Dynamite Dan
26 Sep 2011
MARK KEOHANE, in Business Day newspaper, writes the All Blacks win against France confirmed if you stop Dan Carter you stop New Zealand’s march on a first World Cup success in 24 years. It is something France couldn’t do.
Carter remains the most crucial piece in the All Blacks’ World Cup puzzle. He was better than good against France, but television footage can’t do justice to the quality of performance and the man’s understanding of the game.
Having been fortunate to be at Eden Park there was so much more to marvel at than you ever get to see on the match tape. The camera follows the ball and being at the ground one’s eyes can follow a player. So much rugby is played without the ball and so much of what makes Carter special is what he does without the ball.
His goal kicking remains the only area of his game that is lacking in consistency and that could be a result of an operation to his Achilles heel 18 months ago and issues with a stiff lower back. He has succeeded with eight from 12 kicks in the tournament and whereas the early years of his international career were characterised with percentages near the 80s, in the last four years it has been in the lower 70s.
The tournament goal-kicking percentage at the halfway stage is 60%, with South Africa’s Morne Steyn and the French duo of Morgan Parra and Dmitri Yachvilli the exceptions among those struggling to convert goal-kicking opportunities into points.
Carter, though, is the exception when it comes to possessing every attribute in the ideal flyhalf. Quade Cooper has unique skills, Steyn is a wonderful kicker, Jonny Wilkinson is the master of the drop goal and Ronan O’Gara has enjoyed many an international success, but no flyhalf controls the game like Carter or better understands flyhalf play.
His pack still has to do provide a platform, but there isn’t a flyhalf who takes the ball as flat as he does (Cooper included) and takes as much contact (Wilkinson included). His tackling is excellent, he doesn’t hesitate to clean at a ruck and his feel for making the right decision (with a pass, kick, linebreak or offload, is unmatched in the game.
New Zealand doesn’t have a No 10 remotely in Carter’s class and the vulnerability is – and has always been – that they don’t even have an adequate back-up.
The All Blacks pack fronted against a strong French challenge and the first 10 minutes from France would have damaged most teams. The All Blacks opening 40 minutes was the best produced in the competition.
I felt privileged to be at the match to watch Richie McCaw become the first All Black to 100 Tests. He is a remarkable player and anyone who disputes his quality has no appreciation for a great rugby player. He is also among the most humble of warriors. I have often written if he were South African we’d have a statue of him in every town.
It was poignant that his greatest individual milestone was against the French in a World Cup match because his worst was definitely the quarter-final defeat against France in 2007. The result is more fitting of a career that has produced 88 wins in 100 Tests, in which he has played South Africa and Australia more than 40 times.
Bok captain John Smit was among the first to congratulate McCaw and it said everything about the respect there is for the man in the Bok squad.
One stand out of this tournament is how popular the Boks are in New Zealand and how much respect they have been given for winning the 2007 World Cup. New Zealanders regard the Boks as deserving winners and many here predict they will beat the Wallabies and set up a semi-final in Auckland against the All Blacks.
I have been consistent in my view that the winner will be one of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Australia are vulnerable without David Pocock and New Zealanders hold their breath every time Carter sneezes. South Africa’s problem is when an opposition pack stands firm, meets their challenge in the collisions and forces flyhalf Morne Steyn to play the game from a position too deep to threaten a ball in hand attack.
The Boks against Namibia scored brilliant individual tries, but it was Namibia, who are hopeless, and Samoa’s thumping of Fiji on Sunday hopefully also puts into perspective the Boks demolition job of the Islanders a week ago.
Samoa, with 17 of their match squad based in the northern hemisphere, have sacrificed their natural instinct to have a go from anywhere. They are a conservative side that plays with structure and that will favour the stronger Boks.
Expect the Boks – with Bismarck du Plessis to start – to win well on Friday, but know the biggest challenge in four years will be if they do play Australia a week later in Wellington.
The Wallabies have beaten the Boks five times in the last six meetings and led 24-3 at Loftus in the solitary Bok win. Ignoring that recent history is the equivalent of ignoring the limitations of the All Blacks without Carter.
27 Comments
26 Sep 2011, 09:50 am
Get Carter — they even made a movie about it. But 10 years on and he can’t be got.
26 Sep 2011, 10:01 am
He looked pretty gotten in 2007.
26 Sep 2011, 10:40 am
Truely, Carter is magical to watch.
26 Sep 2011, 10:52 am
@BreakdownBoy(goodstuff)-2:
I think you mean ‘injured’.
