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The bottom line is the All Blacks are not short of talent and an unbeaten season is on the table
There’s no such thing as a bad All Blacks team.
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Some go better than others, but there’s none who don’t boast the personnel to win more often than not.
We can debate who’ll play first five-eighth for New Zealand this year and who ought to be in the midfield or lining up at fullback. They’re worthy discussions, but the bottom line is the All Blacks are not short of talent.
Picking guys to play in their specialist positions wouldn’t hurt, but there’s none of us who’ll sit here now and say there’s not enough cattle to win games consistently.
Only, by their own high standards, the team didn’t win a lot in 2020. A draw and defeat to Australia were followed by a first-ever loss to Argentina, raising questions about how well-coached the All Blacks might be.
Those questions could conveniently be answered by last year’s unique circumstances.
We were lucky – in many respects – to have any test football at all, given the Covid-19 pandemic. It was also a post-Rugby World Cup year, following a tournament in which the All Blacks didn’t scale great heights and said goodbye to a champion head coach in Steve Hansen.
We don’t normally do excuses in New Zealand rugby, but there were a few on offer for those who sought them.
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They don’t really exist this time around. We don’t have a hastily put-together schedule, we’re not preoccupied with broader health and well-being issues or trying to bed in a new coaching staff and (presumably) new ideas.
There was a sense last year that the players cared more about being home – and out of quarantine – for Christmas, than they did about playing their test footy over in Australia.
So what are fans entitled to expect this season and how should they react if they don’t get it?
Tonga and Fiji, who the All Blacks begin their schedule against, are on a hiding to nothing. The All Blacks should beat both by 50 to a hundred points and that’s that.
Should those nations have access to all their players, a decent preparation and the games were able to be staged in Nuku’alofa and Suva, respectively, then we might get better contests. But they’re not, so we won’t and that’s a shame.
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From there, The Rugby Championship beckons.
Who knows what type of sides Australia, Argentina and South Africa will roll out.
Argentina will have played Romania and Wales, Australia have France coming over for three tests (we hope), while the Springboks host the British & Irish Lions.
There’s an argument to be made that all three should benefit more from their pre-Rugby Championship schedule than the All Blacks might. Equally, South Africa could be smashed up by the time they get here and Argentina will have come from Europe.
In all fairness, though, the coronavirus-dictated draw has been kind to New Zealand. All but one match is at home, creating an expectation that they could go through the campaign unbeaten.
Is that arrogant or presumptuous? Or just a fair summation of the situation?
People were pretty patient with the All Blacks in 2020. They enthused about Australia’s competitiveness under the coaching of Dave Rennie and admired Argentina for their history-making victory.
Sure, there was some bemusement at the results, but the Bledisloe Cup was still retained and another Tri Nations trophy added to the cabinet.
You get the sense that won’t be sufficient this time. That losing to the Wallabies and Pumas won’t be an enjoyable novelty, but something more serious.
We’ll have to wait and see how strong the Springboks are. They might be very good, but then they might not.
I’d like to see fans demanding excellence from the All Blacks again. I’d like us to expect stellar performances and an unbeaten season.
If, for the second year running, that didn’t occur, then I’d especially like to see fans agitating for change.
Ian Foster is not the most popular All Blacks head coach ever and three wins from six starts was not a particularly impressive beginning to his tenure.
Rightly or wrongly, Foster got the benefit of the doubt a year ago. But go at 50 percent again this season and he should find fans aren’t quite so forgiving.
Comments on RugbyPass
Thanks BeeMc! Looks like many teams need extra time to settle from the quadrennial northern migration. I think generally the quality of the Rugby has held up. Fiji has been fantastic and fun to watch
13 Go to commentsLets compare apples with apples. Lyon sent weak team the week before, but nobody raised an eyebrow. Give the South African teams a few years to build their depth, then you will be moaning that the teams are too strong.
41 Go to commentsDid footballs agents also perform the scout role at some time? I’m surprised more high profile players haven’t taken up the occupation, great way to remain in the game and use all that experience without really requiring a lot of specific expertise?
