Can Barrett save us from the Gib crisis?
PLUS: A long and winding Week That Was and the Weekend That Will Be
You can tell we’re deep into the short nights when the decision over who should play blindside flanker for the national rugby side takes on such grave importance.
It’s good too. On other occasions you skim through the headlines and you can be forgiven for thinking we’re living in a post-apocalyptic dystopia.
Give me the Barrett dilemma any day if it means we’re momentarily distracted from the National Gib Board Disgrace (damn you, Fletchers!).
Don’t mind the move, myself. Just because something doesn’t work initially, it doesn’t mean it can’t. As I might have mentioned ad infinitum, if you get dogmatic about these things you end up with Ajaz Patel not playing at Mt Maunganui and Headingley.
Still, it was lovely to see Winston Aldworth revive the Wynne Gray in all of us, and remind us of other notable occasions that positional switches have come unstuck ($) - and a couple that haven’t.
The pick of the pieces was Patrick McKendry’s column in TVNZ, a great example of fast-twitch yet reasoned analysis, which gets bonus points for the use of “existential dread” in the intro.
There is no question about the quality or form of Barrett, who was inspired and inspirational as the Crusaders captain in their Super Rugby Pacific final win over the Blues at Eden Park recently - just what his selection represents in terms of the mindset of a management team under increasing pressure.
No matter how it is explained away - and Foster on Thursday said neither Papalii nor Ioane were 100 per cent due to respective appendix and foot issues - coming as it does ahead of five hugely important tests… it feels like something is being defended rather than attacked, and that’s generally not the All Black way.
THE WEEK THAT WAS
Late, breaking news: Lea Tahuhu’s exile from the White Ferns did not last long as she has been called into the commonwealth Games squad, along with Claudia Green to replace Lauren Down and the injured Jess Kerr.
Tahuhu and wife Amy Satterthwaite were the surprise omissions from NZC’s central contracts list recently. While Satterthwaite retired, Tahuhu pledged to fight for her place but even she could not have anticipated it would come this quickly.
Thoroughly enjoyed the 32-17 win by the Maori against Ireland on Wednesday evening. It was nice to watch a team playing uninhibited rugby, despite the coach’s fear they’d get stagefright.
My two overriding impressions were:
How is Brad Weber not in the All Blacks? If it’s true that it’s because his box-kicking game is seen as weaker than the others, then what is the point of having All Black coaches if they’re not going to coach players to improve their weaknesses?
That was not a great crowd, even if they were unlucky that at 5pm, when many Hamiltonians would have been making “walk-up” decisions, the weather was dreadful.
If you ever were in doubt that Silver Lake has invested not so much in New Zealand rugby, small ‘r’, but the All Blacks brand, let me introduce to you the… All Blacks XV, the latest iteration of the long-standing idea of a national 2nd XV.
In all honesty, it’s a good concept: a secondary squad of players has toured under the auspices of New Zealand A and the Junior All Blacks in the past.
It will add depth to the high-performance programme and revenue to the coffers - just who else stands to profit from it will be interesting to note.
My only cynicism is the name. “Juniors” left overseas markets and casual fans in no doubt it wasn’t the real thing. New Zealand A is missing the key “All Blacks” phrase. Technically, an All Blacks 15 is what you’re going to watch on Saturday, but it’s not the All Blacks XV.
Radio New Zealand produced a thoroughly enjoyable and informative piece of sports content this week on The Detail.
Hosted by Emile Donovan and “starring” Michael Donaldson (whose Substack about beer can be found here) and Dana Johannsen, it traverses the thorny topic of LIV Golf and sportswashing.
Donaldson’s breakdown on the history of the PGA Tour was especially illuminating and certainly won’t have you feeling sorry for that organisation as it tries to repel the Saudi-funded invasion.
Johannsen takes a wide-angled lens to the concept of sportswashing, not just by the Saudis, but the other more subtle ways it happens that slip under the radar.
If it wasn’t for The BYC (cough), it’d have been the best podcast I listened to all week.
You can call former Tall Black Sean Marks’ reign as general manager of the Brooklyn Nets many things, but dull is not one of them.
ESPN are reporting that Kevin Durant’s trade request, which marks and the Nets intend to honour, will be one of the most seismic transactions in NBA history, with the seven-foot superstar still having four years remaining on his contract.
Whatever team he is traded to will immediately be a championship contender, while the Nets will expect a haul of talent and draft picks in return that could set them up for the next decade.
Speaking of curious basketball experiences, I took my son along to watch the Tall Blacks thrash the Philippines 106-60 in a World Cup qualifier last night.
Although well aware there is a strong Filipino community in Auckland we did not expect to be in the Kiwi minority, well that’s what it sounded like anyway.
Speaking to a member of the Tall Blacks staff immediately after the game, they were amazed at the away support.
So it seems, was the North Shore Events Centre. The sold-out signs were out yet there were no attendants directing confused traffic around an already overflowing carpark and not enough staff to get the snaking queues of people through the doors in time for tip-off. To make matters more chaotic, the Eftpos machines kept going offline meaning it was taking an age for individual transactions to complete.
It was a bit of a shambles truth be told.
On court, it was good to see Flynn Cameron, coach Pero Cameron’s son, make his debut and pick up some soft points, while Sam ‘Brie’ Timmins, the son of former Highlanders lock Brendon ‘Cheese’ Timmins, is a chip off the old block.
THE WEEKEND THAT WILL BE
BIG TICKET ITEMS NEED ONLY APPLY THIS WEEKEND.
I’m unashamedly narrowing my attention this weekend. There’s so much to like about the prospect of this test. The All Blacks recent struggles against Ireland, the defence of the inexplicable Fortress Eden Park, the urgency required by Ian Foster to right a listing ship and the fevered debate about blindside flanker!
All Blacks v Ireland, Eden Park, tomorrow 7.05pm, Sky Sport 1
There’s a bunch of other internationals, including Eddie Jones returning to his homeland and a horrendous looking mismatch in Africa, all on Sky Sport 1.
Australia v England, Perth, tomorrow 9.55pm; South Africa v Wales, Pretoria, Sunday 3.05am; Argentina v Scotland, San Salvador de Jujuy, Sunday 7.10am
Yes, I realise they haven’t been very good, quite bad even, of late, and if you listen to The Spinoff they need Scott Robertson in charge (I’d genuinely love to see that happen until the end of RWC2023 at least), but if you don’t feel something in your heart for the Warriors homecoming, then you haven’t got one.
Warriors v Wests Tigers, Mt Smart, Sunday 4pm, Sky Sport 4
Bazball is back already, this time facing a 1-2 series deficit against India, in this test held over from last year.
England v India, 5th test Birmingham, starts tonight 10pm, Spark Sport
Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen return to the scene of their high drama, with a bit of frisson in the air after the comments made by Nelson Piquet, the father of Verstappen’s girlfriend, that surfaced this week.
British GP, Silverstone, Monday 2am, Spark Sport
I’m equally cynical about the “All Blacks XV” but in fairness New Zealand A should really be New Zealand B. And the first division of English football should be the third division. It’s been going that way for a while.