Edwards: Blacks are the best
18 Nov 2008
Wales defence coach Shaun Edwards believes the All Blacks are the benchmark in world rugby, not the Springboks.
Despite the Boks being crowned world champions a little over a year ago, they have not done much in 2008 to strengthen their claim as the world’s best team. Apart from their win over the All Blacks in Dunedin and a 53-8 hiding over the Wallabies, the rest of the performances have been sub-standard, while the last couple of scratchy wins over Wales and Scotland have done little to enhance their reputation.
However, they have managed to beat Wales three times this year (and once after the World Cup at the back-end of last year), but Edwards believes the All Blacks hold the mantle as the game’s leading nation.
“Throughout history, they [New Zealand] are the standard-bearers for the game,” said Edwards. “That’s not to say that the northern hemisphere teams can’t beat them at certain times.
“They are probably the most respected name in world rugby, and the ultimate challenge I suppose is to play against the All Blacks.”
Edwards continued to wax lyrical about the All Blacks on tour ahead of their Test at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.
“This current crop of players they’ve got are up there with the tradition of the past of the All Blacks. Their aggression at the breakdown is second to none, and their scramble defence has done fantastically well,” said Edwards.
“They were totally dominant throughout the game against Ireland last Saturday – on paper, it was a very strong Ireland team.
“It’s the ultimate challenge in world rugby to play against the All Blacks, and we are looking forward to the challenge.”
89 Comments
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18 Nov 2008, 09:08 am
Dragons
18 Nov 2008, 09:08 am
CYMRU Dragons!
18 Nov 2008, 09:08 am
Dragons.
18 Nov 2008, 09:09 am
Its Shaun Edwards btw. In truth Edwards just wants to beat everyone and always talks up the opposition.
18 Nov 2008, 09:09 am
# Big Hit: Big hit. Just too fast for us!!!
18 Nov 2008, 09:10 am
#5 Puma: yes this time
confident for the weekend Puma?
18 Nov 2008, 09:18 am
Throughout history, they [New Zealand] are the standard-bearers for the game
Rubbish, defintely post isolation, but not before isolation.
18 Nov 2008, 09:49 am
who cares . why quote this **** ??
18 Nov 2008, 10:00 am
he’s got a point.
18 Nov 2008, 10:13 am
#4 Big Hit:
He doesn’t need to talk up the best rugby team in the world big ***.
18 Nov 2008, 10:14 am
Nobody in his right mind would argue that they are not the benchmark side at the moment and probably have been for a while. They are the form side at the moment.
Guess what though. They don’t have the Webb Ellis. Nobody gives a continental about how many Tri Nations you win or how you do at the end of year tour.
The WC is all that counts. NZ has plundered Tonga, Figi etc. and it has got them nowhere. Henry had tears in his eyes saying he didn’t wan’t to win the WC playing the type of rugby we had played. What a load of BS. Guess what my china. Its going to happen to NZ again in 3 years. Watch Oz and SA again.
Sounds like there is a Welshman with his kop up his arlie again who can’t get over a Bok side playing badly and still giving them a PK.
Jake had a plan . We lost but improved up to WC and won. No side has won the WC and then not had a slight drop in form. I think we have had a great year. When last did we beat NZ at home?
18 Nov 2008, 10:25 am
#11 foxpox:
No your right mate the Bokke have had a great year, you got the wooden spoon in the Tri Nations again, you got beaten four times by Australia and NZ including being zeroed in your own back yard, you just beat the Welsh and needed a come from behind win to beat Scotland – great year you must be thrilled.
18 Nov 2008, 10:57 am
NZ is the greatest Rrugby nation in the world. No doubt. They can take 3 teams to the NH and hardlly forsake any quality.
But a fit and fired up best NZ 22 vs fit and fired up best Bok 22 – that’s pretty equal… and far superior to anything the rest of the world can produce
18 Nov 2008, 11:03 am
NZinChina
I am actually. Thanks for asking. Were you also one of the dudes looking shattered like Richie at the press conference with tears in his eyes trying to explain why you got given a hiding again and being sent back to Auckland for another pre-arranged ticker tape parade. That bubbly must be going off by now??
No problems. Give it that NZ are consistantly the best side. Just don’t think we have had that bad a year. SA has a problem playing so called inferior sides(no excuse) when NZ seems to wipe them out. But will take a win all the time even if its by 1 point.Granted Tri nations wasn’t the best but wasn’t the worst either. Nobody asks how many drop goals it took to win a WC. Nobody care’s. Who’s name is on the trophy. Think Dan the Man will be doing a lot of drop kicking practice in the next three year’s. Good luck to you my china but think I can hear bones already shaking as we look forward to next WC with you as over whelming favourite’s. Just don’t get too cocky. Welsh might give you a big fright.
