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Bigger than us | Sep 28, 2007 07:19

SOME FOREIGN FIELD The Rugby World Cup blog

The Dropkicks know that in little old New Zealand there's a tendency to fall either side of a line where people either love or hate rugby. We couldn't actually tell you how many people actually fall to either side, but if you conduct a vox pop in your workplace it'll definitely be there.

I mention this because you may well know that the Dropkicks are no fans of yachting. When the America's Cup rolls around we merely roll our eyes and look for something approximating 'real' sport on the telly, competitive eating for example. Cricket is also a bit of a stretch some some of us, but it is another country's national game, so you can hardly point the finger of hypocrisy there.

I mention all this because one of the team recently met the father of a 1990s All Black. 17 caps his son had. He played most major nations and was a well-known name. It is New Zealand of course, so meeting an All Black or one of their extended family is hardly an event in itself, but one thing that occurred to the Dropkick talking to the old guy is that rugby is so much bigger than just the players. Besides the guys themselves there's also the cadre of people who bask in the reflected glory of their personal sporting hero.

"So what?" I hear you ask? Plenty of parents are proud of their children without the bruising and machismo of full-contact sports. And some of these things add greater value to the world, like art, music, philosophy, gastronomy. Incidentally, "gastronomy"? Doesn't that sound like "the science of giving one wind?"

Like most nations we New Zealanders are a parochial bunch. There's things we like, and things we don't. And those two things are rugby, and Australians. While there are all kinds of things we also like, it's hard to find so much of the national psyche wrapped up in them. Sure, we're stoked when someone discovers a new vaccine, or writes a great and well-recognised novel. But you can't put 45 minutes of advertisements into a new vaccine, can you? No, you can't. If you could, TV3 would have found a way to do so already.

OK, that leads to another digression. TV3 get the rights to the World Cup, right? This is viewed as a good thing, because it means that people who can't afford Sky get to watch the games for free. But. TV3 have to squeeze advertising into the replayed games in order to pay for the cost of the rights. This is all standard fare.

But how the hell are people who can't afford Sky going to afford all the stuff advertised in the replayed games? The working-poor driving brand new Fords? Yeah, Right. All that advertising is really doing is pissing people off. People who would rather pay to watch an ad-free game on Sky. The same people who can probably afford the stuff on the ads. It's also pissing off the poor because they can't afford all that shit and it's getting in the way of the game.

Gripe over.

It was after speaking with Dad of the All Black that this puff-piece was put into the paper. It reinforced our point that international sport, as combative as it might seem, is really all about pride. Pride that our wee country is bigger than just the islands we stand on. Bigger than our meagre 4 million people. Pride that our national effort is put into something that doesn't result in the hurt or humiliation of anyone.

You could see it in the way the old guy put back his shoulders and lifted his head a little when he spoke about not only his son, but the team itself. It was a pride in taking part in something greater than the sum of himself and his family. A pride that we, a small place far from anywhere, could be measured in the collective greatness of a few men on some far foreign field. The childish pride of riding atop the shoulders of black giants, a view from the top of the world.

Unless they lose. In which case we sack the coach and belittle them for at least six months.

The Dropkicks

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Like something out of Braveheart | Sep 27, 2007 09:41

SOME FOREIGN FIELD The Rugby World Cup blog

The Herald obviously didn't secure online rights for its excerpt from Tana Umaga's book (which reads more like a very long interview with his co-author Paul Thomas than an actual autobiography) but key sections have been picked up by newspapers around the world. And they reveal quite what a competitive bugger he was on the field.

The Times is still calling what happened to Brian O'Driscoll a "spear tackle" in its headline, providing a cue for whiny comments from readers, while Ireland Online goes with Umaga's description of O'Driscoll as a "sook", and Stuff has big chunks of the text, including his description of the "tackle", which actually wasn't a tackle:

"I went into a ruck and cleaned out Brian O'Driscoll. I was standing over the ball trying to protect it when he bounced back to have another crack at disrupting our possession. We were tussling as he tried to get through and I grabbed his leg to try to unbalance him, a technique I'd used before and still use to this day.

"What I didn't realise was that Keven Mealamu was doing the same thing on the other side of the ruck. As I got one of O'Driscoll's legs up, Keven hoisted his other leg and drove him back. He ended up with both feet off the ground, not in control of himself or the situation, a position rugby players often find themselves in. When we let him go he came down and what happened, happened. I didn't think anything of it, I just took off."

But I liked the description of the game that followed, the justifiably legendary second test against the Lions in Wellington:

"As a ruck broke up, Paul O'Connell loomed over me ranting and raving. As I got up, their props Julian White and Gethin Jenkins started pushing and shoving. I knew it was going to happen at some stage so I just said, 'Come on, any time, just bring it.' I backed away slowly looking at them and saying, 'Are you going to start playing soon or what?'

"Later, when O'Connell went down, I went over to him as he was rolling around the ground and said, 'Mate, don't give up now, we're just getting started.' He jumped straight up.

"When Stephen Jones came on for Jonny Wilkinson he took the ball up yelling, 'For our captain!' like something out of Braveheart. I said, 'Are you serious?' You could see how they were trying to motivate themselves but it became quite laughable.

"I got into some of their forwards about being a bit chubby and after the game Jenkins said to Steve Hansen, who'd coached him when he'd been with Wales, 'Can you tell Tana it's nothing personal, it's just the game.' That was a bit rich coming from them. I told Steve I didn't see any of it in personal terms."

