So conditioned has the rugby world become to the polymathic brilliance of Rassie Erasmus, that when I read Marc Hinton’s intro in Stuff that declared that the Springbok coach had put aside mind games, my immediate thought was: ‘Good grief, Marc, you’ve been sucked in by Rassie’s mind games!’
Briefly, poignantly, the mind games, the pointed narratives went out the window and voluble, serial-winning Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus delivered an emotional tribute to the All Blacks’ influence on his team’s ascension to the top of the global game.
The man is playing 4-D chess inside our brains and Stuff is enabling it!
But I needn’t fear — if there is one mind impervious to his charms it is that of the Ren-master, whose coaching philosophy of smashing things at the breakdown hides a more layered approach in the backfield.
Can you pick a winner? Can anybody?
Would a poll help, or is it a cheap device to paper over the gaping cracks in analysis?
Can we read anything into the All Blacks the comfortable wins in the lead-in games? Or were they too an elaborate ruse cooked up by Rassie?
What do we make of Dave Rennie’s All Black team, which is heavy on fullbacks and light on experienced second-rowers (except for the one playing in the back row)? Pairing Fabian Holland with Josh Lord and omitting Patrick Tuipolutu feels like a risk, but probably a risk worth taking, Liam Napier explained:
The other notable talking point is Holland partnering Josh Lord in the second row.
Holland missed the entire Super Rugby season and the All Blacks’ three Nations Championship victories in July while recovering from shoulder surgery.
In [games against the Stormers and Bulls], the Dutch-born lock impressed with multiple lineout steals and [an] insatiable work-rate.
Holland’s presence points to the All Blacks attempting to pressure the South African lineout and challenge the Boks halfbacks by attempting charge downs while they repeatedly kick from the base.
It’s certainly an exciting looking team, though far from flawless. I have a small blind spot when it comes to the charms of Damian McKenzie. I thoroughly enjoy his jack-in-the-box talent and can think of few who offer more threats behind behind a dominant forward pack, but I’m not sure I trust him to put the bins out on the right night when he’s under pressure.
The first few high balls could be telling and, genuinely, I’d love nothing better than to be proved an idiot on the D-Mac front.
There is just so much we don’t know about this series. It’s just a bunch of questions. It’s a mind warp.
It’s Rassie’s fault.
That’s the beauty of it, I guess, and why this is really just an elaborate Post-It note to say the Bounce will be here on Sunday to wrap it up.
South Africa v NZ, Johannesburg, Sunday 3.10am, SS1
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Just discovered that the co-author of this piece from The Conversation via RNZ is the same Jeremy Hapeta I was briefly neighbours with on CD Farm Rd, Levin, in the early-80s. Jeremy has travelled the path less followed from the front row into academia.
As we celebrate the return of a big rugby tour, we should never forget what too many New Zealanders once accepted.
Well over half the squad of 44 have Māori or Pacific ethnic backgrounds. That would have been impossible 66 years ago when the 1960 All Blacks team toured South Africa. In fact, only 18 of the current squad would have been able to travel back then…
Despite growing unease and opposition, especially among Māori, the [“colour bar”] policy stayed in place for the All Blacks’ 1949 tour of South Africa (where they lost all four tests). By 1960, when the All Blacks were due to tour again, a genuine protest movement had emerged.The Citizens’ All Black Tour Association raised one of the country’s largest ever petitions, collecting over 150,000 signatures under its banner of “No Māoris — No Tour”.
Regardless, and despite the Sharpeville massacre just two months earlier, the 1960 tour went ahead without any Māori players.
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Thanks again to JT, John Tulloch, whose reminisces yesterday on the somewhat forgotten tour of ’92 bought a smile to my face. For the benefit of all subscribers, I have brought it out from behind the paywall.
There was an epilogue to my book of [Richard] Loe woes. After the win, the Kiwi media was invited into the All Blacks dressing room. I was in the midst of interviewing a shirtless Frank Bunce, whose midfield battle with the brilliant Danie Gerber had been a highlight of the test, when Loe growled from across the room, “Who let that prick in?” I froze, fearing I’d be turfed out, missing out on this extraordinary opportunity. Bunce, whose back was crisscrossed with large red rake marks courtesy of Bok sprigs, paused for a moment, glanced at Loe, then turned back to me resuming the interview. I could have hugged him!
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It was a real kick to see the Cambridge Blue of Northland win the Ranfurly Shield for the first time since carless days. Without wanting to pass myself off as Nostradamus, after watching the team once known as North Auckland make light of my Amber-and-Blacks a week ago, I warned my Hūkerenui-raised neighbour that this could happen.
