Potent Pommies pulverise imperfect All Blacks
1 Dec 2012
MARK KEOHANE writes that England, at least until the teams next meet, are in the penthouse and all of New Zealand’s rugby world champions will be made to feel like home for the next six months is closer to the shithouse.
England won a Test that was more a non contest 38-21 and they won it in a manner surely only their players could have believed was possible.
England also ensured international rugby remains a game of hope for those who play the All Blacks and not merely an opportunity for the game’s self proclaimed Messiah to deliver an exhibition of the supposed idealism of the game.
The rugby gods have a way of ensuring this is a game meant for mortals that appreciate the triumph and fallibility of mortals. New Zealand, in recent weeks, bemoaned the imperfection of their mortal performances and turned their attention to an indulgent and self-absored inner search for rugby immortality.
It was painful to listen to how no win was good enough as the game’s best players bemoaned their vulnerability in making mistakes, but it will never be as painful as the beating inflicted on them by an England team apparently lacking in ambition, belief and of inferior playing pedigree.
The All Blacks, strained at the continued imperfections of every Test victory, spoke of finishing the year with the perfect performance but got only to know the feeling of a non-performance.
No English team has ever been as uncharitable, brutal and belittling when hosting the All Blacks. How wonderfully entertaining of the English to finally show some mongrel and to do it with a poise more befitting of the pending immortals wearing black.
England played as if sent by the gods to remind the All Blacks that reward comes from beating the opposition and not the romantic notion of a perfect rugby performance.
Playing the perfect game will never be possible, but the All Blacks who took a beating at Twickenham will know there is something like the most painful game.
Celebrate England and smile. The result was perfect, which is very different to a performance assessed on a belief that it has to be perfect.
The sport needed this result as much as the All Blacks needed a reminder that beating the opposition is still the greater reward and reason to play the game than the self indulgent notion that victory comes not in who they beat but in their ability to play the perfect game.
Players, who have made New Zealand the best team in the world in the last 20 months, will never know what it feels like to be perfect in 80 minutes of Test rugby, but they certainly will speak with authority about how it feels to be pulverised and made to feel pedestrian, pathetic and pulverised.
England, expected to play with passion but no poise, precision or perfection, were ruthless, adventurous and never reckless in taking the game’s champs and for 80 minutes treating them like chumps.
The hosts, heroic and inspirational, led 15-0 at half-time in the most emphatic domination of the All Blacks in the history of the two teams. Don’t belittle what England achieved. Not since Jonny Wilkinson kicked the most famous drop goal in English rugby to win England the 2003 World Cup has a nation had as much reason to feel so bloody good on a Saturday night after a Test match.
This was never a contest. In the context of the 80 minutes New Zealand were fortunate not to concede 50 points.
It would do every England player a disservice to speak of New Zealand player fatigue as the reason for the defeat, and it would also do England a disservice to want to read anything beyond the 80 minutes into the performance.
This match needs to celebrated for a result that balances the world order, even if only temporarily, but more importantly for 80 of the finest minutes in England’s professional rugby history.
It reminded me of Buster Douglas knocking out Mike Tyson as among sport’s greatest upsets. The more the England backs trampled over the limp New Zealand defence, the more surreal it seemed. It was a beating of the most emphatic nature and it showed what is possible in any one-off contest where adventure and belief match the physicality and commitment.
New Zealand in the professional era average just over one Test defeat a year. This was it. The unbeaten Test run of 20 ended with a knockout, but it was the All Blacks who were floored. Ultimately it may prove that the most humiliating of defeats proves the most inspiring of results in the push for a successful defence of the World Cup in 2015.
England’s win was their first against the All Blacks and Springboks in 20 Tests so there is no crisis in New Zealand rugby and there certainly should not be any talk just yet of England being world champions in 2015.
