Added Wednesday 24/10/2007

JUST A FEW COMMENTS ON THE WORLD CUP,  AND OTHER STUFF GOING ON

The World Cup is thankfully finally over,  some pretty uninspiring rugby played in season 2007,  I think with the Argentina vs France 3 vs 4 playoff the most entertaining to the masses.  England got out thought at the scrum by South Africa,  until Matt Stephens came on and brutalised a tiring Os Du Randt,  they were certainly shaded at the breakdown by an equally physically capable South African 8,  but where England build off a dominant scrum,  then Wilkinson,  then field position,  then lineout,  the Africans thought ahead to this phase,  and shredded the English lineout.  Spectacle or not,  the game remains a tactical one,  with beauty in complexity and combining power,  brutality,  thought and skill.  I am glad Africa won the thing,  England back to back would not have been good.  It would have been OK if they had some decent three quarters and had launched and succeeded in the attacking raids they should have off the back of that dominant forward pack.

I didn't actually watch too much of the World Cup,  the early games were boring to the maximum and totally devoid of skill or any competitive nature.  The cup competed with some excellent rugby league and some very good junior rugby on at "Australian Times".  With regards to my comments there on skill levels,  my personal thoughts were that the most basic of skills for this game,  the simple catch/pass was dreadful for most of the tournament.  There are some players running around on really big money that do not have great basic skill sets,  and not just form this country.

I have had plenty of emails and phone calls seeking out my opinion and of course offering an opinion back at me,  on the tournament,  Australia,  single games and general,  none of them that complimentary to the Australian team or the code.  One guy rang me last week and said something like: "those guys ought to get out and play State of Origin and find out what tough is really all about,  they would not last 5 minutes."  A comment from someone that was live at all Australia's matches,  and a pretty fair judge of a rugby match said that Australia just seemed like they didn't want to be there in that game against England,  that the body language was very disappointing.  Another email in last week suggest a number of law changes,  and we have some coming,  not so good for the game,  and moving it closer to league I suspect,  but more on that later.

The French were certainly disappointing, promised alot,  delivered little,  Australia were a little different,  built up and threatened but melted like soft metal when the blow torch was applied and real application was required.  We certainly were not tough enough against England,  and whatever you say about them,  they muscled up and belted the Aussies mercilessly in that Quarter Final,  with George Smith the only one that I could see really putting his hand up to get amongst the slaughter.  Is there enough pride in that Aussie jersey,  it would be easy to argue not.  If I were selecting a side out of the world cup,  and I will but without doing justice to some nations as I really watched very little of it,  only Vickerman,  Smith and maybe Giteau would be considered for that side.  Our front row and ability to scrummage is still a long way off a world standard,  and England outscrummed us tactically and physically.  I blame the junior laws in this country for that,  and have blamed the junior laws in this country since their introduction a dozen or more years ago.  Coupled with blaming the junior laws,  I also would lay the blame with the succession of coaches in this country that only wanted parity at the scrum,  and a very mobile pack.  This strategy of continual breakdown dominance for many phases was successful for a long period in itself,  but ensuing coaches have not evolved and evolved the game to a point where the scrum as one of the game's cornerstones has returned,  coupled with some nice old fashioned physicality and intimidation.  I could take that blame further and look at the junior codes and add some blame there to coaches that could only recognize big kids running over little kids,  the little kids became skilful to survive,  the big kids kept getting the accolades and recognition,  the skilful little guys giving the game away,  and the game left a little down on the talent side.  This will be a hard one to beat,  but without adequate levels of skill,  the top level will all be very big,  quite fast men,  and lots of them will have the skills,  the ones that don't will be shown up.

Big positives though to Argentina,  Fiji,  Tonga and Samoa,  great showing against all odds,  and while I did not see enough of the island nations playing to do justice to them in a World XV,  Argentina would certainly get themselves,  the 10 and 12 in my starting side,  and given the need for combinations,  maybe the 9 as well,  but the South African 9 was a standout.  Also though,  add Ireland,  Wales and Scotland,  all very proud rugby nations to the list of disappointments.