18 Nov 2008, 11:32 am
#14 foxpox:
Mate you need to relax a little you might blow a gasket trying to convince youself about a ‘game of rugby, if you think the Bokke had a great year that’s fantastic although I’d hate to see their results in a bad year.
18 Nov 2008, 11:35 am
#7 johnnybravo:
try this Johnny.
Test Matches up untill 1990.
NZ
Played: 251, Won 179. = 71.3% wins. (plus 14 draws).
SA
Played 174, won 112. = 64.4% wins (plus 15 draws).
Post isolation……Pre isolation ….ABs #1.
18 Nov 2008, 11:42 am
#16 cane:
Would also be very interesting to look at how the stats changed dramatically head to head after neutral refs were introduced, could be a coincidence…
18 Nov 2008, 11:45 am
#11 foxpox:
Not true foxy.
The 1987 WC winning ABs…………never lost a Test Match from 87 until 1990.
The 1995 WC winning Springboks….never lost another Test Match until one year later.
18 Nov 2008, 11:54 am
#17 NZINCHINA:
It is true NZC, that the Broederbond Refs of 49 and 70 did little for our record in Africa.
18 Nov 2008, 11:56 am
#16 cane:
Whatever, I don’t believe in Stats. What I believe in is the fact that NZ could only manage a Test series victory in SA post-isolation. What I know is that even Farr-Jones after winning the WC n ’91 said, your not the best until you have beaten the Boks.
We were the benchmark, take the stats between NZ and SA and you will notice that we beat you more often pre-isolation.
18 Nov 2008, 12:02 pm
#14 foxpox:
Since when Breer Fox, is a 2 point loss to France a freaking “Hiding”.
A loss is a loss. But 2 points a hiding…….come on.
What would you call 49–0 ?
18 Nov 2008, 12:05 pm
#21 cane:
lol lol – yes the boy certainly has an interesting perspective.
18 Nov 2008, 12:09 pm
#13 seamus: A fit and fired up best NZ 22 vs fit and fired up best Bok 22 (minus political involvement) – that’s pretty equal… and far superior to anything the rest of the world can produce
18 Nov 2008, 12:09 pm
#20 johnnybravo:
You sound like the minister of health for SA.
18 Nov 2008, 12:11 pm
#20 johnnybravo:
Hey Johnny, You Okes wouldn’t let us Tour with “Players of Colour”, untill 1970.
To our eternal shame we still sent Teams….but that is another story.
In 49 you pricks even arranged for a head on Train Crash when the ABs were returning from the then Rhodesia.
18 Nov 2008, 12:13 pm
#24 NZINCHINA:
Let’s prove my point about STATS:
Ignore the overall winning percentage and go country for country. You will notice that no country beat the Bokke more than we beat them pre-isolation.
Now, is that then not the benchmark? Having a 71% winning ratio looks great, but you still lost to the Boks more than you beat them.
18 Nov 2008, 12:15 pm
#25 cane: Train Crashes? Suzy? How do you guys come up with this stuff.
18 Nov 2008, 12:17 pm
#27 It is just a game:
LOL!!!! Beautiful
18 Nov 2008, 12:17 pm
#23 It is just a game:
and always has been.
Throw in the 49 train crash, No Maori, Suzie da harlot, Broederbond Refs, Altitude……etc
And I think, pre-isolation things were pretty even.
18 Nov 2008, 12:19 pm
#29 cane: Is that offer for accomadation in your dog house still standing for WC 2011. I must come to change one of your stadium’s name.
18 Nov 2008, 12:21 pm
#26 johnnybravo:
Disagree we played far more test mateches than you and still had a superior win / loss record – AB Bokke rugby is not all that counts, your record for example against the Lions is terrible.
18 Nov 2008, 12:21 pm
#16 cane: Cane,
I bet that in SA’s absence between 1981 and when you chose to take the stats from in 1990 NZ’s %wins probably went up by about 6.9% or so.
18 Nov 2008, 12:23 pm
Just for the AB supporters, and Big Hit of course:
All Blacks coach Graham Henry’s silence over Wayne Barnes’ World Cup refereeing has paid off – he has won the prestigious World Fair Play trophy for his “exemplary attitude” following last year’s shock quarter-final loss to France.