Celebrate what is possible when it all comes together for a team in 80 minutes. Call it magnificent and don’t be shy in using every bit of purple praise to commend a performance and a result that is a contradiction of the player pedigree of the sides and certainly of the results in the last two seasons.
England’s players will believe it is possible to win, even against the might of the All Blacks. And New Zealand’s finest will know it is possible to lose, even against a youthful England.
Twickenham on Saturday will be mentioned every time a team is dismissed as a challenger to the world’s best in New Zealand. It will also be the reminder to every All Black player and every New Zealand supporter that if the professional game’s two greatest players Richie McCaw and Dan Carter could so decisively be pummeled in 80 minutes, no match can be assumed safe on the basis of the black jersey and previous performances.
New Zealand produce the quality of England’s finest moment since 2003 three matches in four. Their domination of the game and standards of excellence often mean that their finest matches are not given the necessary accolades because of all the talk of playing the perfect game.
Perhaps New Zealand’s public will again appreciate what constitutes a fine All Blacks win because they again know what it feels like to be humiliated on at least one Saturday in the Test calendar year.
I expect there to be humility in the post match talk from both camps. England will talk of the need to back up this type of all-round win against the very best and deliver consistently in big tournaments. New Zealand can’t but acknowledge this was a day in which they g0t whipped in every aspect of the game.
New Zealand’s 2011 World Cup-winning squad peaked with the most decisive last 40 minutes against the Springboks at Soccer City. It was a match that defined the quality of the world champions. Twickenham will be the start of a building towards a younger side for New Zealand. That is not a bad thing because what Saturday showed is that if the legs are not there no amount of wisdom, experience of historical brilliance can guarantee a winning result.
England were passionate in everything they did, accurate, clinical and crushingly brutal in the collisions. The result and the flow of the game would have surprised no-one had the winners being wearing black.
Give England their due. On this particular Saturday, All Blacks wingers Cory Jane and Julian Savea were as good as they have been all year. For the rest England won at the scrum, the lineout, field position, ball possession and most importantly in every collision. They advanced metres. The men in black were manhandled and carried back with as much ferocity.
The black jersey is again the cape of mortals. Hooray for that.
The 2015 World Cup again has an appeal. Nothing can ever be taken as a given when World Cup glory is determined in 80 minutes.
England have players capable of playing rugby as it was meant to be played. New Zealand, the bench mark of excellence, have players capable of taking a beating. The challenger played with the authority of the champion and the champion with the confusion and bewilderment of a mere pretender taking a pounding.
Take away the identities of the players and the two teams and reflect on the rugby. It was deserving of a standing ovation.
England believed and the All Blacks were never given a chance to not believe. The blows, all legal, were landed in the first collisions and sustained for the duration of the contest. New Zealand were never in this game and the momentum was always with those blokes in white.
England flanker Tom Wood was named Man of the Match but centre Manu Tualigi will remember this day as the one in which greats were made to look like greying pensioners. England’s triumph was New Zealand’s humiliation.
Carter played with the hesitation of a general who wasn’t fit enough to be in battle. Not even the finest are exempt if the mind knows the body is bleeding. Not even the greatest of them all McCaw could match the intensity of England, individually or collectively.
The All Blacks, beaten up for 50 minutes, countered with a flurry that historically would have be followed by a fundamental lesson that this is a team that can be dazed but never regarded defeated. Jane’s footwork and fighting qualities inspired 14 points.
England, 15 points clear and on the rampage, suddenly led by a point and the assumption was the last 20 minutes would be theirs by default more than design. Every other opponent has imploded at the ease with which an hour of control is undone within three minutes.
England’s players, unlike every other opponent in the last 18 months, simply played with greater adventure in response to New Zealand’s terrific two-try cameo and scored a brilliant try of their own. The confidence of England led to more chaos within New Zealand and the reality of circumstance for once proved more influential and defining than the mystique of the might of the black jersey.
