 (beating Chelsea in the final). In 2009 Barcelona won, beating United.


“The gap between wins ignores the finals contested. 2 in 2 years with his City Triumph. The most recent put him in the elite company of managers to have won it with multiple clubs. Yet more late career success and history.”

Again - you’re not correct. City won the CL in 2023, and made the final in 2021. Those are the only two CL finals they have made. With Barcelona, Pep made the semi final four consecutive times - with City he’s managed only 3 in 8 years. This year they didn’t even make the round of 16.


To re-cap, you wrote that Pep “has gotten better with age. By every measure.” There are some measures that support what you’re saying, but the vast majority of the measures that you have highlighted actually show the opposite.


I am aware Les Kiss has achieved great things in his career, but I don’t care what he did over ten years ago. Rugby was a different sport back then.


I think your take on Gatland is pretty silly. Gatland was without Edwards in the 2013 and 2017 Lions tours and managed to do alright. You’ve also not addressed Eddie Jones.


I agree wrt Schmidt. He would ideally be retained, but it wouldn’t work to have a remote head coach. He should definitely be hired as a consultant/analyst/selector though.


“Look at the talent that would be discarded in Schmidt and Kiss if your age Nazism was applied.”

lol u really need to chill out lad. Kiss and Schmidt would both be great members of the coaching set up in 2025, but it would be ridiculous to bank on either to retain the head coach role until 2031.

171 Go to comments
I
IkeaBoy 5 hours ago
Why Les Kiss and Stuart Lancaster can lead Australia to glory

Pep didn’t win the ECL in 2009. It was 2008 with Barca. The gap between wins ignores the finals contested. 2 in 2 years with his City Triumph. The most recent put him in the elite company of managers to have won it with multiple clubs. Yet more late career success and history.


His time with City - a lower win ratio compared to Bayern Munich as you say - includes a 100 PT season. A feat that will likely never be surpassed. I appreciate you don’t follow soccer too closely but even casual fans refer to the sport in ‘pre and post Pep’ terms and all because of what he has achieved and is continuing to achieve, late career. There is a reason that even U10’s play out from the back now at every level of the game. That’s also a fairly recent development.


How refreshing to return to rugby on a rugby forum.


Ireland won a long over due slam in 2009. The last embers of a golden generation was kicked on by a handful of young new players and a new senior coach. Kiss was brought in as defence coach and was the reason they won it. They’d the best defence in the game at the time. He all but invented the choke tackle. Fittingly they backed it up in the next world cup in their 2011 pool match against… Australia. The instantly iconic image of Will Genia getting rag-dolled by Stephen Ferris.


His career since has even included director of rugby positions. He would have an extremely good idea of where the game is at and where it is going in addition to governance experience and dealings. Not least in Oz were many of the players will have come via or across Rugby League pathways.


Gatland isn’t a valid coach to compare too. He only ever over-achieved and was barely schools level without Shaun Edwards at club or test level. His return to Wales simply exposed his limitations and a chaotic union. It wasn’t age.


Schmidt is open to staying involved in a remote capacity which I think deserves more attention. It would be a brain drain to lose him. He stepped in to coach the ABs in the first 2022 test against Ireland when Foster was laid out with Covid. They mullered Ireland 42-19. He was still heavily involved in the RWC 2023 quarter final. Same story.


Look at the talent that would be discarded in Schmidt and Kiss if your age Nazism was applied.

171 Go to comments
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