Crusaders Rugby

Well firstly seasons greeting to all of you. I trust that you all had an enjoyable Christmas and a wonderful New Year. I have been away attempting to fly fish, but this time of the year is not the greatest.

Water is warm and the fish tend to be off the bite. Notwithstanding these little setbacks I still managed to land three out of 10 rainbows all of which were over a kilogram, so come on winter.

So what have we missed while I was away? The biggest news is the first ever series win by a South African cricket team in Australia.

After a stunning 414 run chase in Perth, SA cashed down 183 runs in Melbourneto win the second test by nine wickets. Fatboy Smith has lead by example and has been in great nick, although it seems he will miss the rest of the third test after breaking his left hand after being stuck by Mitchell Johnston. SA trail Australia by 140 runs at the end of Day three in Sydney and it does not look that great that we can win this test.

If South Africa can pull off and win the series 3-0 they will become the number 1 ranked test team in world cricket. England will be eyeing the rest of the third test and the return leg closely as the Ashes will be played again this year and I am sure they will be thinking they stand a good chance of taking the Ashes back again.

On the soccer front, well Liverpool leads Chelsea from Man U, from Aston Villa from Arsenal. The FA Cup was played this weekend and the richest club in the world was knocked out 3-0 by Nottingham Forest.

So far everything is going according to ranking, but the fourth round has a mouth watering fixture when the Red Devils take on Spurs. Liverpool plays Everton and the Gunners take on Cardiff.

The world’s premier rugby competition starts in February. Yes that is right, it is Super 14 time! The Bulls, The Stormers, The Hurricanes, The Crusaders, The Reds or The Sharks, who will be crowned the Champions at the end of May.

The Lions and Cheetahs along with the Highlanders will in all likeliness fight it out for the wooden spoon. Judging by quality of their squads, they just don’t seem to have the fire power. The Western force tends to play well at home, however they don’t travel well.

The Waratahs and the Brumbies have new coaches so there will be the unknown factor to the coaches, but I don’t see them performing at the top level just yet. You may ask what about the Crusaders they also have a new coach, but with Todd Blackadder they did win the Air New Zealand Cup last year (NPC) and even without Dan Carter they just ooze class. For the Sharks this season is make or break and if they do not end up in the final I am sure it will be looked upon as a failed campaign. Only time will tell.

The Dakar Rally started on Sunday in Argentina, and by all accounts, it seems that a winning formula has been found. South African Giniel De Villiers is currently lying in third position. The race will take place from the third to the 18^th of January between Argentina and Chili over a distance of 9574kms Starting and ending in Buenos Aires.

The drivers and riders will cover Mountain, Desert, open planes, and jungle in what will be a very grueling trip. The nice part for the competitors is they are less likely to be taken out by terrorists and disgruntled tribesmen.

Until next week, I will chat to you again. Enjoy the sport, hold thumbs for the cricket boys.

Cheers

Onetime

Europe’s premier domestic competition is about to commence Round 5 of 6 – but with all Europe competing, what is it all about?

We have a glut of top level rugby being played in Europe’s flagship competition, the pinnacle of which is the Heineken Cup (The European Rugby Cup) the premier tournament domestically in world rugby, of which only the Super 14 can match.  It features domestic teams from the Six Nations countries. 

England and France have at least six teams, decided by their respective club competitions (the Guinness Premiership and the Top 14).  Ireland, Wales have three teams while Scotland has two; decided by the Magner’s League standings.  Finally the Italians have two teams, decided by their Super 10 club competition format.

The final two places are decided effectively by two methods.  One team comes from the highest ranked English, French or Italian team from the previous year’s tournament – this year that team is Toulouse, the beaten finalists.  The other is from a playoff between the best placed team in the Magner’s League or Super 10 not already in the Cup.

This leaves us with 24 teams, split into six pools.  They combat home and away over six rounds, spread between October and January.  The quarter finals are in April, semis in May, and this season’s final will be decided on the 23^rdMay, at Murrayfield, Scotland. 

We are about to enter the fifth round.  So let’s look at each pool and their games commencing on the 16^th January:

Each team has its current HC WIN/LOSS in brackets.

