The Match That Should Have Been
It’s the match we’ve all been waiting for – and it’s come one year too late.
Rewind 12 months and the stage was set for a mouth-watering showdown. Since Eddie Jones’ appointment as head coach, the English national team had gone through the 2016 year undefeated (including a clean sweep of the Wallabies in Australia) and almost set a new world record after winning 18 consecutive matches (losing to Ireland by 4 points in the 19th match). The All Blacks were the All Blacks – having the odd hiccup here and there but indisputably still the best team in the world.
Fans around the world were anticipating what could have been one of the best matches of the modern era… But it never happened. On the All Blacks’ northern tour in 2017 they faced off against the Barbarians, France, Scotland, and Wales – England were nowhere to be found.
One year later and we finally have the contest we’ve all been craving for so long – but the anticipation is no longer quite there.
A string of average performances has seen the Northern Hemisphere heavyweights fall from their lofty heights of 2017 and we’re now left with the scenario where the match between England and New Zealand this weekend is viewed as just another test match.
That’s not to say there’s no anticipation whatsoever – this is a still a game between two of the best teams in the world. It’s just not viewed with quite as much excitement as if it had been held a year earlier.
Said average results compounded with a number of injuries to top English players means that most viewers will now expect an inevitable win for the New Zealanders. It will be an interesting contest, no doubt, but next week’s match between Ireland and the All Blacks is now the ‘big event’ in November’s rugby calendar.
It’s a cruel thing that we won’t get to witness the Southern Hemisphere’s premiers laying siege to the Northern Hemisphere’s historically most successful team performing at the top of their game but, then again, we shouldn’t be too surprised that this opportunity has been missed.
Test match scheduling is a curious thing, after all. Take New Zealand’s fixtures over the last few years into consideration, for example.
Come to the end of 2018, the All Blacks will have played each Six Nations team at least once since the last World Cup in 2015. They will have played France five times, Wales four times, Ireland three times, Italy twice and England and Scotland once each. The All Blacks hosted Wales and France for a three-match series in 2016 and 2018 respectively – which is why they’ve played the greatest number of matches. This, of course, doesn’t explain why New Zealand have also played Wales and France on their end of year tours when there are other teams that they haven’t had series against.
The same has occurred with the other traditional Southern Hemisphere powerhouses, Australia and South Africa.
In the same time that England will have played the All Blacks just once, they have played the Wallabies six times. The Wallabies’ other matches have been spread amongst Ireland (four games, including a three-match series this year), Wales and Scotland (three games each), Italy (two games) and France (one game).
South Africa have also played England and France five times, and Wales and Ireland four times, with their only game against Scotland coming up in a week.
End of year tours and June tours seem to be arranged completely in isolation, which leads to the somewhat absurd schedules we’ve had. Of course, there are a range of varying criteria that goes into deciding fixtures – and one of the most important in the professional era is finances.
Matches between England and the All Blacks appear to have been discussed every year, with the possibility of including a game outside the regular test window mooted – but these talks seem to be shut down pretty quickly when the respective unions can’t decide on how to split the profits. Last year, the game between New Zealand and the Barbarians was supposedly almost scrapped to fit in an English/New Zealand showdown but, again, finances caused discussions to cease.
The new World League could see to it that we no longer end up waiting four years for a fixture to come around. The proposed competition would likely see the top teams play each other at least once a year – which has its pros and cons.
Whilst there’s no question that a match between two superpowers like England and New Zealand should occur more frequently than it has over the last half-decade, an argument could be made that annualising the fixture could take some of the sting out of the game.
There’s nothing more satisfying than seeing two teams at the top of their games facing off – so giving both teams the opportunity to build up some momentum over a couple of years before hitting the battlefield is never going to be frowned upon.
Perhaps the solution is simply for each of the Southern Hemisphere nations to travel to each of the Northern Hemisphere countries once every two years. Four or five-match end of year tours are common now. Throw a couple of other teams in with those from the Six Nations (say, Japan and Georgia), and it’s easy to see that you could avert fixtures from going stale whilst also preventing having two teams avoid each other for a number of years in a row.
Whatever happens in the future – whether or not the World League comes to fruition – it doesn’t change the fact that last year we missed out on what could have been a spectacular game. Let’s hope that this year’s long-awaited match between England and the All Blacks is still a high-quality test, even if it’s not exactly what we all wanted.
In other news:
Comments on RugbyPass
In the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getitng to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
5 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
6 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
5 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
6 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
54 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
54 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
6 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
54 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
55 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
54 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to commentsForget Sotutu. One of those whose top level is Super Rugby. Id take a punt on Wallace Sititi Finau ahead of Glass body Blackadder.
54 Go to commentsI’m a pensioner so I've been around a bit. My opinion of SBW is he is an elite athlete and a great New Zealander and roll model. He has been to the top and knows what he's talking about. To all the negative comments regarding SBW the typical New Zealand way, cut that tall poppy down.
18 Go to comments