And when we say ‘injured’, we actually mean injured.
26 Sep 2011, 10:54 am
DC was absolutely incredible vs French. Brilliant. He makes everyone around him look good, a mark of a Great player.
And an AB for 4 more years. Scary.
26 Sep 2011, 11:04 am
Black Panther – I think the French experiment with Parra was a failure, Trin Duich is a great flyhalf.
However now the French have an easy ride to the finals, albiet i cant see them beating Ireland or England. This is exciting because maybe just maybe Ireland can reach their first RWC final. I will definitely be rooting for the Irish!!!
On the otherside boring 3N yest again. I reckon this time though the Boks should be able to over power the Ozzies by playing a similar plan to the Irish, as the Boks have gotten better.
But come semis the ABs will blow the Boks off the park!!
Possible ABs Ireland final but probably ABs v England final!!
26 Sep 2011, 11:06 am
tackler just like the trophy ‘can’t be got for the AB’s’ …..richie & dan should have migrated to the republic then they would’ve tasted the liquor out of the web ellis by now
26 Sep 2011, 11:27 am
Dan is truly the man, give credit where it’s due, from a South Africans perspective I like the underdog tag and with the fixtures ahead of us we should keep it till the end of semi’s.
26 Sep 2011, 11:37 am
I recall Dan Carter being very ordinary against on form Bulls sides. Don’t see why this RWC should be any different. With Nonu not very much reliant come knock out stages I see the AB’s campaign won’t be any different from those trying to regain the trophy for the last 20 years.
26 Sep 2011, 12:14 pm
ain’t gonna be easy!
26 Sep 2011, 12:18 pm
Race of Tan
you seriously think Trinh-Duc is a “great flyhalf” ? He just looks so ordinary to me, so un-French, very little of that joie de vivre that we identify with les Tricolors. Seen him play a bit, cant say Ive ever seen him tear a side apart.
They experimented with Parra, who had been in hot form, because Skrela was on his way back home. Yr right tho, didnt really come off. Only one way of finding out tho….
26 Sep 2011, 12:36 pm
Best 10 in the modern era.
Has over 80 Test caps and still CLASS.Best all round skilled 10 ever.
Can do everything,the way he tore France apart on weekend was testament to his class.
Longevity.
26 Sep 2011, 12:40 pm
@Black Panther(Black Panther)-11:
Trinh-Duc was outstanding vs NZ in 09′ when they beat AB’s in NZ.Scored a magnificent try only bettered by amazing effort by Heymans later on.
He is a good 10,better than erratic & defensive liability Skrela.
26 Sep 2011, 12:53 pm
Mish
‘good 10′, perhaps
youre being very contrary today…..the point was whether he was a “great 10″
maybe Im just, um, reaching ?
Yep, he scored a decent try. Have seen him do very little for club or country outside of that tho.
26 Sep 2011, 12:53 pm
To all the New Zealand trolls (not all Kiwi bloggers) who rave about how racist South African’s are (not denying many are) give this a read… http://mg.co.za/article/2011-09-26-new-zealand-cops-detain-sa-reporter-for-drug-dealing/
26 Sep 2011, 12:56 pm
The French defence around the ruck/scrum/breakdown was terrible. They left so much space for DC and the running backs to exploit.
26 Sep 2011, 13:19 pm
seamus – I agree. Those first 3 AB tries were very soft!!
26 Sep 2011, 13:19 pm
@Black Panther(Black Panther)-14:
Fair enough but ORDINARY and GOOD have 2 different connotations.
26 Sep 2011, 15:00 pm
@TheTackler(TheTackler)-1:
Senor Tackles. For your information the original “Get Carter” was made in the early seventies. Even before the All Blacks last one a World Cup.
Now that is a long time indeed….
26 Sep 2011, 16:34 pm
well, there is really nothing new in this article is there?
likewise, the kiwi coaches will be saying to their forwards, listen boys, we need to stop that bok pack otherwise we’ll get into trouble and dan will not get any decent ball.
26 Sep 2011, 16:51 pm
The greatest 10 to have ever graced the game. He has everything handling, passing, running, out of hand and still ball kicking, defense, chief organizer, and that quality only given to great players time on the ball.