England believed they could not lose. The All Blacks knew this was a day they could not win. They were courageous in trying to summon something but England’s reward for refusing to succumb to history and play the situation on merit was the most comprehensive English win in the history of battles between the two countries.
There was nothing fortunate about the win, but there was something particularly fabulous. England played the near perfect blend of rugby New Zealand talks about, in appreciation for width but with precision and not recklessness, in respect of 80 minutes and not 60 and with regard to an opponent who never lacked in desire but never threatened to terrorise.
This was a day when England looked like a team of wonderfully conditioned international rugby players and New Zealand looked bemused, battered and beaten by the refusal of a team to be beaten by a jersey worn by players who had not lost in 18 months, but who on the day were taken a beating.
The best team won at Twickenham on the basis of 80 minutes. Enjoy it England because while no one can say it will be a once in a 100 performance against the world’s best it certainly was a once in 20.
As for New Zealand it was a once in 21 defeat.
Perspective? Not just yet.
All of England deserve to boast about this one. It was that kind of demolition job.
And all of New Zealand should replace the patronising talk of the All Blacks being a team in search of playing the perfect game to a team that was painfully pulverised in their last game.
Perspective? Not for the weekend at least.
744 Comments
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2 Dec 2012, 14:03 pm
What are the All Blacks saying? I haven’t read through the comments.
Were the players at death’s door…food poisoning…what was the reason for the loss?
2 Dec 2012, 14:05 pm
This is not a great England side and Lancaster is not a great coach – it’s also not a great AB side and they’re coming to the end of their year and cycle – woodcock, mealamu, mccaw are done and their two locks are the most underpowered locking partnership the ABs have produced in yonks. They also weren’t up for this game.
At twickenham England are 50% better but I’d say the only worldclass players they presently have are that centre in midfield who they sometimes don’t pick and is an utter monstrosity with ball in hand.
2 Dec 2012, 14:08 pm
All the snivelling bitter bokke pricks have come out to play.Rejoicing at another countries fine performance in a feeble attempt to garner a little `feel good’ factor their own team can’t provide when playing the ABs.
Conclusion…. After a generation of consistent defeats against the `nemesis.’ Safwits have morphed into a nation of acrimonious lemons..I.e BITTERKUNTS
The once proud African rugby supporter is now nothing but a tart,yellow ball of acidic ineptitude.
2 Dec 2012, 14:10 pm
Did the Cape Flats go into lock-down mode after the game?
2 Dec 2012, 14:10 pm
@bokke baiter-603:
HHAHHHAHHAAHHHHHAAAAAAAAHAAAAA HAAAAAA HHAAAAAA.
BBBWWWAAAHHHAAAAAAAAA.
Whatever dude. The AB’s got thoroughly OWNED. ROGERED.
They got f***ed up good and proper by THE POMS.
HAHHHHAAAAA HHAAAAAAAAHAHHAHAHAAAA.
Oh my hat. beaten by the poms.
2 Dec 2012, 14:11 pm
Read and saeva are **** as far as ABs go, they ain’t produced a decent scrumhalf since Marshall and they have better centres that are not being picked or are boxing. Woodcock, mealamu and mccaw as great as they were in their prime are now completely overcooked, their two rookie locks are completely wrong for England at EOY with 80,000 bating Englishman – get thorne in there who revels in the challenge and puts the finger straight up in the air.
2 Dec 2012, 14:15 pm
whatever, hg and this sniveling character
can see why the average saffa IQ is only a score of 70.
still, they’ve had to wait 18 months to see our side lose. let th get their bile out, it’s been building for so long
still, an 85 % win percentage for the year far out shadows a 55% win record.
and we played 2 more tests
Hahahahaha. Eng can beat us and you guys can’t!! that’s hilarious
2 Dec 2012, 14:16 pm
All these Kiwi supporters and their fragile ego’s.
Already I’ve heard the stomach bug excuse. The poor ref excuse. The “lucky breaks” excuse..
Nope. You simply got rogered.
