The long and short of weekend sport
NZR's grim year; Zoe Hobbs' rightful place; Guptill's quiet rise; traitors in our midst; and another fortysomething legend diagnosed with dementia.
SHORT POINTS
Lost in the fallout over the All Blacks loss to Ireland and the subsequent spotlight thrown onto an increasingly beleaguered coaching team, that this administration has now overseen the rapid deterioration of two world cup-winning high-performance programmes.
New Zealand Rugby acted with some urgency to repair the damaged Black Ferns, helicoptering Professor Wayne Smith and former Fern Hannah Porter, among others, in on a rescue mission after last year’s troubled northern tour exposed fractures.
While we all wait for puffs of white smoke to appear above 100 Molesworth St to indicate whether NZR will appoint a new spiritual leader for the All Blacks, Robert Kitson in the Guardian turns a timely eye to the World Cup draw that has Ireland, New Zealand, France and South Africa all on one side of the draw.
No one in their right minds ever writes off New Zealand as a proud rugby nation but Foster – or more likely his successor – must come to terms with some increasingly stark realities. Ireland’s maul, breakdown and, for the most part, lineout were all superior and their midfield offered more power and wit. Every other leading side in the world, not least the Springboks, who host New Zealand next month, will have taken suitable note.
And what does it all mean for next year’s World Cup quarter-finals? Crazily – and in future World Rugby really do need to delay the process to avoid any repetition – the All Blacks, Ireland, South Africa and France are all in the same half of the draw and only two can make the semifinals. Could it be that neither the defending champions nor New Zealand will advance to the last four? On the evidence of this calendar year so far, it is an increasingly plausible scenario.
Sufferin’ succotash!
Good on Eddie Jones for wanting to step out a pissed-up fool for calling him a traitor as England won their series 2-1 against DAVE RENNIE’s Wallabies.
For heaven’s sake, look at the teams qualified for France 2023. England are coached by an Australian; Australia are coached by a New Zealander; Wales are coached by a New Zealander; Japan are coached by a New Zealander; Ireland are coached by an Englishman; Argentina are coached by an Australian; Chile are coached by a Uruguayan; Uruguay are coached by an Argentine; Italy are coached by a New Zealander; Fiji are coached by a New Zealander; Romania are coached by an Englishman; Namibia are coached by a South African.
Only six teams thus far qualified for the RWC - New Zealand, France, Scotland, Manu Samoa, Georgia and South Africa - have not hired a “traitor”.
It was bloody nice to see New Zealand represented in the semifinals of the sprints at a major athletics meeting and even if Zoe Hobbs wasn’t quite at her best today, her performance at the world champs in Eugene, Oregon, again throws some serious shade on the selection criteria for the Commonwealth Games.
Hobbs, 24, only once met the B standard for the Commonwealth Games and has been ‘loopholed’ into the team for Birmingham that starts later this month. Two days ago she lowered her Oceania record to 11.08s to automatically qualify for the semifinals at a far tougher event.
She finished fourth in her semi in a time of 11.13. Not helping matters was a long delay for the questionable false-start disqualification of Bahamian TyNia Gaither.
On the basis of her showing in Oregon, it seems ridiculous to think she was in real danger to miss Birmingham and it again throws into sharp relief the different standards that so frustrate athletes in the high-performance system. The NZOC has sent so many swimmers to various Olympics and Commonwealths over the years who have no chance of making finals, yet it’s taken some creative reading of the selection criteria to get Hobbs onto the line on one of sport’s blue-riband events.
The recently completed ODI series in Ireland might have been one of the more low-key cricket series of recent times but it produced two stonking games of cricket, two of which the hosts will feel they should have won. There were a number of talking points, including Finn Allen’s development as a potential opener of the future; the consistency struggles of New Zealand’s ‘bullpen arms’ like Jacob Duffy and Blair Tickner; Michael Bracewell’s brilliant series; and Will Young’s four runs in three innings (yikes!).
But it’s Martin ‘Dead Shark Eyes’ Guptill that I want to splurge a fat paragraph on. In compiling 166 runs this series to take his career tally to 7207, he quietly moved past Nathan Astle (7090) into third on NZ’s all-time scorers. If the 35 year old plays through to the conclusion of the 2023 CWC, he will likely pass Stephen Fleming (8007) for second, though his great mate Ross Taylor (8607) is likely a bridge too far. He’s also taken his ODI century tally to 18, just three behind Taylor and two ahead of Astle. With 23 centuries across all formats for New Zealand, he’s also a chance of passing Astle (27) into third, though we can confidently state he will not get within a bull’s roar of Taylor (40) and Kane Williamson (37 and counting). To round out this long paragraph that should have been broken up a few sentences ago, I will be fascinated in 10 years’ time to see what the overriding sense is when assessing Guptill’s career. Is it one of the great white-ball batters we’ve ever seen, or the guy who couldn’t translate his enormous talent into red-ball success? I hope it’s the former.
The 1st T20 in Belfast starts in the early hours of tomorrow morning.
Cam Smith won the Open Championship in sensational style - and I’m talking his look as well as his golf - but judging by the way he dealt with obvious and warranted inquiries, it might not be what he’s remembered for.
LONG READS
This is a lovely essay by Dunedin writer Talia Marshall in North & South, which I have to confess to having not read for a long time now. It’s about rugby, specifically Maori rugby, but bursts into interesting places and spaces. This line seems particularly apt at this juncture.
Kiwis love the underdog, perhaps this is the only thing that can be said safely about the national character, with its fickle affections. The All Blacks are captive to this cultural myth, this pride we take in being underestimated. Their ability to be the exception to the rule is only retained as long as they are dominant world champions. It probably represents some kind of schism in our collective psyche, how good we need them to be.
Former Wales and Lions No8 Ryan Jones is the latest high-profile player to join the legal action against World Rugby, having been diagnosed with early-onset dementia and probable CTE aged just 41. His exclusive interview with the Sunday Times is behind a hard paywall, but the BBC has this pull-together which outlines the magnitude of the problem World Rugby is facing.
Jones told the Sunday Times:
“I feel like my world is falling apart. And I am really scared. Because I’ve got three children and three step-children and I want to be a fantastic dad. I lived 15 years of my life like a superhero and I’m not. I don’t know what the future holds.”
Jones joins the lawsuit alongside other players who have gone public, including Alix Popham and Carl Hayman.
A QUICK THANKS
To all those who commented below yesterday’s newsletter or via email, thanks! It’s good to generate (reasoned) discussion and it was interesting to see that an All Black loss still stirs the senses in a way other sports here don’t. Like many of you, I believe rugby has lost its all-powerful grip on the country to a certain extent and that’s not a bad thing. That obsession could take us to some dark places (throwing beer cans at John Hart’s champion harness racer DG Holmes post-99 RWC, for example).
The Bounce returns on Wednesday and with it will come a small request (and no, I’m not asking for more of your hard earned cash).
Do wonder if some of our rugby coaches at the pro level could take a leaf out of the Noelene Taurua playbook and look to learn from her. Looking from the outside She’s hard-nosed but has the respect of all and importantly has a track record of success. Not sure all our pro rugby coaches have it (hard nosed attitude) when they need it most. Perhaps a reflection of the insular nature of pro rugby in New Zealand and what I perceive as a lack of both patience and ruthlessness - and I believe you need both - the trick is to know how to time playing them at the right time! As always just one man’s opinion Dylan!
Well done Zoe Hobbs. While not a fan of the Comm Games these days, she is one athlete who I hope succeeds given the barriers that were put in her way to compete.