Crouch, pause... now re-engage
The Week That Was and a Diet Weekend That Will Be.
New Zealand Rugby has, on the surface of things, tidied up the fraying ends of the All Black coaching panel.
It remains an unsatisfactory situation for many of Foster’s more trenchant critics, but at least there is a little clarity after months of conjecture, vague expressions of confidence, a couple of sacrificial coaching lambs and general opacity.
There is even optimism, fuelled partly by the performance at Ellis Park - although I can’t completely let go of the idea that the Springboks were playing possum with some of their selections - but mostly by the appointment of Joe Schmidt, which was announced at the same press conference that confirmed Foster’s continuity.
It does feel nice, however, to be able to move off this topic and onto something even more critical to the long-term health of the game in this country: that is to re-engage the public with levels of rugby below the headline-hogging All Blacks.
For that reason, and not just vanity, I’m pointing you in an interview I did with Justin Nelson, Sky’s recently appointed head of commercial, for The Spinoff
A project-based role, one of Nelson’s key tasks is to re-engage the public with Super Rugby. A sample quote:
“I come from an AFL background. AFL as a business is a monster and what it has done really well is build a 365 business. Super Rugby in this country is not a 365 business,” Nelson says. “Too many Super Rugby fans go into hibernation and the game allows them to...
“I say this with the absolute blunt honesty of being an outsider. I’m no rugby expert but I am a fan expert and at the moment Super Rugby has too many passive fans because there’s not 365 content driving the sport.”
Also charged with re-engaging the New Zealand public and connecting a global audience with rugby is Richie McCaw, who, to the surprise of no one, has been named as a director of New Zealand Rugby Commercial GP Limited, the entity created to administer the national body’s commercial assets in harness with Silver Lake.
FEEDBACK LOOP
Thanks for the quality comments this week regarding the Foster reappointment and the cricket. As a rule I like to acknowledge and, when not ridiculously time poor, reply to commenters because I’m appreciative of the thought that goes into them and the fact you’re very good at playing the ball, not the man. Somehow I buggered up my settings and wasn’t getting notifications of the comments, so many slipped me by until today. As a friend of mine said, it was a bold choice to start a digital venture when my grasp of digital basics is imbecilic. Keep the comments, the likes and the shares coming - it’s good for the soul.
THE WEEK THAT WAS
If Ian Foster and the All Blacks think people are “vicious” to them, they should try walking in the boots of Manchester United’s players and manager.
Erik ten Hag is two competitive matches into his reign and already must feel like he’s entering Dante’s Fifth Circle every time he nears Old Trafford.
In Sports Illustrated, Jonathan Wilson, an arch yet articulate critic of United under its current ownership and executive, lays out just how poor the club has become and how far it has to go to redress the problems (which include Cristiano Ronaldo).
Money has been spent on the team; it’s just that it’s been spent spectacularly badly, which is what will happen when your run of managers goes: continuity Scot, aging Dutch purist, pragmatic nihilist, cheery former player, academic who pioneered pressing in Germany but doesn’t really like coaching…
Ten Hag may or may not be the right man for the job. He has very little experience outside the Netherlands and over the last week has looked helpless. But what is he supposed to do? He was presumably brought in to try to impose an Ajax-style system at United. But Ajax presses and he has a forward line that doesn’t press. Ajax passes the ball out from the back, but United cannot do that because [goalkeeper] David de Gea is not comfortable with the ball at his feet.
At this stage of the season their only consolation is they play a woefully out-of-form Liverpool next and will leapfrog their great rivals on the table if they win.
Oh, and one of the world’s richest men, whose company is controversially plastered on the All Blacks’ shorts, wants to buy them.
A few grubby stories caught my attention this week.
It seems there is finally some resolution in the Deshaun Watson case. The ultra-talented quarterback missed the entire 2021 season with the struggling Houston Texans because of a contract dispute and, oh, the small matter of being sued by more than two dozen female massage therapists accusing him of sexual harassment and sexual assault. Watson settled 20 claims yet denied wrongdoing. He was traded to the Cleveland Browns and in March this year signed a five-year contract worth $230 million. The NFL wanted to suspend him for the year, an independent investigator opted for a six-game ban, which the NFL appealed. He will now face an 11-game ban and be stung for a $5m fine.
Then there’s this, the story of the Manly knife-wielder and a bunch of teammates whose moral code is more damning of a kiss and a cuddle than a stab in the back. Call me petty but Manly missing the top eight this year will bring me great joy.
Finally, Ryan Giggs sounds like a thoroughly unpleasant human being, and a dreadful poet.
That stomach those abs
Those pictures you send so I can keep tabs
You make me feel funny down there
Especially when you’re there and you look up and stare
Dylan Thomas move over, Wales has a new bard.
THE WEEKEND THAT WILL BE
A cricket double-header across formats and platforms. It’s not as if Brendon McCullum’s England haven’t been under pressure in the four tests they’ve played thus far - you could argue they should have lost at least half of them - but they appear really in the schtuck this time, with South Africa, who have made it very clear they do not agree with Bazball in principle, 289-7 in their first innings, already leading by 124 runs on the first innings.
In Barbados, meanwhile, New Zealand seek to bounce back from a… here comes a euphemism… “lacklustre” showing in the first ODI.
England v South Africa, 1st test day 3, Lord’s, tonight 10pm, Spark Sport
West Indies v NZ, 2nd ODI, Bridgetown, tomorrow 6am, Sky Sport 1
The match of the round has already been, with the Panthers beating Souths to wrap up another minor premiership, but this match also has finals significance.
Broncos v Storm, Brisbane, tonight 9.55pm, Sky Sport 4
This should be a weekend to embrace the NPC but I’m ashamed to say my fair-weather fandom has not lasted beyond two abysmal weekends for the amber-and-blacks. Still, at least Tukapa won the club title - mighty Cast-Iron Chickens and all that. Of more immediate interest is Waikato (2nd) v Auckland (3rd) in the Farah Palmer Cup at Stadium Waikato on Sunday arvo.
The Supercars are back at Sandown, a track Shane van Gisbergen is pretty keen on.
Race 24 is Saturday, races 25 and 26 Sunday.
It’s the final weekend of the AFL regular season and it’s tight. The match of the round is Sunday. Every club dislikes Collingwood but Carlton especially. The Blues have to beat the Pies at the MCG to secure their place in the finals.
90k expected for the Blues & Pies, pretty good for a regular season club game that has some meaning... hopefully our new rugby marketing man can start to work up that sort of fervour
Great appointment getting McCaw back involved