Blues V Canes
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Lee Grant
John Eales (66)
I can't say that many Oz sides haven't had a few tries scored against them but geez, some of the defence was ordinary wasn't it?
Kiwis would put it the other way: that the attack was so brilliant, it couldn't be denied.
Must say that I was a bit amused about the Kiwi commentators saying what a great game it was, and their giving Sean Fitzpatrick a spray. You may recall that Fitzy criticised the Super14 comp this year and said that European rugby was better because it had more structure and better rugby values.
Having watched a heap of European rugby in the last two years, I have to agree with Fitzy. Sure, you can point to certain games in Europe that have been dire, and an excellent case in point is the 2008 Heineken Cup Final when Munster, ahead on the scoreboard, closed the game down at the end with some ugly rugby to beat Toulouse and get the chockies.
After the game Jean-Baptiste Elissalde of Toulouse said to journos: "You must write this. Munster deserved what they got because we weren't very good but you can't play rugby like that. There were 15 minutes at the end of the game where we couldn't get our hands on the ball without infringing. It's getting like basketball where the only option is to make a technical error and take the points. That's not rugby, it's nothing."
I didn't care: Munster is my team over there; nor did Munster disagree. Lock Donncha O'Callaghan said, famously: "I don't care. I've got a medal in my arse pocket"."
People may decide that a game with a lot of tries is automatically a great game and good on them; we all have different opinions. But I like to see a stern contest between attack and defence.
Having said that, I wish that my Tahs would score bonus point tries every week.
Kiwis would put it the other way: that the attack was so brilliant, it couldn't be denied.
Must say that I was a bit amused about the Kiwi commentators saying what a great game it was, and their giving Sean Fitzpatrick a spray. You may recall that Fitzy criticised the Super14 comp this year and said that European rugby was better because it had more structure and better rugby values.
Having watched a heap of European rugby in the last two years, I have to agree with Fitzy. Sure, you can point to certain games in Europe that have been dire, and an excellent case in point is the 2008 Heineken Cup Final when Munster, ahead on the scoreboard, closed the game down at the end with some ugly rugby to beat Toulouse and get the chockies.
After the game Jean-Baptiste Elissalde of Toulouse said to journos: "You must write this. Munster deserved what they got because we weren't very good but you can't play rugby like that. There were 15 minutes at the end of the game where we couldn't get our hands on the ball without infringing. It's getting like basketball where the only option is to make a technical error and take the points. That's not rugby, it's nothing."
I didn't care: Munster is my team over there; nor did Munster disagree. Lock Donncha O'Callaghan said, famously: "I don't care. I've got a medal in my arse pocket"."
People may decide that a game with a lot of tries is automatically a great game and good on them; we all have different opinions. But I like to see a stern contest between attack and defence.
Having said that, I wish that my Tahs would score bonus point tries every week.
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