All Blacks in an Irish stew as Super Saturday approaches
Whatever the unwelcome statistics for the Southern Hemisphere nations, losing all their matches in unison for the first time, their marketing departments will be secretly delighted that 4 series sit in the balance for this coming weekend. A real Super Saturday.
Perhaps we will rewrite the narrative and say that the second of a three match series is the one that all tourists target, but their wins were deserved and none was a fluke. The Springboks are fretting the most, because they should have lost the first one too and their route one tactics have been countered quite easily – the ‘bomb squad’ as their replacement front row have come to be called have turned into damp squibs. Ironically they have real talent out wide, as the World Cup final evidenced in 2019. Hence the media and other sage commentators are turning the spotlight on the coaching team, especially after their supreme negativity against the Lions.
Nothing but praise for the Welsh, who have found that inner spirit which you need when performing on a foreign field as tough as the home of the current World Champions. Gareth Anscombe’s injury record is such that his trying scoring pass and nerveless winning conversion will have been even sweeter. They haven’t found out much more than Will Rowlands has developed into a top lock, and Rees-Zammit is back to his best. To win at the weekend their ‘stay in the game’ tactics shouldn’t be enough. Will the real Springboks turn up?
I said last week that Ireland was not far off the All Blacks despite the scoreline. To watch the All Blacks given as sound a hammering as they have ever experienced at home was wondrous. The Irish produced a performance of such class and creativity that no other team, including France, could have provided. The broken field running of their forwards has reached levels other countries can only dream of, and Sexton rolled back the years – again. The kiss of death is that their odds are shortening for the World Cup, if only the woefully premature seedings conducted by World Rugby hadn’t corrupted the draw to see the top four teams playing each other in the quarterfinals. The decider in Wellington will not disappoint as the Irish stand on the edge of history.
In all honesty, you could see in Brisbane that these are the fifth and sixth in the world currently. Australia were as bad in the first half as they were in the first test. This time England threw off any confusion and plied route one impressively. Freeman and Porter may as well have been in the stands – Porter touched it for the first time in the 64th minute. This was tailor-made for Farrell, and it suited the Saracens way of life. The Vunipolas, Itoje and George were all significant and Lawes seems to get better and better like a great vintage. When Jones moved on from that dynasty he couldn’t have guessed he would return so quickly but then the selection roulette wheel came round again so here we are. Much was made of England’s new found ability to close out the game but if we are honest it was The Wallabies’ inability to finish off a comeback which should never have been on the cards from being 19-0 down.
The Aussies are knee deep in injuries and unlikely to match England who should bring a more varied game. However, any win for England will be a validation and Jones will bank it. No one is fooled and the squad rebuild is way off the mark currently due to dysfunctional selection and a longing after the mystical Tuilagi. I will not forgive the treatment of Marchant who should be nurtured as a World cup centre. The inner spirit I talked about could still carry them to a semi-final or even Final ( remember an uncoached 2007 squad). However, Wales’ revival means that England, Australia and Wales will bunch together in offering an incomplete game plan compared to the four above them and I cannot see that being enough in 2023.
Finally, having seen off England at Twickenham with their freewheeling third team, France took their second team to Japan and had a useful run out. The first team have had a summer off – it is frightening to consider the depth in French rugby whose resource is matched only by England. That is where the similarity ends. No one can touch them and a year from now they will be better. Will home pressure help or hinder? I may not always agree with Bernard Laporte’s view of the rugby world, but he has done a magnificent job to shepherd French rugby to the top of the world rankings with impeccable timing. Chapeau.
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