I'm going to say it, the current New Zealand rugby union team, the All Blacks, are very average. Their latest performance against Australia in Perth, Western Australia, displayed both a lack of skill, and tactical nous.
The skill deficit meant they could not make simple kicks, often missing a kick to touch off their own penalty; and then missing routine kicks for goal. They beat Australia 28-14 but it should have been a victory by a lot more.
Toward the end of the game they passed up easy kicks for goal and one has to wonder whether they did this as they weren't confident of making the kick, or whether they're just a bunch of amateurs.
The blame for this poor performance must lie with the coaching staff and the captain. It is simply not good enough. And what is it with Sky TV commentators? They refuse to criticise obviously poor play. If a kick to touch off a penalty was missed, they'd say nothing at all about it. It was a case with them of, oh well, play on. Err...no, that is a big error and needs to be pointed out. For those who don't know what I'm talking about: a kick directly to touch off a penalty means you get the ball back from where the ball went out. If you don't get that ball out, the other side runs it back at you, meaning losing possession and field position. Do this often, and it is a sackable offense, but the Sky commentators were silent. Is this some kind of corporate thing now? Sky TV are such twits.
No comments:
Post a Comment