(GP = Guinness Premiership, T14 = French Top 14, ML = Magners League, ST = Italian Super 10)

POOL 1 – (in order of pool position) Munster (3/1), Sale Sharks (2/2), Clermont Auvergne (2/2), Montauban (1/3)

 

16/1/09 – Munster V Sale @ Thomond Park

16/1/09 – Clermont V Montauban @ Stade Marcel Michelin

Munster showed vulnerability losing to Ulster - the first time in over 13 years Munster had lost at Thomond – and the reigning champions have looked far from unbeatable but are still 2nd in the ML.  Sale and especially Clermont are both in good form in the GP and T14 being in the top 4 of their respective leagues – with the latter already beating the Stags 25-19 this season. 

POOL 2 – Leinster (3/1), London Wasps (3/1), Castres Olympique (1/3), Edinburg (1/3)

16/1/09 – Edinburgh V Castres @ Murrayfield

17/1/09 – London Wasps V Leinster @ Twickenham

Current GP champions Wasps and Current ML champions Leinster have struggled in their respective championships – but both have only lost once so far in the HC.  The upcoming game at Twickenham will decide the automatic qualifier.  Wasps, with half the English national team and Danny Cipriani in the side are favourites for the pool.  But Leinster, loaded with Irish internationals and former Wallabies Rocky Elsom and Chris Whittaker are challenging.

POOL 3 – Ospreys (3/1), Leicester Tigers (3/1), Perpignan (2/2), Benetton Terviso (0/4)

17/1/09 – Leicester Tigers V Benetton Terviso @ Welford Road

17/1/09 – Perpignan V Ospreys @ Stade Aimé Giral

Current Magner’s league leader Ospreys – loaded with Welsh internationals and former All Blacks Filo Tiatia and Marty Holah—are looking strong this year.  Tigers coach Heyneke Meyer and his team are showing typical character, but they have looked wobbly of late but are still in the top four of the GP.  However, we cannot discount Perpignan, 3rd in the T14 and looking portentous with star signing Dan Carter fitting in well.

POOL 4 – Harlequins (4/0), Stade Francais (2/2), Ulster (1/1/2), Scarlets (1/3)

17/1/09 – Ulster Rugby V Harlequins @ Ravenhill

18/1/09 – Scarlets V Stade Francais @ Parc y Scarlets

Quins, currently midtable in the GP—are one of only three unbeaten teams in the HC and are being led superbly by former All Black Nick Evans.  Ewen McKenzie’s Stade are 2nd in the T14 with a brilliant for and against record and are almost unbeatable in France, but in the HC have gone down twice to the mighty Quins.  Ulster and Scarlets are bringing up the rear of the ML, and will not challenge for the pool or the championship.

POOL 5 – Toulouse (4/0), Bath Rugby (3/1), Newport Dragons (1/3), Glasgow Warriors (0/4)

17/1/09 – Toulouse V Glasgow @ Stade Ernest Wallon

18/1/09 – Newport V Bath @ Rodney Parade

Current French champions Toulouse are currently the best team in Europe; topping the T14, unbeaten in the HC, and on the verge of setting a new French record of most consecutive games won and wield 10 front line Les Bleus players and former All Black Byron Kelleher who is in the form of his life. 

Bath is looking strong, 3rd in the GP and with a brilliant attack marshalled by Springbok Butch James—and their hosting of Toulouse in the final round will decide the pool.

POOL 6 – Cardiff Blues (4/0), Gloucester Rugby (3/1), Biarritz (1/3), Rugby Calvisano (0/4)

17/1/09 – Rugby Calvisano V Biarritz Olympique @ Centro Sportivo

18/1/09 – Gloucester V Cardiff Blues @ Kingsholm

 

Cardiff are the enigma, unbeaten in the HC yet second last in the ML—despite numerous Welsh internationals and kiwi stalwarts Ben Blair and Paul Tito who captains the side.  They are the dark horse of the competition. 

Gloucester have scored more tries in the HC than any other team, and being second in the GP will fancy their chances of a title shot.  The Cherry and Whites have been table toppers in both the GP and HC for years now, but consistently fall at the final hurdle.

When Carter’s move to Perpignan was first announced, I thought about writing my thoughts on this, but at that point I thought that the exodus of players from New Zealand would weaken their national team at least a little bit. Given recent results this doesn’t appear to be the case…

After brushing aside the home nations in much the same way a lioness swats away one of her cubs when it annoys her, the All Blacks head for home this week. However, having a played key part in these routs, Mr. Daniel Carter will not be joining them and instead is bound for France (ironically the one major European nation the Kiwis haven’t played on this tour).