Oh, and then there’s the “when you guys get 50% parity with us, you can talk” nonsense.
Sorry chaps. That doesn’t fly I’m afraid. The Boks and AB’s both played the poms in their last game of the year. We won. You got THUMPED. Good and proper.
You’re only as good as your last game. What makes it worse is that we were TERRIBLE in our last game, but we still won.
AB’s got turned into XV little beeyatches.
2 Dec 2012, 14:22 pm
1 loss in 21 games
lmfao. now the players are all washed up?
hilarious cab. it explains why you guys have only won approx 3 games in your last 18 encounters vs the australasians.
now living vicariously through Engs great win
hahahahahahaha. how precious are these saffas,
2 Dec 2012, 14:30 pm
@Predawn-601: The ABs and coach were pretty clear that there’s no excuses, we were simply beaten by a better team. That was our strongest team, just the English were better. And scored more points
2 Dec 2012, 14:33 pm
@cane-526: Tuilagi went to school in England from the age of 12 and Barrit has an English Mum. If that makes them imports, then how many All Blacks are imports?
2 Dec 2012, 14:33 pm
@cab-606: You don’t like Savea? I was skeptical about whether he could make the step up to AB level but he’s had a great year in my opinion. Something like 10 tries in 8 games? He seems to be getting more confident under the high ball. That was probably the one positive i’d take out of last night, Savea will keep getting better
2 Dec 2012, 14:35 pm
@HongKongSlong-611: It would mean NZ has no imports
2 Dec 2012, 14:36 pm
Nz looked like a high school team…. They are in big kak…
2 Dec 2012, 14:37 pm
You play to win… Not to attractive rugby… King heyneke showed all the soccer supporters and cape tikkoppe
2 Dec 2012, 14:38 pm
Poms going nuts
by MICHAEL CALVIN
Sunday 02 December 2012
Rugby Union, bloody hell. Twickenham
was in thrall to the wondrous uncertainty
of international sport and the sort of
occasion that deserved to be recorded for
posterity, not by a box score but by the
intensity and lyricism of war poetry.
This was the greatest moment for English
rugby since time stood still that fabled
night in Sydney 2003 when Johnny
Wilkinson’s drop goal floated in
instalments of fractions of a second
between the uprights, and a World Cup
was won.
It might even have been the greatest
England victory at Twickenham since Billy
Williams got bored by market gardening
and transformed his cabbage patch into a
playground for the muddied oafs of
popular legend.
Stuart Lancaster’s England are still in the
foothills of sustained and substantial
achievement, but their journey has a
sudden clarity and certainty. The head
coach did his best to remain analytical,
but came as close as he dared to
acknowledging that another dynasty might
be in the making.
2 Dec 2012, 14:38 pm
@suffer_guy-614: How many times have you enjoyed supporting a team this year? Really supporting a team rather than hoping for the ABs to fail? Must be depressing when the highlight of the rugby year for you is cheering for England
2 Dec 2012, 14:42 pm
@gonzo-617:
Haha well said.
2 Dec 2012, 14:45 pm
Can’t believe so many take pleasure from the England result. Unbeaten after 21 games. Complacency was inevitable
2 Dec 2012, 14:50 pm
No south african supporting nz yesterday… Except for the grade 6 haasbek capies…cape kroessaders
2 Dec 2012, 14:58 pm
Saffas taking pleasure in a kiwi defeat are rather pathetic to say the least.We have bigger problems with our rugby to concern ourselves with another nation’s defeat.As a Bok supporter I respect out rivalry with the Kiwis to go down that route.No need to go down this route simply because we can’t sniff a victory against these okes at the moment.I keep my rugby hatred for the bulls.
2 Dec 2012, 14:58 pm
If so much is written, said, vommited, thought, bickered about one team’s eventful loss in almost 25 international matches across the rugby world, then its a clear sign of a special team, a number one team, a world champion.
