Springboks Crush All Blacks

The rugby team I dislike the most, South Africa's Springboks have smashed New Zealand's All Blacks, 43-10. It is the All Blacks worst ever defeat. What's worse is that NZ were playing at home. 

This All Blacks team appear very fragile. The Springboks are definitely beatable, but the All Blacks just fall apart at times. It's as if they overthink things.

A huge apology is due the previous All Blacks coach, Ian Foster. He took the AB's to a World Cup final despite knowing he'd lost the job to the incumbent today. That coach, Scott Robertson had a stellar record as a Super Rugby coach, but he's fallen well short at the very top. 

When losses like this occur, NZ starts bloodletting. This is going to be biblical.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/sport/572980/rugby-championship-record-loss-for-all-blacks-as-springboks-retain-freedom-cup

The Dreaded TMO

Naturally, all of New Zealand are talking about the Television Match Official, or TMO. The TMO played a critical role in the Rugby World Cup 2023, especially in the final.

Everyone is calling for consistency in decision making. I agree, but don't feel inconsistency is what determined the outcome of the match. 

I do believe the TMO played a critical part and did influence the outcome, but I'm not seeing people understand how this was done. The TMO slowed the game down, allowing pauses to occur, and this allowed the weaker team, the team noticeably running out of gas to have timeouts, regroup, and set their defense again. This helped South Africa as the game wore on as they were the team that needed the rests.

Think politically too; World Rugby want to expand the game. If New Zealand are always winning, people other than rugby purists are not going to be so interested. Every year, new laws come along to try and neuter the power of the NZ game, and now we have match officials actively interfering.

This is statement of fact, not sour grapes. NZ had their chance to win and blew it. Credit goes to South Africa, but the rugby governing body have got to sort this nonsense out, they're turning rugby into something akin to American Football, with constant stoppages.

Rugby World Cup 2023 - Final

South Africa 12 - 11 New Zealand

New Zealand scored the only try, but South Africa won their fourth Rugby World Cup and became the greatest World Cup winning rugby team of all time.

New Zealand had their chances. They failed to convert the one try and had a 50 metre penalty kick that went wide. Either of these kicks would have put NZ in front.

South Africa never really looked like scoring a try, but they defended resolutely, and had physical dominance for much of the game, especially in the first half. They had NZ playing their game.

NZ did not play well in key areas. Its ball handling was flawed with too many players taking their eye off the ball. And NZ did not ring the changes when adjustments were needed. It looked to me as if the team had decided to make replacements at appointed times and they just stuck to that. When replacements were made, they had an instant impact, but not enough minutes to turn that into points. 

Here's my way of looking at it: when the NZ captain, Sam Cane was off for good, they needed to inject Sam Whitelock at that point, to level the ship and provide experience and leadership. Then, at halftime, change the first five eighth (fly half), and early in the second half, off comes the halfback Aaron Smith and the winger Will Jordan.

My main gripe, however, is with the refereeing and the direction the game is taking. The referees have too much influence on the game. Both teams received two yellow cards. The NZ captain had his yellow upgraded to red and so NZ was down to 14 men for the rest of the match. But, the South Africa captain also received a yellow for head to head contact, and yet this did not get upgraded. Inconsistency such as this has got to be sorted. Did this matter in the end? Probably not, as South Africa received its next yellow soon after the South Africa captain came back on, so for the remainder of the match they were down to 14 men as well, it became a 14 man contest.

Once the game is reduced to 14 men, teams must adjust and this influences how teams play, which lessens the spectator experience. If teams had stayed at 15 men apiece, the score may have ended the same, but the fans would see a proper game, not one that resembles a shambles. 

For New Zealand, the plus is that this team even made the final. Leading in to this tournament, many considered them to be the worst All Blacks team in a long time. So, they achieved above expectations, but looking ahead, the new coach Scott Robertson has to introduce his brand of rugby and get things back on track.

Rugby World Cup 2019 - South Africa World Cup Champions

South Africa beat England 32-12. No tries for England who were on the back foot almost the whole game. The Springboks played to their strengths and kept field position, with the English pinned in their own half. Eventually the points came. Very sensible tactics from South Africa; kick for position, defend stoutly, put pressure on set pieces, kick the goals and seal the win with tries toward the end.

For me the decisive and most telling moment was in the first half, the Springboks up 6-3. England were hard on attack, threatening to score a try. Time and again they mounted attacks only for South Africa to push them back. South Africa eventually gave away a penalty, the score then stood at 6-6 when it could have been 6-10. England looked dejected, from that point on they never looked like scoring a try. South Africa were prepared to put their bodies on the line, several players suffered game ending injuries as a result of that defensive effort, but the team didn't buckle.

As a footnote, thought has to turn to whether England peaked too early. They played the perfect game against New Zealand in their semi-final, making it very hard for them to get back up for the final a week later.