When this deal was first announced the general impression seemed to be that the NZRFU were making a desperate attempt to keep control of one of their star players. Initially I thought that this may be the case but over the past few months I’ve come to a rather different conclusion.

Fundamentally, the Kiwis have a problem. They base their whole national team and domestic structure on having predominantly New Zealand players playing in New Zealand. This has come under threat more and more in recent years as the financial firepower of European clubs has come into play.

So the first tick in the box for the sabbatical concept comes in allowing the players to get in on the northern hemisphere cash whilst New Zealand retain at least partial control on a key asset. It will be interesting to see how they handle Carter when he returns. I suspect that they will ease him back into the Tri-Nations gradually, particularly after such a long stint of uninterrupted rugby.

Now I may be reading too much into this, but I think there is another motive for the NZRFU. Following their controversial exit from the World Cup much was made of how France and England thrived once the matches became of Heineken Cup like intensity.

Before I rile the southern hemisphere readers, I must stress that although I haven’t been to a Super 14 semi or final I find it hard to believe they lack anything in intensity or atmosphere but it cannot hurt to give a player such as Carter exposure to the Heineken Cup competition, a taste of the French Top 14 grind and how European opponents react in big games.

Even though the next World Cup is in New Zealand, they cannot want to miss any opportunity to give the players any experiences that may help them when this tournament comes around.

This may not seem much different to simply allowing the players to go off for a couple of years on their own but Graham Henry’s comments on Luke McAllister reveal a mindset that European rugby blunt New Zealanders when they are overseas.

When asked of the rise of Luke McAlister in the UK, he said: “I think it will be good for him as an individual and when he returns to these islands he’ll be a well-rounded person. But I don’t know if he’s going to be a better rugby player. Maybe those experiences of playing in those countries will help but whether it’s going to help his rugby development, I’m not sure.”

Whilst I think Henry is perhaps over-exaggerating the situation slightly the method becomes clear—get Carter over to Europe, let him get the experience both on and off the field, then get him back well ahead of the next World Cup so he is fully integrated into the All Blacks setup when it comes around. Perhaps (and only perhaps) as a more rounded player and person and before he has been blunted by the technically deficient European game (and let’s face it, it is at the moment).

My only surprise is that they haven’t encouraged more players to do it, particularly as Richie McCaw’s girlfriend is one of the dancers on Strictly Come Dancing (a sad sign of how I spend my Saturday nights now I’m afraid). Personally I’d like to see some of England’s players go the other way.

I was always keen for the likes of Dallaglio and Jason Robinson to have a crack in the southern hemisphere and I think it would do Haskell, Cipriani, Rees etc the world of good.

If nothing else, watching Carter play is a normally a treat and seeing him involved in an epic Heineken Cup clash would be awesome. Despite my argument it seems that the NZRFU are struggling to let go given that they’ve refused to release him for this week’s Heineken Cup—Perpignan cannot be chuffed that he’s not available for a massive game.

But for the week after and beyond let’s just hope that Perpignan abandon the negative approach they have taken recently and give Carter a glittering stage on which to perform.

By Kemlo Longstaff

Glasgow 9-15 Toulose
In the first half this was there for the taking, but by the time the second half got into its stride so did Toulose, With a couple of moments of typical clinical brilliance from Jauzion and Skrela forcing Glasgow to chase the result, and they actually came very close on a couple of occasions. In a country where wings are now either of the “bulky and powerful” or “dancing feet and turning ball over” variety, Thom Evans is starting to look like the real deal in terms of offering genuine pace to beat people with. The Sky commentators kept blabbing on about his 100m time - reputed to be sub 11 seconds - but in fairness on most of the occasions the ball got to him he displayed it to good effect, and was unlucky not to have added to his tally of tries this season. Even David Strettle said he wouldn’t fancy chasing him down. In addition John Barclay showed that after Mike Blair, he should probably be the second name on the team-sheet with a ferocious display of tackling on the pitch - he almost managed to stop Kelleher scoring a try while simultaneously (accidentally) kicking him in the head - and refreshing candour in the press afterwards. Mention should also go to the officials, who once again let a couple of blatant forward passes go.

