The Best Ever?

I saw an interview with an Argentinian player this week prior to their match up with the All Blacks in which he said this New Zealand team could possibly be ‘the best ever’. That got me thinking – is it really? Of course it’s impossible to know whether this team would have beaten the 1974 Lions, the 1987 All Blacks or the 1995 Springboks. So I’ll simply analyse three aspects of this team; the coaches, the game plan and, of course, the players.

The Coaches

There’s no doubt in my mind that Steve Hansen is one of the best coaches the All Blacks have had. His gruff manner and inaudible diction don’t do justice to his obvious and well-proven coaching credentials. He’s a thinker and a scholar of the game. He’s also not afraid to make the tough calls (Weepu, Mealamu) and that’s a vital part of being a successful coach.

Ian Foster doesn’t rate anywhere near as highly for me. His lengthy reign as Chiefs coach was about as successful as Colin Cooper’s time with the Hurricanes. But the All Blacks’ success is continuing with him in this role so he must be doing a good job. But I’m not entirely sure how he got the assistant coaching gig.   

Speaking of which – what kind of message does it give to up and coming coaches in NZ when Aussie McLean becomes an Assistant Coach of the best rugby team in the world? I have ABSOLUTELY no idea how he got the job.

So overall, I’d have to say that this is not one of the best coaching teams we’ve ever had.

The Game Plan

The All Blacks’ game plan is based on speed, accuracy, speed, power and speed. Speed of leg, speed of recycled ball, speed of pass and speed of mind. In recent years they have repeatedly shifted the goalposts (not literally; that would be cheating) in terms of changing the way rugby is played. Make no mistake, when they’re on fire no team in the world can stay with them except, possibly, the Springboks, or England at Twickenham.

The whole squad are consummate athletes; they’re quick, they’re strong and they have excellent technique in most aspects of their play.  How many other teams past or present could match them? To quote the rapper Scribe ‘not many, if any’. I’m going to say the way they play is as good as anything we’ve ever seen before. They play badly and still win and that is a sign of a very good team.

The Players

Another endless debate is the ‘who’s the best player ever in such-and-such a position. So I’ll base my decision on a couple of questions…

 ‘Is the player among the best we’ve ever seen in his position’?

For me, players in the current squad who are in this category are McCaw, Read, Carter, Nonu, Dagg, Whitelock, Hore, Conrad Smith, Woodcock and, although he’s now on the outer, Mealamu. That’s quite a number from one team.

‘Does the player have the potential to join the above list’?

I think Owen Franks, Steven Luatua, Aaron Smith and, maybe, Ben Smith could one day join this illustrious list. Again, that’s quite a number from one team.

My only real concern around this squad involves the lack of depth in some positions. While we’re flush with candidates in some positions such as halfback, blindside flanker, hooker and lock, there are other positions where if you scratch just slightly below the surface you find a bit of a dearth.

Examples are loosehead prop, where I find it hard to believe that Wyatt Crockett is the second best in NZ; tighthead prop where, unfortunately for him, Charlie Faumuina’s side of the scrum (I also thought his lock let him down badly) was shown up by an admittedly awesome Puma forward pack and second-five where Frances Saili is not, in my opinion, ready for test football and a journeyman like Ryan Crotty somehow comes into the mix.

So to go out on a limb, I’m going to argue that this current AB team is likely the best ever. I actually think the 2011 All Black team was almost as good. The four main points of difference: Wayne Smith, Jerome Kaino, SBW and Sir Bradley Thorn. Two of those four may well be back in the mix next season. If they do return, the 2014 version of this side could be even better.

Vulgar

1.       Three billion

2.       630 million

3.       85 million

4.       42.4 million

5.       300,000

These figures are not, in order,

1.       the GDP of a small country

2.       the GDP of a small Pacific Island

3.       the population of Egypt

4.       Australia’s forecasted population by 2050

5.       the odometer reading of a three year old taxi

They are in fact, in order,

1.       the approximate number of pounds provided to Premier League clubs for TV rights over the next three years

2.       the number of pounds just spent on new players by Premier League clubs in the recently completed transfer window

3.       the number of pounds paid by Real Madrid to Tottenham Hotspur for the services of just one player (Gareth Bale)

4.       the number of pounds paid by Arsenal to Real Madrid for the services of just one player (the extraordinarily unattractive German Mezut Ozil) and

5.       Bale’s rumoured WEEKLY salary.

Is it just me or are those numbers simply, as the title of this section suggests, vulgar? And, as the popularity of English football spreads further around the world, these figures are only forecast to increase. Mind boggling stuff really.

Unbeatable Passion

More Ranfurly Shield awesomeness this weekend. Unfortunately for Hawke’s Bay, they now hold the record for shortest tenure in shield history. Having not held the log o’ wood since 1969, they won and then lost it, all within six days. Their defence against Counties Manukau could have gone either way but was settled by a fantastic try to CM late in the game. The Counties’ players’ jubilation at the final whistle was matched in intensity by the utter devastation of the Bay players and the stunned silence of the home crowd. The stadium was packed to the rafters, the atmosphere was electric and the game itself was a mixture of up-front battles and backline jousts and counter-jousts. In the end it would be fair to say that Counties deserved their victory.

It’s hard to imagine the passion shown by their supporters, as Counties carried the trophy off the plane for the first time in their history, being shown if the Blues had just defeated the Cheetahs in Super Rugby. This again demonstrated to me that the NZRU should ensure it does not relegate the ITM Cup to secondary status permanently. I’d love to think that one day this could again be NZ’s premier rugby competition.

Polar Opposites

It was pretty much the same bunch of players. Similar level of opposition as the previous week. The conditions were great for a game of league. By all accounts they trained well throughout the week. Last week they destroyed the Raiders in a clinical display of attacking brilliance. This week vs. the Dragons they were just awful. Of course I’m talking about the Warriors. They had to win to have any chance whatsoever of making the playoffs. But they didn’t.

Last week, everything they tried succeeded. This week they looked flat, the forwards went backwards, the backs went sideways and the dropped balls went forwards. Shaun Johnson was disappointingly ineffective, Nathan Friend was missing in action and Konrad Hurrell was easily contained through excellent tackling technique and teamwork from the Dragons. Even when the score was close, it never seemed the Warriors would actually be victorious.

It’s the ultimate coaching dilemma; you prepare well, you select the right players for each game, you motivate the troops, the squad have a positive vibe and they seem ready to click. And yet they’re unbelievably inconsistent. What can be done to remedy this situation? I don’t think coach Matthew Elliot can do much more. I believe issues like this are often best solved by senior players and the leadership group. It’s up to Mannering, Vatuvei, Friend and the other senior players to have a good look at themselves over the summer and try to ensure this kind of inconsistency is not prevalent in 2014. If it is still part of the Warriors gameplan in the New Year, they won’t be participating in the playoffs next year either.

Till next time,

SG