Apart from the princely performance of Dan Carter that evening, the thing I recall most clearly from the All Blacks' play that evening is the ceaseless low-to-the-ground industry of Umaga and Mealamu -- they were everywhere.

Meanwhile, in Europe the Allez Les Noirs crew's newsgathering technique -- hanging out in bars -- pays off again:

Jonesy again found a celeb: this time he cornered pig hunter and part-time All Black Keith Robinson in a pub (he and Mils had pass-outs for a night). I think the big guy was there with friends or family for a quiet catch up, but he was kind enough to accept a five minute inquisition from us ... though the strange swing of topics that we were unleashing, from hunting, to training, to injuries, to where he and the boys can find the best pizza in Aix-en-Provence must have been daunting. I think we were pretty boozed by then. Robinson said he was itching for a run at Romania and things were looking good for that. Can't wait to see him unleashed again and back in the sort of form that used to see him torment the English at HQ.

Tracey Nelson reports from Murrayfield, where she had just as much trouble telling the Scots and All Black jerseys apart as we did on the telly. And so, she says, did the All Blacks themselves:

The most notable thing about this game, in contrast to the two previous pool games, was the apparent failure of the All Blacks to be able to put the man into the gap and let the passes go. Initially there was a degree of frustration about this, but as the game wore on it became apparent that like the spectators the players were having problems sighting their team mates when the two backlines met. While this could be taken as a negative, there were some positive outcomes too - the All Blacks have conceded quite a few intercept passes in the last two games, one of which led to a try, but in this game they did not offer up the same chances to Scotland and overall against a fast defensive line, there were very few 50/50 passes thrown.

Meanwhile, The Dropkicks are running a poll on the likely outcome of Ireland vs Argentina, the game that will be of more interest to New Zealand supporters than the ABs' run against Romania, given that it will determine who we'll be facing in the quarter-final at Cardiff. (England-Tonga should be fun too.) They also have a completely bogus news story about Carl Hayman. Silly boys.

And … I need some ad copy and I'm offering free whisky again. Go and scrutinise the Whisky Galore ads on all Public Address (not System) pages and offer me up no more than a dozen words to run across two slides. Post them in the discussion and you're a winner. Possibly.

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Silver is (not) the new black | Sep 24, 2007 10:16

SOME FOREIGN FIELD The Rugby World Cup blog

I notice that Graham Henry favours the hardcover 2B8 exercise book for his note taking. Solid and sturdy, like the All Black front five. But I am sure there will be more than a few words written in CAPS after this morning's stuttering error riddled effort. ACCURACY, FINISHING, COMPSURE and BALL SECURITY. This game was the very definition of frustration. Scotland never threatened to get off zero- they had no ball and no territory. Yes, they defended well, but the All Blacks coughed up ball and failed to execute in a way that makes me believe a number of the players are already singing the national anthem on October 20 in Paris rather than living in the here and now. That might not matter against Scotland B, but it will be a whole other thing against France in a quarterfinal. It certainly must be stressing out this punter.

It is easy to look at this as a team failure, but I think the crosses in Mr Henry's detention book will be beside names like Rodney So'oialo who failed to control things at the back of the scrum, Chris Masoe who was guilty of a number of turnovers, and most of the backline who took critical wrong options, including Carter. In terms of the 'top team' I think Sitiveni Sivivatu is probably the only one who might have played his way out of contention, but it did feel like Aaron Mauger's steadying influence could have been helpful.

Silver was definitely colour du jour in Edinburgh this morning. There was enough of it on the Scotland jersey to confuse my 3am eyes -- perhaps it did the same to the All Blacks. Not sure I want to see the silver jersey again. I always liked the white jersey as the alternate strip- it makes me think of the water polo test in 1975, and that fantastic image of Hamish McDonald aquaplaning across for a try.

Meanwhile, in the British press, debate rages over who how to view England's victory over Samoa. In the Times, Stephen Jones lauds 'Lazarus England', while Andy Bull over at the Guardian tells it like it is bemoaning the 'arthritic baboons' in the English forward pack.

I was wrong- Samoa did not beat England, but you can see why they might have. If they had won even half of their lineout ball they could have made a a real game of it. I still think England are rubbish, even if they did play a lot better. It is a real pity the Tongans did not play England before South Africa. I think they will have run out of puff by next weekend. The Aussies are building up nicely, and must be looking forward to burying the memories of 2003 in the quarter finals against the Poms.

The real revelation of the tournament for me is the Tongan team. Only three of the Samoan players who took the field on Saturday were not professional players, mostly plying their trade in the UK. The Tongans on the other hand have a smattering of NZ provincial players and very few on the international scene. They played some great rugby against South Africa, and only lost because of a 15 minute burst from the first string players on the bench. Time once again for NZ rugby administrators to do the right thing by the global game and find ways of developing test rugby in our own region.

The tragedy that is Ireland's time at the cup is close to over. Paul O'Connell is blaming the ref, the team hotel, anything rather than face the face that they showed almost nothing. The Irish had a bad week. It will take a miracle for them to knock over they very well drilled Argentinians.

Having said that Argentina v Ireland is the most important game of the tournament for All Black supporters. There are various scenarios with bonus points, but if Argentina win, it will be France in the quarters. No doubt the 2B8 will be put to good use on October 1.

And finally, the gift for the All Black fan who has everything. Voodoo pins optional.

Grant Robertson

Some Foreign Field is sponsored by Whisky Galore.

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