Stade Francais 37 - 15 Llanelli Scarlets
It’s not often you see a lock kicking, or coming in at first receiver twice in ten minutes, but Simon Taylor showed up well at 5 during another frightening display of skill from Hernandez and Parisse. With Scotland locks Hines and Macleod currently injured, might Taylor find a place there for Scotland in the Autumn?

Ospreys 15 - 9 Perpignan
A grubby little game now beset by accusations of gouging, so the less said the better. Cusiter was given little to work with in terms of go-forward from his pack but still lacked in attack, preferring simply to distribute (this may be the USAP way). He’s obviously practicing for having Dan Carter outside him, but still.

Castres 6 -13 Edinburgh
To be honest this one should have been out of site with a 4-try bonus point by half time, with Mossy and De Luca butchering a couple of chances as Edinburgh - led by Cairns in the midfield - cut Castres apart seemingly at will. The second half saw Castres come back into it and Edinburgh were forced to defend solidly for large periods, never able to regain the sort of posession that had allowed them to dominate the first half. Godman did reasonably well to keep the backs moving with some brilliant passes moving his players on to the ball at pace, and Robertson showed guts and zip on the wing. Webster had a pretty quiet game though, and may be lucky to get in the Scotland team given some of the form other wingers are in (Lamont, Evans). Hoggy showed up well too and should be in with a shout for New Zealand depending on what Hadden decides to do with Simon Taylor. This was the Edinburgh team we remember from last season, and the team that sold all those season tickets for this year. Welcome back, we hope you stick around.

Other games: MIA Bruce Douglas, it turns out, has been at Montpellier all this time. The French team were the latest on the end of a 5 point hiding from resurgent Northampton Saints. Tom Smith still proved he is the man with a last ditch try saving chase - steaming in ahead of Sean Lamont to get there and clear to touch. Rob Dewey got a whole 12 minutes on the pitch in Ulster’s 42-21 kicking from ‘Quins. Rory Lamont displayed power and control as well as some great full-back kicking skills in Sale’s loss to Munster. Still, it was a great game so we can’t complain too much. The Gloucester boys were unlucky not to come away with something in Cardiff in another great game. Al Strokosch showed up well, but I’m not sure if 7 is the best use of his talents - or if it provides the best supply of ball for Gloucester…

Montpellier scrum-half Justin Marshall has provided a few words of warning for his former New Zealand teammate, Dan Carter, who is to make the transition into French Rugby. Carter will join Perpignan in a very financially-benefiting move, but Marshall believes it will take the 26-year-old plenty of time to adjust to his new surroundings.

Marshall has pinpointed a number of factors that will slow down Carter’s adjusting period in France. He said that Carter will have to cope without knowing anybody and getting used to being around new faces, but then there is they style of team to take into account, the different training schedules and of course, the language barrier. Overall, Marshall believes that the New Zealand star will be dealt a harsh "reality check" during the next few weeks.

So, does the Montpellier man have a point? Will it take Carter a number of weeks to produce his best form for Perpignan? He may not be at his extraordinary best early on, but he will be a fantastic player for the French side—he is too good not to be.

Fair enough, there will be some issues regarding settling in but that is the same with anything in life. When you move somewhere new, you won’t necessarily hit the ground running on your first day, but when you are as talented as Dan Carter, it is made a lot, lot easier.

Marshall—who joined Montpellier at the start of this season—obviously had some issues when first joining them, but that doesn’t mean Carter will have those same problems or let them affect his performances.

As for Perpignan, well they have fared fairly well this season so far without their latest recruit. They sit in third place in the Top 14 with five wins and two draws and despite being 10 points behind leaders Stade Francais, they will be happy with their start. The rugby odds at the beginning of the season suggested a top three finish for them and at this moment, they are on course for just that.

Nevertheless, they will be hoping that the arrival of Carter will give them that extra something to compete for the Top 14 title. They have splashed the cash to secure his services and will be concerned if his presence doesn’t have the desired impact.

As much as things will depend on Carter dealing with the hard-hitting of this league, I think he will excel, regardless of the fact that being the "pin-up" that he is, many loose forwards will target him.

Despite Justin Marshall’s warning though, I would be happy placing a rugby bet on Carter having a very positive effect on Perpignan’s season. They have a number of talented players, like Maxime Mermoz, as well as Carter so he should just add to what they have already got. It’s ninth placed Dax for them on the 25th October and it will interesting to see if Carter is involved.

