SUNDAY SPECIAL: Heart-stopping fun
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Look, I know what most of you have come here for is an objective, frame-by-frame analysis of Jason Hoyte running himself out for a duck in The ACC’s annual thrashing at the hands of the Dulux Tradies XI, but that will have to wait.
There were a bunch of sports on this weekend, maybe not quite as high stakes as the aforementioned cricket match, but fairly important nonetheless.
Having watched three critical oval-ball matches over the past 15 or so hours - Black Ferns v France, All Blacks v Wales and Kiwis v Fiji - I have a baker’s dozen of thoughts.
The first match was the most fun to watch. If you want to kvetch about the inclusion of this point, I get it. It could be read as patronising given that of the three situations - World Cup semifinal, end-of-year test and World Cup quarter-final - it had the most at stake. But bugger it, this was great fun. As a match it was frantic, willing, crazy, untidy and brilliant, sometimes all within a 90-second burst. The crowd in the stands seemed to be having a ball and this party atmosphere was transmitted into living rooms across the country. Next week can’t come quickly enough.
Some of the on-field decision-making by the Black Ferns seemed to be transmitted directly from the thoughts of some of the more impaired members of the crowd, too. “Hey, we should put a replacement prop near the end of the chain and get her to attempt a touchfinder.” Check. “What about having our most experienced player quick-tap a long-arm penalty and then immediately kick it aimlessly downfield without a chase?” Check. (Incidentally, not the first time Kendra Cocksedge was on a different wavelength to her teammates.) “How about aiming high on a king-hit tackle in front of your posts when clinging to a narrow lead?” OK. “Just to cap it off, let’s run it back from behind our line when they miss their last-gasp shot at goal?” Sounds like a great idea. Actually, that last one did end up being a great idea, although it has likely taken a year or two off Wayne Smith’s life.
Spare a thought for French flyhalf Caroline Drouin, who missed badly from in front. That 35-40m range is probably at the upper reaches of comfort level for most kickers at this World Cup. It’s the lack of long-kicking game, both from tee and in open play that provides the sharpest contrast with the men’s game and, IMO, makes it a more watchable product. Perhaps it’s time for the men to play with a slightly heavier ball?