1 Go to commentsSuper rugby is struggling but that has little to do with sabbaticals. 1. Too many teams from Aust and NZ - should be 3 and 4 respectively, add in 2 from Japan, 1 possibly 2 from Argentina. 2. Inconsistent and poor refereeing, admittedly not restricted to Super rugby. Only one team was reffed at the breakdown in Reds v H’Landers match. Scrum penalty awarded in Canes v Drua when No 8 had the ball in the open with little defence nearby - ideal opportunity to play advantage. Coming back to Reds match - same scrum situation but ref played advantage - Landers made 10 yards and were penalised at the breakdown when the ref should have returned to scrum penalty. 3. Marketing is weak and losing ground to AFL and NRL. Playing 2 days compared with 4. 4. Scheduling is unattractive to family attendance. Have any franchises heard of Sundays 2pm?
11 Go to commentsAbsolutely..all they need is a chance in yhe playoffs and I bet all the other teams will be nervous…THEY KNOW HOW TO WIN IM THE PLAYOFFS..
2 Go to commentsI really hope he comes back and helps out with some coaching.
1 Go to commentsI think we are all just hoping that the Olympic 7s doesn’t suffer the same sad fate as the last RWC with the officials ruining the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsPersonally, I’ve lost the will to even be bothered about the RFU, the structure, the participants. It’s all a sham. I now simply enjoy getting a group of friends together to go and watch a few games a year in different locations (including Europe, the championship, etc). I feel extremely sorry for the real fans of these clubs who are constantly ignored by the RFU and other administrators. I feel especially sorry for the fans of clubs in the Championship who have had considerable central funding stripped away and are then expected to just take whatever the RFU put to them. Its all a sham, especially if the failed clubs are allowed to return.
9 Go to commentsI’m guessing Carl Hayman would have preferred to have stayed in NZ with benefit of hindsight. Up north there is the expectation to play twice as many games with far less ‘player management’ protocols that Paul is now criticising. Less playing through concussions means longer, healthier, careers. Carter used as the eg here by Paul, his sabbatical allowed him to play until age 37. OK its not an exact science but there is far more expectations on players who sign for Top 14 or Engl Prem clubs to get value for the huge salaries. NZR get alot wrong but keeping their best players in NZ rugby is not one of them. SA clubs are virtually devoid of their top players now, no thanks. They cant threaten the big teams in the Champions Cup, the squads have little depth. Cant see Canes/Chiefs struggling. Super has been great this year, fantastic high skill matches. Drua a fantastic addition and Jaguares will add another quality team eventually. Aus teams performing strongly and no doubt will benefit with the incentive of a Lions tour and a home RWC. Let Jordie enjoy his time with Leinster, it will allow the opportunity for another player to emerge at Canes in his absence.
11 Go to commentsLove that man, his way to despise angry little men is so funny ! 😂
4 Go to comments“South African franchises would be powerhouses if we had all our overseas based players back in situ. We would have the same unbeatable aura the Toulouses, Leinsters or Saracens of this world have had over the last decade or so.” Proof that Jake white does not understand the economics of the game in SA. Players earning abroad are not going to simply come back and represent the bulls. But they might if they have a springbok contract.
22 Go to commentsA lot of fans just joined in for the fun of it! We all admire O'Gara and what he has done for La Rochelle
4 Go to commentsThe RFU will find a way to mess this up as usual. My bet is there will be no promotion into the the Premiership, only relegation into National League One. Hopefully they won’t parachute failed clubs into the league at the expense of clubs who have battled for promotion.
9 Go to commentsWell that’s the contracts for RG and Jordie bought and paid for. Now, what are the chances we can persuade Antoine to hop over with all the extra dosh we’ll have from living at the Aviva & Croke next season…??? 🤑🤑🤑
35 Go to commentsWow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
35 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
14 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
4 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to commentsWhat a player! Not long until he’s in the England side, surely?
5 Go to commentsHe seems to have the same aura as Marcus Smith - by which I mean he’s consistently judged as if he’s several years younger than he actually is. Mngomezulu has played 24 times for the Stormers. When Pollard was his age he had played 24 times for South Africa! He has more time to develop, but he has also had time to do some developing already, and he hasn’t demonstrated nearly as much talent in that time as one would expect. If he is a generational talent, then it must be a pretty poor generation.
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