Good morning to you G&GRs. What a painful weekend that was for teams either side of the ‘dutch’! Last week I said: “This is a chance for Argentina and Australia to prove to New Zealand and South Africa that they have what it takes!” And one side certainly did. The other, well that’s a different story.
Let’s look at the weekend’s games and then have a bit of an ‘Old Man Shouting at Clouds!’ moment. So strap yourself in, grab a big cup of you know what ☕, and let’s get it on.
The Rugby Championsip Round 1
South Africa 33 defeated Australia 7
If you didn’t get the chance here’s the link to my depressing review of Saturday afternoon’s game. Also make sure you fill out the player review/ratings there with the results to be included in G&GR’s Tuesday’s news.
As opposed to Saturday, 36 hours has bought about a degree of healing, reflection and a slight coming to Jesus moment. What did we expect? As opposed to what did we hope for. Remember it is the ‘Hope’ that kills you.
Were we ever going to beat the South Africans? #1 team in the world versus #9 (recently elevated) in the world? The score’s about right. The fact that we view ourselves as a team we used to be decades ago is on us. We aren’t that good, our cattle are lacking. Our coaching team, while a vast improvement over the 2014 era onwards, is still new and dealing with a group of very young and inexperienced players, some of whom still lack basic fundamentals and skills. You have to play with the best you’ve got.
The green shoots are there, but they need time and sunlight to nurture and grow. This is a longer term project: there’s the BIL in 2025 and the next RWC at home in 2027. That’s our growth trajectory and our strategy has to be situated around that. This isn’t the time to get too upset when someone pushes us back on the field. As Helen Keller once stated….‘the mistake is not falling down! It is not getting back up again!’
Yes! Yes, here you say. We were complete and utter 💩. I agree. But in context, we were made to look very tres average by a team that is purely world class. The South Africans have improved since the RWC 2023 in all aspects of their game (perhaps with the exception of discipline in the last 15 minutes of the game). I don’t know if you G&GRs noticed in the warm ups, when the starting tight 5 were doing their scrummaging warm ups against the bomb squad, there was a certain Jaco Peyper in a South Afrcian team trainer’s tracksuit, refereeing them during their scrum battles. The team is changing and is wanting to change. And that is something that every team in the world needs to be wary of, very wary.
The Wallabies on the other hand are just starting their journey, and they have a long way to go. But they now clearly know what the benchmark looks like, and how steep the climb is going to be.
Injury toll: As I mentioned on Saturday, we came out of that game with a half full hospital ward. And recent reporting confirms that Daugunu has a fractured fibula, and Nick Frost and Jeremy Williams both have suffered concussions and will have to undergo the usual protocols.
It’s likely that Frost and Williams could be fit for the two-Test tour of Argentina, but it’s more likely Daugunu’s injury will see him out of the rest of the TRC. Dangunu has been in a stellar purple patch until his injury, so this is a big blow. Reporting also indicates that Tupou will not be back in time for the next game against South Africa. So St Joe has a bit of work to do in getting newbies into the squad and quickly up to speed.
Argentina 38 defefated New Zealand 30
If you haven’t already, read our resident Kiwi, KARL’s excellent game review here.
To be 100% honest after the Wallabies game I couldn’t stomach watching another game, for probably the first time of my life. So early on Sunday morning I got up out of bed, poured myself a giant cup of ☕, parked my arse on the couch and watched the Kiwis and the FISMs. And boy, I wasn’t dissapointed.
The Argies put up an absolutely spirited performance. Congratualtions to them. Beating the Darkness in Wellington is a fantastic achievement. I’m not sure the Kiwis will stage another ABs game there, as their results in Wellington over the last few years haven’t been good. The Kiwis didn’t look to be firing, and I have to be a 100% honest I agree with KARL. DMac appears to be struggling to adjust to 10 at the international level. They’re certainly having trouble with their locks and lineouts. And for once TJ Perenara just didn’t look to be delivering at his usual standard.
Another interesting point from this game was that it wasn’t until the 60 minunte mark til the first scrum was packed down. Let’s think that through. That is 3/4 of the way through the game. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that happening before, certainly not in recent history.
But knowing the Kiwis they’ll go back, make some adjustments and come out firing. Unlike Australia, the All Blacks don’t have two shite games in a row.
Old Man Shouting at Clouds
Well to be honest, this is not a cranky shouting at clouds, but a shouting for joy. I want to go on the record and say how impressed I was with the officiating for both of the TRC games this weekend. I thought Aussie Angus Gardner and Englishman Luke Pearce were absolutely bang on with their whistle work.
The way they communicated with the captains and players was fantastic. The way Angus dealt with the Argentinian’s head contact with Ethan Balckadder was top rate. He reviewed the footage, discussed with his assistants and the TMO. “Nothing to see here, penalty. Let’s move one!” A breath of fresh air in this particular case was just fantastic adjudicating.
I would be interested to know what all you G&GRs thought. But I was duly impressed.
Anyway enough of this old man dribbling crap. Over to you. Have at it!
