New Zealand Rugby

The All Blacks swept the three major awards at last night's New Zealand rugby awards, claiming player, team and coach of the year. It is rarely a surprise to see All Black success in the world of rugby, but this was perhaps an instance where they picked up a few more awards than expected.

That is not to say they did not deserve the awards they received. As a team they were again outstanding in 2014, having lost just one game, while coach Steve Hansen's record grows evermore impressive.

Whether they were the best in each of those categories though is another question.

Kieran Keane certainly makes a good case for Coach of the Year. While his Tasman team did not win the ITM Cup, the job he has done with them is nothing short of remarkable. 

It is not that long ago that Tasman finished dead last in the Championship division of the competition. This year they were finalists in the Premiership, knocking over Canterbury in their semifinal. 

The team is made up of a core of players who have been with the team over a number of years and have gotten better every year under Keane. Think of the likes of Shane Christie, Tom Marshall, Liam Squire, Joe Wheeler and Tim Perry. 

As good a year as Steve Hansen has had, it must be remembered he has some pretty good players to work with. Keane on the other hand has helped his players become pretty good, something which deserves recognition.

In the Team of the Year category, both Taranaki and Manawatu were outstanding in their respective divisions of the ITM Cup. Each won titles and showed themselves to be fantastic teams.

While it has been suggested that Taranaki brought a lot of talent in from outside the region, it was still a mammoth effort to win the ITM Cup, particularly given Canterbury's dominance for so long. Again, take nothing away from the All Blacks, but you have to wonder what else a team like Taranaki would have to do to win the Team of the Year award.

Of the three major awards, the one that will always deservedly go to an All Black is the Player of the Year. Brodie Retallick was the favourite for this one and it was no surprise when his name was read out. He adds this to his IRB World Player of the Year award after a stellar year in the black jersey.

There were a number of other predictable winners. 

Aaron Smith won the award for Maori Player of the Year, Taranaki's Seta Tamanivalu was the ITM Cup Player of the Year and Glen Jackson won Referee of the Year.

Jerome Kaino marked a successful return to the country by winning the New Zealand Super Rugby Player of the Year, while DJ Forbes and Damian McKenzie illustrated the range of ages on show, winning Sevens Player of the Year and Junior Player of the Year respectively.

Sonny Bill Williams needs a big performance after being named to start for the All Blacks against England this weekend. His selection in the No. 12 jersey sees veteran Ma'a Nonu and in-form youngster Malakai Fekitoa both left out of what is arguably the biggest game of New Zealand's end of year tour.

It is rare to see surprises in this day and age, particularly in a big Test less than a year out from the World Cup, but this could be classed as a somewhat surprising move.

While Williams undoubtedly played well against the USA, he was not alone. Ryan Crotty paired with Williams in the midfield and was more incisive and more threatening. Although how much you read into a rampant performance against a team that was constantly getting lost defensively is questionable. 

It is nothing new to see Williams given a few favours. Since his return to the game, he has been rushed back into the All Blacks setup after two very ordinary ITM Cup performances. Whether he truly earned his spot back in the team remains a contentious issue.

Performance speaks for itself, though. If he really is deserving of his selection, he must perform this weekend.

He has been given the nod over two players who have been outstanding this year in Fekitoa and Crotty, as well as the incumbent Ma'a Nonu, who has been so reliable over the past five years. To pass up three proven performers for someone who has literally played three games in the past two years is a big call to say the least.

Yet, that is the call that has been made. Now it needs to be backed up.

At his best, Williams is as dangerous a player as they come; he is strong taking the ball to the line and frees his arms easily in the tackle to offload with precision. 

But there is no guarantee that this is the Sonny Bill who will front up on Saturday. He has been away from the game for so long, and in his past stint in rugby union, it was only during the last six months that he really excelled. How do we know that was not just a run of good form? 

He was inconsistent prior to 2012, often performing against weaker teams and going missing against the better ones. He had a tendency to go into a shell, not taking the ball to the line, merely content to shovel the ball on as soon as he caught it. 

He was not making mistakes, but most players in New Zealand could be doing that, and Williams is far more effective taking the ball to the line.

Defensively, he still had plenty to work on too and was still getting lost at times while also needing to show his ability to throw the cut-out pass to his right.

He has not yet proven over a long enough stretch that he has stamped these weaknesses out of his game.

Some may argue that he is now being given the chance to prove it. That is true. But it would seem more prudent to have him go back and show his ability with the Chiefs in next year's Super Rugby. If he is good enough there, he will be picked for the All Blacks and no questions will be asked. Test matches are not the place to be trying players out.

Others may argue that the process had to be sped up with the World Cup less than a year away. But is that really what the All Blacks stand for? New Zealanders have always taken pride in the consistency of their national rugby team, and part of that comes in valuing every game, World Cup or not.

Besides, it is not as if more midfielders are needed right now. Fekitoa has been simply outstanding all year, as has Crotty, while the reliable Nonu and Conrad Smith are still the No. 1 duo.