How do we Bokkies supporters/players wish for the day our one loss would cause so much reaction. If and when it happens, then we will know our blood is green.
Until then, let’s hope for a backline move.
Well done England. And excellent stuff All Blacks!
2 Dec 2012, 15:11 pm
@Transformation-588: Hi Trans.Got
to admit I agree with Mehrtens
2 Dec 2012, 15:11 pm
@cuntlyn-622: exactly.Well said.
2 Dec 2012, 15:12 pm
Pops – just my opinion, I respect the ABs more than England, but it’s a great win make no mistake. I’ve simply pointed out what I believe are the reasons this is not as good an AB side as you all seem to think. Read is ****. Woodcock, keV and Cheater are too old but feel free to keep playing them – your locks are poor for that sort of game – a young England side drilled you up front which is always what they going to try do at twickenham – is hansen the right man for the job – he seems a bit thick?
Gonzo – yeah jury still out on savea but I’d rather have corey jane or kahui here – how kahui is not in the side beggars belief, same with SBW, outstanding talents.
2 Dec 2012, 15:17 pm
Under Heyneke we are struggling to beat the kiwis.With the rugby we play we might never defeat them under his reign.The English and French showed us the way to beat these Australasian teams on a regular basis, but because Meyer is stucked in a Pretorian time warp we will just never learn.We must be the most boring rugby nation in terms of our rugby game plan.Fans in this part of the world are not eager to see them play here.That says a farking lot!
2 Dec 2012, 15:21 pm
Wnnb how many tries did the stormers score? Strange that you dont say a coetzee’s style is boring…. Something to do with colour?
2 Dec 2012, 15:22 pm
@gonzo-617: Yeah, its really bad to see the underdog win in sport. Get a life!
2 Dec 2012, 15:24 pm
The English press, hansen and some supporters on these here websites are also completely cuckoo – this England side was beaten by the wallabies two weeks ago who got whipped by the French and should have lost to the welsh – the standard of rugby is not that great at present – I reckon Boks will be best next year unless the ABs can get their tight 5 sorted.
2 Dec 2012, 15:30 pm
@cab-629: English side could easily have won the games against Aus and SA, but they are young and inexperienced and made some very bad errors of judgement.. They should be better and more consistant in the years to come.
2 Dec 2012, 15:37 pm
@cab-625: Kahui would probably be there but he dislocated his shoulder. Injuries are a real problem for the guy but if he can stay fit, he’ll definitely be in the squad. He can cover wing/centre and he’s still young enough to make it through to 2015, which can’t necessarily be said of Conrad Smith. SBW will hopefully be back
@HongKongSlong-628: For a lot of the guys on this thread it seems to be less about the underdog winning and more about rubbing the ABs’ loss in our faces. There’s a big difference
2 Dec 2012, 15:42 pm
Our rugby may be “dour” in the eyes of the purists, but we dictated the way England played against us.
Hence they never looked like scoring.
The All Blacks will always play their expansive game and while it works 9 times out of 10, but yesterday ” they lived by the sword and died by the sword”
Who knows, we may even add the attacking game when the situation is right, but we can close a game down, that much we know.
Different game plans for different opponents is the right way to go.
The All Black side can take a bow, they had a great year and no shame in losing one game, but they will at some stage also have to look at a plan B by realizing they need to close opposition down if they are being beaten by their own game.
Our plan B entails us opening up at certain stages.
2 Dec 2012, 16:10 pm
@suffer_guy-627: why do you feel the need to always address me?You admitted on this forum that you are only here to stir.Please leave me out of your sick,twisted games.Please don’t respond to my posts anymore,because I certainly don’t respond to yours.Mutual understanding?Thanks.
2 Dec 2012, 16:15 pm
@nortierd-632:
Well said
2 Dec 2012, 16:21 pm
Hongkongslong – the Aussies got thru quite comfortably and the Boks have beaten England 3 times this year.