And the kiwis,  what can you say,  almost unbeatable in the home and away stuff for four years,  really dropped out without a whimper.  The reffing may not have been that good,  but usually a supremely dominant All black side is crushing you that badly and dominating that heavily that the odd bad reffing decision is nullified.  Refs make mistakes,  that is life,  and you have to be good enough to over come those things especially in a game like rugby where things are not black and white,  and this not being black and white I think is a good thing.

On to excitement,  enjoyment and proposed law changes.  First can I dispel the myth that there has to be tries scored for a game to be entertaining or enjoyable.  Surely a try is simply the end result of strong build up of pressure and intensity,  and surely the entertainment and excitement lies in that build up,  be it tactical,  territorial or chaotic rather than just the end result.  That comment annoys me as much as "get there forwards" and "get it to the winger",  oh and add to that "tackle his legs".  I have seen plenty of low scoring,  but exciting intense games of footy in both codes,  so tries are not a necessity in the delivery of excitement.

I like the point system the way it is,  it encourages a full gambit of skills.  I believe the drop goal is one of the great differentiations of the code,  and it is not just down to one man,  there has to be some serious dominance and go forward going on in front of the kicker,  I think the skill should be retained and rewarded as it is.  What we don't see today is forward packs and sides with the ability to counter what is going on in the build up to a drop goal,  and applying some referred pressure to that kicker.

Penalties need to be harsh,  and a penalty goal needs to be where it is in the scheme of things.  The code has more "areas of infringement" than the simpler rugby league,  and the more the laws are tampered with the closer to rugby league it will become,  therefore infringements must carry the ability to be penalized on the scoreboard. People need to stop comparing the game to rugby league in this area and look at it for what it is,  totally different in the breakdown/infringement zone.

I note people still calling for more distance between sides,  by getting the defence back 5 or 10 metres,  Warren Ryan got this right when he said the distance is not the key,  it is the number of players on the field.  To open the game up from an attacking point of view,  the answer is to reduce the players on the field,  distance between them is irrelevant.  I happen to like the idea that the attacking side can set the agenda with regards depth and alignment in any case,  but I am changing my views on this incredibly flat alignment and driving all the way to the line or defensive player before passing to the next guy,  who quite probably is already under pressure,  the game has become quite individual in that sense.  I think we need to be coaching the fixing of the defender,  sure,  but also that the speed and timing of the pass allows the pass receiver time to play as well,  currently I do not believe that is an edict of coaching in the code.

One thing I wouldn't mind seeing is the introduction of 10 point tries,  that when a try is scored,  the team having scored it can forgo their right to a conversion attempt,  go back 20 metres or so and choose another attacking raid from a scrum in a bid to score another try.  I believe that can happen in American Football.

Finally,  let me throw my theoretical side up,  remembering I did not watch enough of the thing to do justice to some of the sides.

1.  Andrew Sheridan,  but probably could be interchanged with the French guy,  the Argentinean guy and Woodcock.

2.  This is a tough one with seemingly no real standout,  maybe the Frenchman Ibanez.

3. Matt Stephens,  again closely followed by Hayman,  van der Linde.

4. Vickerman

5. Matfield

6.  Jerry Collins

7. Richie McCaw but Burger has decreased his mistake and penalty rate and developed his all round game (remembering the Africans use 6 as their fetcher or open side) and the English guy wasn't just too shabby either,  and of course George Smith.

8.  So'oailo,  I found the English guy big and cumbersome to be honest.

9. Fourie du Preez closely followed by Pichot

10. Hernandez from Argentina,  probably closely followed by Nicky Little from Fiji and Mike Hercus from the USA.  Wilkinson doesn't get a mention,  not because I don't like kicking,  but because it is his first option on alot of occasions.  Why would you kick early in matches with a dominant forward pack,  centre field attack options and buried deep in the opposition red zone.

11.  Jason Robinson,  got to be in there somewhere.

12. The Argentinean guy,  Contepomi,   followed probably by Giteau.

13.  Another tough one,  throw that bone jarring Fijian in here,  can't remember his name,  but he sure impressed.

14. Habana,  no one close.

15. Toss a coin between Latham and Montgomery.

So there you have it,  a bit of a throw together there.  something to talk about around the tea table.

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