They are four quality players covering two positions. Ben Smith could also be thrown into the mix as an option if the All Blacks got desperate, as he has played there before and been solid enough.

Rushing in someone else, who has been playing a different sport for the past two years, just does not seem necessary.

Yet it comes back to that old point: performance talks. If Williams plays well this weekend, it will be hard to question his place in the team.

But he does have to play well and prove that he is better than the other three options to truly justify his selection. So it really is up to him to end the debate once and for all. 

It was a case of too skilful, too clinical and simply too good as the All Blacks beat the USA 74-6 in their historic match at Soldier Field in Chicago. The on-field result was to be expected, but the off-field result is one of huge value to the sport of rugby, promoting the game in front of a crowd of 61,500 to help grow the game in what could be a huge market.

The difference in ability between the world champions and the minnows was evident from the get-go. They were two teams of completely different levels.

While the USA did not lack for effort, they could not cope with the speed the All Blacks played the game at. They recycled the ball quickly and their strong support play, offloading game and ability to exploit gaps in the defence were too much for the USA to handle.

These gaps came as a result of the USA defensive line becoming disorganized, particularly out wide where they continually got lost with three or four men in black jerseys running in space.

This was the result of playing the game at such pace. There is less margin for error and when you are slightly out of position, good teams will capitalize by taking the gap. Against lesser teams they would have gotten away with it, but not against such a skilful, clinical outfit.

It was not all brilliant from the All Blacks, however. After taking a 43-6 lead to the break, they did not really fire in the second half.

Sometimes it is hard to carry on in such dominant form, but it was not as if they were not creating chances. They simply did not capitalize on the opportunities they did create. Too many dropped balls and loose passes saw an error-ridden second half, which let the USA off the hook on multiple occasions. 

The goal kicking was poor, too, particularly in the first half, where Aaron Cruden did not strike the ball well at all upon his return to the team. Some of his kicks were difficult ones, but he did not seem to be getting near landing them, which is an issue going forward. There were 10 points left out on the field purely from his poor kicking.

There were positives in the performance, though.

Sonny Bill Williams looked good in his return to international rugby, running good lines to make himself a handful for the defence. He combined well with Ryan Crotty, also making a return, who showed his offloading ability, was strong on defence and was dangerous running. Either of the men could have justifiably been awarded man of the match.

Dan Carter made his first appearance for the team in 2014, coming on in the second half, and lasted right through to the end of the game. He ran well, looking more lively than Cruden and distributing the ball well. 

It is worth remembering that this was very much a second-string All Black line-up and there were plenty of players looking to put their hand up for next week's Test against England. 

Carter will likely move back into the No. 10 jersey, while Kieran Read will hold onto the No. 8 position.

Other than these two, none of the others would be guarantees. Israel Dagg will likely get the nod at fullback, but even that is not a done-deal with Ben Smith set to come back and Julian Savea and Charles Piutau in good form. 

The outstanding midfield combination will be replaced by two of Ma'a Nonu, Conrad Smith and Malakai Fekitoa, while Aaron Smith will slot back into scrum-half.

Sam Cane was outstanding, too, although the evergreen Richie McCaw has arguably been the All Blacks' best this year and will reclaim his jersey, while Jerome Kaino will be brought back onto the blind side to add physicality.

Expect a complete overhaul of the tight five, too, although Jeremy Thrush certainly is not doing his reputation any harm and must now be considered the third best lock in New Zealand.

With their work in the USA done, it is onto Europe for the All Blacks, where they face England, Scotland and Wales in their last trip north before next year's World Cup.

It was seen as a major coup when USA Eagles rugby managed to get New Zealand over to Chicago for a Test match at Solider Field. 

The match on Saturday is a 61,500-seat sellout, so there is certainly plenty of interest in seeing the world champions, not that you would know that from the U.S. media though.  

According to Stuff.co.nz's Duncan Johnstone: 

The world's most successful rugby team has not proven newsworthy in Chicago with none of the city's main media outlets featuring them today, less than six days out from their game against the US Eagles.

Just three local journalists reportedly turned up to the team's first media opportunity.

As the report notes, it is a particularly busy point in the U.S. sports season.

The MLB World Series is ongoing, the NFL season is in full swing and the NBA basketball season also tips off this week. 

However, it still represents something of a snub for one of the world's most iconic sports teams, although given the attention they get in other parts of the world, the anonymity might be a welcome relief. 

[Stuff.co.nz]

Taranaki had to withstand a ferocious comeback from Tasman en-route to being crowned champions of New Zealand provincial rugby for the first time. Their 36-32 win made them the first non-Super Rugby franchise base to win the title since 1980 and only the ninth team to win the top prize since the NPC's inception in 1976.

It looked like it would be a lopsided result three-quarters of the way through the game, with the score at 33-13. The black and yellow defensive wall seemed impossible to breach, as they fanned out, came up fast and were physical in the tackle. They went into contact in packs and had Tasman under all sorts of pressure in close.