As Henry gets set to return to Cardiff, the scene of his darkest hour, the International Committee for Fair Play (ICPF) has awarded the New Zealander their highest distinction, the prestigious Pierre de Coubertin trophy.
It is the same award All Blacks great Tana Umaga won in 2003 when he went to help unconscious Welsh loose forward Colin Charvis while the test match went on around them in Hamilton.
Henry has triumphed for very different reasons.
Barnes had a shocker that day, missing a forward pass that led to a try and failing to penalise France in the second half.
But Henry has never publicly uttered one word of criticism of the refereeing blunders that led to the top-ranked team suffering their earliest World Cup exit.
That attitude, recognised by the ICPF, and his actions immediately after the match won him the award which is run under the auspices of the International Olympic Committee.
Henry went straight to the French changing room to congratulate the winners, interrupting a diminutive Frenchman later identified as the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy.
“After the narrow defeat to France, the New Zealand coach Graham Henry behaved with great dignity and an exemplary sense of Fair Play,” declared Jean Durry, the general secretary of the ICPF, from Budapest where the award will be presented to Henry at a gala dinner in January.
“For a rugby country such as New Zealand, one can only imagine how painful this defeat must have been.
“But with great sobriety, Henry went to the French team room to offer his congratulations. It was a very simple gesture, but it serves as an example to other sports people. In the context of today’s professional sport, Henry’s dignity in defeat was a magnificent example of sportsmanship.”
In acknowledging the award Henry said it was “a huge honour for myself, and for New Zealand rugby”.
“Ever since I started coaching, after every defeat, I have always made a point of congratulating the opposing coach and team. It’s just what you should do. It was by no means an easy thing to do after losing to France, because it killed four years of a dream. But we just had to take it on the chin and act with some dignity.”
Henry is just the fourth rugby winner of the award following Welsh great Gareth Edwards (1978), the Paris-based team Racing Club de France (1991) and Umaga.
Other recipients of the Pierre de Coubertin trophy include Emil Zatopek, Stanley Mathews and Nelson Mandela.
Henry held on to his job despite the loss and is now seeking his second Grand Slam with the All Blacks.
They have the first two legs in following comprehensive wins over Scotland and Ireland. They play Wales this weekend and finish their tour against England in London.
Hehehehehehe
18 Nov 2008, 12:25 pm
#11 foxpox: So if WC’s are all that matters, what mattered before World Cups?
18 Nov 2008, 12:26 pm
#33 stodders:
Now why didn’t Louis Luyt win a similar award?
18 Nov 2008, 12:27 pm
Too right Johnnybravo, NO country beat SA more than they lost pre 1981 and that includes the Lions. And there were some great Lions sides particularly 55 and 74.
18 Nov 2008, 12:28 pm
#34 Richie_7: Before WCups it was all about tours and head-to-head record.
18 Nov 2008, 12:29 pm
#33 stodders: How can one forward pass missed be shocking.
18 Nov 2008, 12:29 pm
#27 It is just a game:
Actually only the Train Driver and the Fireman were killed. God rest their souls.
18 Nov 2008, 12:30 pm
#37 Mick:
So then, as per the above criteria, who’s the best?
18 Nov 2008, 12:31 pm
#39 cane: Were can I read more about it?
18 Nov 2008, 12:34 pm
#40 Richie_7: Up until World Cups started SA (head-to-head vs all comers) and since World Cups started SA and Aus both with 2 !!
18 Nov 2008, 12:36 pm
But then we did actually miss the first two because of our own problems.
18 Nov 2008, 12:36 pm
#42 Mick:
You must be the benchmark in world rugby then, pre and post isolation.
18 Nov 2008, 12:37 pm
#32 Mick:
Actually Mick, co-incidently, it was just at the precise time that Aussie stepped up to the plate, and established themselves as a real force in International Rugby.
18 Nov 2008, 12:38 pm
#42 Mick:
Ok, so since WC started all head-to-heads don’t mean anything anymore?
18 Nov 2008, 12:41 pm
Exactly Richie_7
You may have a point there Cane.
Our record against Aus up till 1981 was terribly one sided.
18 Nov 2008, 12:42 pm
#47 Mick:
Similar to NZ v Bokke currently?
18 Nov 2008, 12:43 pm
#47 Mick:
So consistency is disregarded over a tournament every 4 years?
18 Nov 2008, 12:44 pm
Anyone know what Aus vs NZ head to head was from 1981 to 1990 ?
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