As I sent him a congratulatory note last night he brought a little poignancy to the moment: “If only my old man had lived another eight months to see it…”
That one-line text immediately took me back to a piece of sportswriting that has become a bit of a touchstone (I know I have featured it on these pages before): Tom Verducci’s Sports Illustrated feature on the 2004 Boston Red Sox, who broke an 86-year curse when they won that year’s World Series. The story included this passage, which gets me every time:
Rooting for the Red Sox is, as evident daily in the obituary pages, a life’s definitive calling. Every day all over New England, and sometimes beyond, death notices include age, occupation, parish and allegiance to the Sox. Charles F. Brazeau, born in North Adams, Massachusetts, and an Army vet who was awarded a Purple Heart in World War II, lived his entire 85 years without seeing the Red Sox win a world championship, though barely so. When he passed on in Amarillo, Texas, just two days before Boston won the 2004 World Series, the Amarillo Globe News eulogised him as a man who “loved the Red Sox and cheap beer.”
Rest in peace.
Northland have eight days to prepare for the challenge of Tasman. They will spend thoise eight days as Kings of Whangārei.
The return of the Ranfurly Shield to Northland, for the first time in 48 years, saw Taniwha faithful flock to Whangārei airport to welcome their team home on Friday afternoon…
On arriving home, outside back Jade Stewart was emotional with the reception the team received.
“Must [have] been cutting onions…to be greeted like that is unreal.”
Webby loves the Wahs, and that’s great news for the club.
Look at the clubs who have typically enjoyed long periods of success in the modern NRL: Penrith, Easts, Melbourne and Brisbane. What do most of them have in common? Long-tenured coaches.
Stability rocks. Stability is also easy to sell to free agents.
“It’s humbling to be able to secure my future here for this long,” Andrew Webster said. “I’m super proud every game I get to be a head coach in the NRL. It’s a dream and to do it with this club and these players is extra special.
“I love this club, I have the greatest belief in what we can achieve and I’m excited knowing I’m going to be here until 2032. I’m so grateful to have this opportunity.”
Bless him.
To more pressing matters, the Warriors probably have to run the table to force their way into a coveted top two (and even then it’s not guaranteed). The biggest impediment to that goal is tomorrow.
Souths v NZ Warriors, Sydney, tomorrow 7.30pm
It feels like a week or so ago I was reading a headline about Liam Lawson being replaced at Racing Bulls by a Bulgarian, and next minute I look up and he’s going for a blat in a Red Bull (again).
Lawson was promoted to the top team following the announcement that Isack Hadjar had suffered a wrist injury and would be unable to race this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix.
It will mark his return to the team for the first time since his brief stint at the start of the 2025 championship where he lasted just two rounds before being demoted to Racing Bulls where he has been since.
“It’s obviously not what I expected coming into this weekend, but it’s a good opportunity,” Lawson told media at Zandvoort...
Lawson had always felt that he hadn’t been given long enough in his initial stint with the top team. So does he feel more comfortable this time?
“Overall, for sure in terms of just being in Formula 1. I’ve had a lot more races since then as well. I feel much more comfortable racing in this sport, but it’s going to be a very challenging weekend, for sure.”
Dutch GP, Zandvoort, Monday 1am
Continuing the BYC’s off-season interview series, here’s out chat Zak Foulkes, the world’s greatest concussion sub folowing the glorious Battle of Trent Bridge.
Foulkes was famously thrust onto centre stage in all the Ben Stokes fourth-afternoon madness. As the word got out that Stokes was retiring, Foulkes, after a gritty 6 off 40 balls, he found himself facing and nicking off to his fellow Christchurch born seamer. Funnily enough, he didn’t actually know just how central a role he had in it until afterwards.
“To be fair, me and Daryl were out there batting and it came on the big screen and there was a massive cheer. Because Joe Root had been racking up the crowd in moments when they were a bit flat, we just thought it was that. And then obviously, I poke at one on eighth stump and snick off and trudge off. I get back to the change room and everyone’s like, “Oh, do you know what’s happened there?”
Only then did Foulkes realise he’d ensured himself a small scene in the Ben Stokes movie.
“Yeah, not ideal.”
And because every one needs a bit more BYC in their lives, here’s the Schadenfreude episode covering off Darwin and the theory of Bangladesh’s cricketing evolution.
Richard Loe what a f***kg prick. Good player but dirty Wed wrong attitude. F** k him