As for this weekend, Carter’s new side take on Ospreys in the Heineken Cup looking to add to their victory in the first game of the tournament against Treviso. Ospreys on the other hand had a narrow defeat in their first game to Leicester. Overall, Perpignan will be favourites to make it two wins from two matches and this will be used as a platform to help improve on their quarter-final finish last time around.

So we wouldn’t be serving you, the Scottish Rugby blog reader (there may only be one of you), correctly if we didn’t give you a run-down on where and when you can catch up with all the Scottish players on show this weekend in the world’s biggest and best club rugby tournament. Last night the junior tournament (without sponsor, so the Challenge Cup thingy as it shall henceforth be known) kicked off with a classy looking Northampton destroying Tana Umaga’s Toulon. Sean Lamont bagged a try, showed up well and the 66% Scottish front row were rampant once again, as was Scott Gray. Perhaps spending a year in the first division learning from Tom Smith could be the best thing that ever happened to Euan Murray. Special mention also to Fitzgerald the Toulon hooker and captain, who also hails from bonny Scotland, although he was mostly outclassed by Dylan “Fists of Fury” Hartley.

Friday

Munster v Montauban: Scott Murray is playing for the visitors who may struggle to win at the revamped Thomond Park. On Sky Sports from 1930 I reckon.
Perpignan vs Treviso: Chris Cusiter, but no Nathan Hines or indeed Dan Carter who is rumoured will start his brief European sojurn vs Leicester in December. Not on the telly.

Saturday

Edinburgh vs Leinster: a must win game for Edinburgh, even at this early stage. The SRU are running a “buy one ticket, get 4 kids in free” offer so if you are in Edinburgh and have 4 kids it could be worth going along. It has the potential to be a cracker. Or a drubbing. Malkovich is back from injury though which may help as Edinburgh field a near full strength back division (minus Ben Cairns). The back row still misses Ross Rennie, but if Connacht can beat a pretty strong Leinster team, then there is always hope. On Sky Sports, ko 1335.
Dragons vs Glasgow: Glasgow have already beaten the Dragons away this season so hopefully they can repeat it. If they play to their strengths they should have no problem but the Dragons have picked up a bit since the teams last met (beating Edinburgh for example). Pity this one’s not on the telly, as it would be nice to see the Evans boys in action, but you can I think get it on BBC Radio Wales. Ko 1430.
Clermont vs Sale: Big Jason and big Rory should be involved in this one (White from the bench) and the heartening news is that following Matthew Tait’s less than impressive start to his Sale career - and injury - Rory Lamont is finally getting a run at the 15 shirt he prefers. On Sky via the Red button, ko 1435
Scarlets vs Harlequins: Scott Macleod’s on the bench for Llanelli, ko 1530 via the red button.
Ulster vs Stade Francais: Hopefully sporting the bitching/utterly tasteless (delete as applicable) new strip, Stade will feature Simon Taylor at 5, his position du jour. Meanwhile, no sign of either Rob Deweytime or Simon “Ice Cream” Danielli (you like those? I just made them up) in Matt William’s Ulster lineup. Sky Sports, ko 1530.
Gloucester vs Biarittz: the Alisdairs Dickinson and Strokosch will both start at 1 and 7 respectively while Rory Lawson is on the bench. Dickinson has looked sharp so far this season, and if Hadden is looking for a mobile prop with good running skills he could do worse. Think Chunk, without the, um, chunk. Strokosch is getting game time in all three back row shirts, which might go in his favour if it came down to a “him or Jason White” type decision for the Scotland 6 shirt but you still want him in the team. Sky Sports, ko 1730.

Sunday

Leicester vs Ospreys: Nikki Walker pops up in his usual position on the wing. Sky Sports ko 1300.

And rest assured, Scotland will feature in the Heineken Cup final this year.

It’s at Murrayfield.

It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster over the past few weeks, with more ups and downs on the Scottish rugby scene than the Dow Jones.

First, we saw Edinburgh put in a storming performance to dispatch Llanelli, while Glasgow failed to beat Irish development side Connacht.

Then off the pitch there was a similar mix of good news/bad news with the announcement of Mike Blair’s place on the short list for IRB Player of the Year, followed soon after by Frank Hadden having his mammoth training squad shrunk a little by PRL’s refusal to release GP-based players.