But you write a side like Tasman off at your peril. They possess a lethal back line and given the intensity of the game, it was always going to be the final 20 minutes where they would be the toughest to contain.

And so it proved. With the score at 33-27 in the dying stages it really was anyone's game. But Tasman's discipline let them down—as it had earlier in the game, too—and they suddenly found themselves needing two tries in two minutes after conceding a further three points.

Yet they even gave that a fair nudge, scoring one of the tries, but running out of time to score a second. Had they scored even 30 seconds earlier, then who knows? This is the sort of team that can score a try at any time from any position.

But it was Taranaki who emerged victors and you could tell how much it meant as the fans stormed the field in a wave of euphoria to celebrate with the players.

The win was built on a tough effort in the first half, where they frustrated Tasman into infringing and scored a series of opportunistic tries through the middle stages. Charlie Ngatai's double exemplified this, one a reminder of why you never give up on a chase, after collecting a wicked bounce, the second an interception in which he ran half the field to score.

Those two tries were crucial in forcing Tasman to chance their arm and chase the game in the final quarter of the game.

The impact of the win goes far beyond Taranaki, though. In a competition that has lost much of its prestige in recent years, it will be the best thing for it to have the trophy return to a union whom will appreciate it. It provides more interest in it looking ahead to next year, too, as for the majority of the past six years it has seemed a foregone conclusion that Canterbury would win at a canter.

But for now Taranaki will enjoy being champions.

It took a last-minute try to seal the deal as Manawatu won their first major provincial rugby trophy since 1980, winning the ITM Cup Championship division with a 32-24 win over Hawke's Bay.

Hawke's Bay controlled possession in the final minutes. Trailing by three points, they hammered away at a relentless Manawatu defence. A poorly executed attacking kick, that was never on, eventually ended their hopes, as Manawatu winger Nathan Tudreu collected the ball that was rocketed at him and set off to score a length-of-the-field try.

It was a tense finish to what was all round a very tense match.

The packed stadium was in full voice, as the two rivals continually took shots at each other, with the game remaining in the balance the whole way through. A strong wind blew up the ground, although neither team seemed inclined to use it, preferring to keep ball in hand for the most part.

Despite this, the play did tend to run with the direction of the wind. Hawke's Bay had it at their back in the first half and scored two outstanding tries, as the Manawatu defence faltered. The first came from an incisive run from fly-half Ihaia West, who spotted the gap and drifted right as he beat several defenders on the way to securing the first try of the game.

The second was just as impressive, another effort that came from exploiting the weak defence and once again showed the finishing ability of Shannon Chase.

It was Manawatu that seemed to have the edge up front though and this was always going to tell. The Turbos were physical at the breakdown and were able to force Hawkes Bay into conceding a series of what were essentially frustration penalties in this area.

They were unable to make them count though and the Hawkes Bay defence held to maintain a 14-6 lead at the break.

Midway through the second half, Manawatu finally took the lead, as Nehe Milner-Skudder ran a good line to shrug off a weak tackle from Shannon Chase. Milner-Skudder carried on to score.

Hawke's Bay hit back, but a passage of sustained pressure from Manawatu eventually told and they made use of an overlap to take them to a 27-24 lead. It was a lead they would not relinquish.

The win sees Manawatu promoted to the Premiership division, where they will have the opportunity to compete for New Zealand provincial rugby's top prize.

It has been a long time coming for Manawatu. They were one of the Unions most badly affected by the advent of Super Rugby, which lured their top players from their province to those where the professional franchise's were based.

After their failed bid to make it back into the NPC First Division, in a combined effort with Hawke's Bay, they spend a decade in Second Division and never really looked like being promoted. Since the new 14-team format has been adopted, they have generally been nearer the bottom of the heap, with the obvious exception of their Championship final loss in 2011.

It was not always like this though. There was a time when Manawatu, like so many of the other smaller Unions, were as tough a match as you would find. In 1980 they won the NPC's First Division. This was a team which had eight All Blacks, including Gary Knight, Mark Shaw and Frank Oliver. 

While the 2014 win rates more as an equivalent to winning the old Second Division, it still must be celebrated. Few would have given Manawatu a chance of winning prior to the season and now they find themselves back amongst the big boys of New Zealand rugby.

They continue to produce outstanding players. The two Aaron's, Smith and Cruden, remain the best of their current crop of players, being the province's two All Blacks. However, with talents youngsters such as Otere Black, Jason Emery, Nehe Milner-Skudder and Jamie Booth coming through the ranks, they might yet add to that tally. 

Along with this group they have a hard-working group of forwards. Captain Callum Gibbons in particular having a standout season, while Rob Foreman, Nick Crosswell and Ma'afu Fia all bleed green and white.

The competition's attention now turns to the Premiership, where Taranaki host Tasman in what will be an historic final tomorrow night in New Plymouth.