26 Sep 2011, 17:27 pm
Not sure if guys at keo read these comments but what about using your imagination and writing an article about something we don’t already all know. Here’s one from the bbc, a profile of one of the USA players. How many more stories on carter or smit do we need? If you must persist with the Boks angle at least tell us something about other teams in the group. The only reason I used to read keo is that it’s one of few daily rugby “news” sites but during the world cup there are so many other choices I barely come back here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bendirs/2011/09/where_eagles_dare.html
26 Sep 2011, 20:47 pm
@Bod(bod)-19: You don’t say? (Do your mates explain their jokes to you, pilgrim?)
27 Sep 2011, 03:00 am
@Black Panther(Black Panther)-4: hahaha…..
I still have my reservations about what Le Froggies are up to.
We could look at the game through rose tinted glasses and believe what we saw, or we could look at it with a more cynical approach and one of mistrust and caution. Having been associated with the french for a very long period of my life I have learnt one thing from them…..they will do anything pretty much to serve their own purposes. We have seen them commit terrorism on our country resulting in death and destruction in small standards by todays events. They have gone into pacific isalnds (Tahiti) to test their nuclear devices and destroy and maim a paradise and the people who were living their in tranquility.
We are all saying that we ( Kiwis) should be wary of the Boks, Ozzies (as we should) etc…I think the French have a bigger plan than what we are aware of.
Lets not forget that they have been in the finals, semi finals and a force no one can reckon with on their day.
We have all learnt lessons along the way and the french are by no means stupid. It is not our god given right to win the WC just because we are hosting it or are the number ranked team in the world. Nor is it our right because we have been pretty much the favourites over the last few decades.
The French have not come to lose and their desire to win may well match that of the rest of us. ’03 we knew pretty much what to expect from England..penalty, kick penalty kick but we have a team arriving that has not been under the spotlight as the English were then.
What is their plan?
WHAT IF THE FIRST FIFTEEN MINUTES OF THAT MATCH WAS TO SEE HOW WE HANDLED THE PRESSURE? What if they fielded their best team to achieve this point, (pretend they had given it their best shot) and then ‘apparently’ lose their way a little. Was this to see the AB’s structures under pressure and have their best on field to be in the guts of it to watch.
Imagine if their last four years has been about this moment?
Every campaign has been enough to stay in touch but not to be too obvious.
To be able to come to NZ, beat the best at their own game in their own country would be enough to make the French think long hard about the best way to do this. The All Blacks have always been the most revered team in France by the public and the kings of the sport to other players there. I know this first hand from having lived there. They are the masters of strategy and guile and for this reason I believe that they are the ones we should be watching.
27 Sep 2011, 06:45 am
@captain fantail(captain fantail)-24:
Agreed. Les Tricolors are my very favourite Test team, aside from the Mighty Blacks, of course. When they are in nthe mood, noone can stop them other than themselves. I was there at EP in Bastille Day 1979. There at the RWC Final in 1987 too, thankfully I realised we could actually beat them….There again in ’94 for the ‘try from end of the Earth’. There at Twickers at RWC’99 and also in Cardiff’07. So I certainly do respect these mo f’rogs !
And it was lovely to be there at EP last Saturday.
A RWC Final’11 vs France would be my ultimate match with both teams the perfect combo of forward strength and backline guile.
And if we lose, so be it, because I respect their Total Rugby style more than any other opposition team.
Viva la France !!!!
Go the Blacks !!!!
27 Sep 2011, 23:14 pm
@seamus(seamus)-16: Totally agree with you there. The frogs are known for playing their 9′s at 10 – its a tactic that probably works for them when playing northern hem sides as the packs are more even – cancel each other out, and allowing for 9, 10, 12 to play a more static game, linking back with the forwards more.
Against more dynamic opposition they get found out. They had a decent pack on Sat night, but the pace of the game splintered them somewhat, and we saw what happened. A bit confused on defense too allowing the AB’s to run riot.
The bad part of that was that we went into our shell a bit, and let the foot of the pressure pedal. We established our good lead, then played at 70% for most of the match thereafter, hence the score after that was only 18-17 to NZ.
27 Sep 2011, 23:20 pm
@Brigadier Van Zyl(Brigadier Van Zyl)-20: I think when the boks put the ball behind NZ is where they exert the most pressure on us. The forwards have parity – even our lineout has caught up – whats with Vic and Bakkies – they’ve lost a few lately. Scrum is on par, and you have an enormous advantage when Biz comes on – he such a mongrel – in a good way.
We expect so much more from Spies, but he seems to lack confidence against NZ, such a balanced player.
Who is your back up to M.Steyn? Is it F.Steyn or who – I’ve lost touch, is it that new guy, Lambie? Not sure if he is big game material yet
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