It’s a fantastc performance but it’s come outta the blue
2 Dec 2012, 16:30 pm
@cab-635: The Aussies only won by 6 points and they got a converted try from a 5 meter forward pass, also 2 easy kicks missed by flood and some terrible quick taps for penalties instead of taking the very kickable kicks.when the reliable Farrell was on the pitch. SA got a very lucky try and Robshaw again made some terrible calls. So although England lost those matches and the result yesterday was a huge shock, they are a work in progress team, but definitely on the up.
2 Dec 2012, 16:41 pm
England in 2015 will be a hard nut to crack on their home patch.They play a dour game of rugby at times and their biggest problem will be that the Boks know how to beat them at their own game.Rugby desperately needs a French victory in 2015 to recreate interest in the game.
2 Dec 2012, 16:51 pm
@wnbb-637: The French have made the Rugby World Cup story so exciting. They really do deserve a victory at some stage…
2 Dec 2012, 17:08 pm
@HongKongSlong-636: We have to be honest acknowledge Australia were the better team over the 80 mins HKS, despite having many injuries and heading North at the end of their longest season. They deserved to win.
2 Dec 2012, 17:25 pm
@HongKongSlong-636: How many penalties did they get awarded at scrum time that shouldn’t have been vs SA? And that lucky try – rugby is all about putting yourself in the position to capitalise when the opposition makes a mistake. Trying to hack the ball up field when you’re on your own tryline is amateurish. They conceded that try because they made mistakes at the wrong end of the field. Nothing to do with luck
2 Dec 2012, 17:30 pm
Some excellent Kiwi whine here…
The bouquet of this Rose’ smells like a bunch of Roses…
2 Dec 2012, 17:34 pm
Wnnb no boet, you are racially biased… Soccer is the game for you
2 Dec 2012, 17:39 pm
@HongKongSlong-638: Absolutely.The played in a few finals,but just can’t seem to get over the line.
2 Dec 2012, 17:49 pm
@wnbb-643:
Just can’t seem to see the French get it right 3 big games in a row to win the WC.
Too hot and cold.
To lose 2 pool games, one against Tonga no less, then make it to a final just seems wrong.
2 Dec 2012, 18:05 pm
@nortierd-644: I have to agree with you,but their new coach seem to be the real deal.He is slowly changing this erratic mentality of theirs.Ag,I just love French rugby and hope that they will get it right one day.Great country.
2 Dec 2012, 18:18 pm
They did look impressive, especially against Australia.
Looking forward to seeing if they can kick on during the six nations.
Already think France vs England can be something special
2 Dec 2012, 19:25 pm
I reckon that next year might prove to be the beginning of the rise of the North… Some results and subtle trends in the way NH teams are starting to play, particularly France and England with maybe Wales to a lesser extent, are pointing to the North/South gap disappearing.
If there was a time for SA to get on this bandwagon and leave the kissing cousins for better, more lucrative pastures in the same timezone, it is now. Especially with England and France wanting an alternative to the Heineken Cup.
England have exposed the NZ “superiority” bullshitt that the Boks and Ozzies have swallowed for years, helped along by Paddy Power.
France have shown the Aussies to be a soft touch…
In short, the ANZACs are in decline… SARU would do well to hitch a ride with new partners… Stronger partners
- with better finances,
- larger audiences and markets
- fairer officiating
- and now rapidly improving if not better rugby already.
2 Dec 2012, 19:45 pm
One of the problems this AB loss has caused is :
England now think they are the greatest rugby team on earth
2 Dec 2012, 19:46 pm
@gonzo-640:
Hey have you seen the movie Beware of Gonzo ?
2 Dec 2012, 19:48 pm
@Heavens Game-647:
The British and Irish Lions will have to beat Australia to validate that rise.
The Boks and All Blacks shouldn’t have trouble beating their opponents from the North without the B & I players, so a lot will hinge on the Aus series
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