Blacks within reach of rugby heaven
16 Oct 2011
RYAN VREDE watched the All Blacks take a step closer to ending their World Cup misery with a 20-6 victory over Australia at Eden Park.
Surely now. Surely the suffering will end. Surely the team that has so often betrayed the faithfulness of their long-suffering fans, nay, disciples, will claim the one prize they most covet.
France lie in wait in the final. On the evidence of their woeful performance in victory over Wales last night they will not live with this flawed but formidable team and its superlative players – Israel Dagg chief among those.
On current form Dagg is without peer in the game, possessing every technical gift on offer, and, more pertinently, the temperament for the biggest occasions. All those qualities were on show as he crafted their only try, beating three would-be tacklers then defying the laws of physics to offload a pass to Ma’a Nonu while plummeting into touch. Breathtaking is a word too liberally used to describe mediocre feats. It is inadequate for that inspired action.
Dagg was the headline act in a play with a range of compelling sub-plots, none more so than the vendetta against a son of New Zealand’s soil, Quade Cooper. It took 32 minutes for the flyhalf to do something right (a drop-goal), the preceding period being spent chastising himself for errors or peeling himself off the canvas from statement hits.
While Cooper’s star waned, his counterpart Aaron Cruden’s shone brightly. In the context of his Test career – its genesis seeing coach Graham Henry hailing him as the natural successor to Daniel Carter, and its nadir coming when he was unceremoniously dumped shortly thereafter, before being recently recalled – his was a mature effort, particularly in light of the magnitude of the occasion and the quality of the opposition.
But in a game shaped by the principle of cause and effect, Cruden’s ability to rock rested heavily on the shift put in by his roadies in shirts one through eight. Immovable at the gainline on defence and irresistible on attack, the Blacks’ heavies were mighty. Their spirit was encapsulated in the superb performance of Richie McCaw, who excelled despite his foot being held together by hope and some items found in a mechanic’s toolbox. ‘I know he will try to be modest and give credit to the tight five [for laying the platform], but he was just outstanding,’ coach Graham Henry said of McCaw.
Australia boast a player of Dagg’s calibre in openside flank David Pocock, who appears to possess the supernatural gift of omnipresence. But he was rendered a non-factor at the breakdown thanks to the efficiency of the Blacks’ strike runners and cleaners.
It would be remiss not to acknowledge the Wallabies’ unkillable spirit in the face of incessant pressure. It was the outstanding feature of their game against the Springboks last week, and they exhibited that again tonight. To restrict the Blacks to one try is a notable achievement given the hosts’ surfeit of territory and possession. However, they lacked a clinical edge in the 22m, which was decisive to their fortunes.
That they were in touch at half-time – trailing 14-6 – bore testament to their resolve as much as it did the Blacks’ frequent impatience on attack. But they did little more than survive, when reopening the psychological wounds the Blacks sport from previous failures in this tournament required considerably more.
Just after the restart Piri Weepu kicked his third penalty to go with a Cruden drop goal, extending the lead to 11 points. There was a observable change in focus from the Blacks thereafter, with panache giving way to pragmatism on attack and granitic defence being the bedrock of their resistance.
Australia succumbed, albeit not meekly, to a team who have no equal in the game. France are vastly inferior opponents. For the Blacks, ending their suffering will be more a test of exorcising their own demons than it will be about vanquishing Lievremont’s mad mob.
By Ryan Vrede, at Eden Park
Follow Ryan’s World Cup coverage on Twitter
1,170 Comments
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17 Oct 2011, 10:09 am
UFO: lol
17 Oct 2011, 10:10 am
when were the boks flower bombed?
what did the attackers use?
proteas?
17 Oct 2011, 10:10 am
@Richie_7(p0ppa69)-1140:
I remember just before the elections that brought the ANC into power, a television crew interviewed this Afrikaans first language individual.
He could not grasp how the blacks could be treated as equals. He made the comment that it would be like asking him to treat a chicken as an equal.
Was that your Dad Ritchie?
17 Oct 2011, 10:10 am
Dawn: I’m not sure why richie is not answering!
17 Oct 2011, 10:13 am
brads, its not about being equal dude! its been 20 years and still you get hooligans supporting NZ rugby because of apartheid!!
17 Oct 2011, 10:14 am
@mpundulu(mpundulu)-1154:
Because it/he/she is a troll.
17 Oct 2011, 10:16 am
@Richie_7(p0ppa69)-1155:
Hooligans?
Criminals in other words.
17 Oct 2011, 10:18 am
Brads: that wasn’t richie’s father, it was richie!
17 Oct 2011, 10:25 am
@mpundulu(mpundulu)-1158:
Could well have been.
I was just giving him the benefit of the doubt, because he blamed his prejudice on his upbringing.
There again, parents can be arseholes, giving a child a labotomy and removing future discretion to identify is what right and wrong – that has been stopped in SA now I assume?
17 Oct 2011, 10:28 am
Brads: Lol. There’s a fallacy that it has been stopped in SA, in my view it has not. There are many Richies in SA hiding behind the rainbow nation conveniently.
17 Oct 2011, 10:30 am
It has all stopped in SA yes, just go have a look @ the Farm murder pics @ Boere krises Aksie’s FB page …and white genocide websites! not just a gunshot against the head, but tottally f8cking up someone 6 love with hot water, broken glass bottels into a ladies you know what etc …. now that doesn’t help reconciliation now does it?
17 Oct 2011, 10:33 am
Richie: what are you on about?
17 Oct 2011, 10:33 am
@Richie_7(p0ppa69)-1161:
Hahaha
Got you.
And you blame all that on people who support the AB’s
17 Oct 2011, 10:35 am
@Richie_7(p0ppa69)-1161:
calm down now.
pundie has an alibi for that.
I feel a necklace coming on.
17 Oct 2011, 10:36 am
Anyway, I am out of here.
I am off to stare at my navel to get my mind in place for the final!
17 Oct 2011, 10:38 am
Gunther: lol. How are you mate?
17 Oct 2011, 10:50 am
@mpundulu(mpundulu)-1166:
cunniejannie my brother from an african mother.
I think it’s time for our buddy to feel the cleansing flames of the revolution.
17 Oct 2011, 10:52 am
Gunther: Hehehehehe
17 Oct 2011, 12:07 pm
So much of hate towards the AB’s ……….
Anyway to bad how sad , moving along . Glad to see the usual clowns going about their normal inbred tendancies. This was supposed to be the best SA team ever , well the most epxerienced anyway , sad times , hope the flight home was fine .
Lets hope Richie once again leads the way , and does what most of the SA team should have done after getting the free and empty ride to the 2007 final , thanks to Barnes , and that is to retire . He has nothing left to achieve in rugby. To finish on a high, what a great way to leave the sport .
Now to watch all the inbreds supporting the French , just because of their hate towards the mighty AB’s . Cry me a river.
18 Oct 2011, 07:08 am
@Black Panther(Black Panther)-1078: Tell us the one how you score tries against poles, like you told all off the people here one day, go on, dont be shy now.
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