Blair finds himself in the exalted company of Shane Williams, Ryan Jones, Dan Carter, and Sergio Parisse. Carter’s been very hit-and-miss in the Tri-Nations, and although he did save New Zealand’s blushes on a couple of occasions, I would be surprised if he won.

Williams had a near-perfect Six Nations and although Wales underperformed in their first test vs. the Springboks, he’s the clear bookies' favourite.

My personal (biased) choice for recognition would be Blair, who has been Scotland’s best player for a few years now (sorry, Mossy fans).

Despite Scotland’s relatively poor Six Nations, when given a chance to play his type of rugby in the second Argentina test, he showed what sort of a leader and inspirational player he could be (perhaps in a Lions shirt too?).

So much so that one-time rival Chris Cusiter will (only for the moment, one hopes) have to be satisfied with holding down the Perpignan No. 9 shirt, where he will soon hook up with a certain Mr. D. Carter…

Then last weekend, Edinburgh failed to beat the Dragons (whom Glasgow defeated away from home on the opening day of the season), while Glasgow got their season moving again by beating the Scarlets in some style.

The emergence of the Evans boys as genuine pace merchants is something that should hearten Scottish rugby fans.

Glasgow also competed well against favourites Munster the following weekend, with a conversion the difference that cost them a losing bonus point.

Edinburgh have since followed that up with a narrow defeat to Matt Williams’ Ulster team and are looking at a pretty sluggish start to the season. It seems they miss Ben Cairns and Malkovich more than we thought possible.

Later in the week, we’ll take a look at the world’s premier club tournament, the Heineken Cup.

The word legend often gets thrown around too much, but would it be fair to say when you look back on the greatest Rugby players to have graced the planet, Richie McCaw would be there and would easily have legend next to his name.

'King Richie' the dominating All Blacks captain, probably the most feared Flanker in world Rugby today.

Showed in New Zealand's last showdown against South Africa why quite rightly he is the All Blacks captain and why he is the best flanker, hell, the best forward in the world.

The past few years there has been no better loose forward than McCaw, and just as he was injured New Zealand lost a spark. And the rugby world stopped and thought maybe New Zealand would not win the Tri-Nations.

Especially after suffering back to back defeats against South Africa and Australia.

Yet low and behold their talismatic came back and did what he does best (cheat).

Now in my mind there are two types of cheating.

There is the cynical, dangerous and stupid kind of cheating. Tana Umaga is guilty of it (spear tackles, suppose Kevin Mealamu could go in there too) and so is Serge Betson (tripping and causing someone to suffer a broken leg).

Then there is the clever, tactical, knowledgeable and game winning type of cheating. That he has now mastered.

What makes him such a good cheat? Possibly the fact that there at 19 rules you can break when at the breakdown. And Richie knows every single one. So he knows all the things he can do, can't do, and how long he can do the illegal for.

Possibly having been an All Black since the tender age of 20, this has given him the time to experience and learn everthing an openside should know.

Or is it because he has been a witness to the wealth of great Flankers that have been a luxury to New Zealand, like Josh Kronfeld (so under-rated) and ofcourse Michael Jones.

Now we come on to the argument has Richie McCaw over taken Jones as the best flanker New Zealand have produced?

Jones redefined the openside flanker role to what it is today. So fast and athletic, every young flanker today that plays the way that they are supposed to are playing a position crafted by a legend.

Surely with a while still left in his career, McCaw can't be named better?

Jones has won a World Cup for starters. Which Richie really should of done in France. If it wasn't for the choker that the All Blacks choose to wear once ever four years, i'm sure McCaw would have been lifting the Webb Ellis trophy.

Richie has now made the captaincy position his own, which fellow AB Jones did not do.

McCaw is playing a position crafted by Jones. So isn't McCaw replicating a legend?

No. Quite frankly. McCaw is most clever player that has ever graced the International stage, and his breakdown skills alone has beaten top teams.

McCaw has taken the idea of the openside flanker, and elevated it to a different level (note I didn't say higher).

As of yet, I will not call Richie McCaw better than Michael Jones. But I'm sure that well McCaw takes his boots off for the last time. I and many others will happily say.

"There goes Richie McCaw, the greatest flanker to ever play the game."

New Zealand restored their pride with an emphatic 39-10 victory over Australia. Richie McCaw made the difference as he returned to the side that had lost to the Wallabies the previous week.

Dan Carter controlled the game from start to finish, with exquisite kicking out of hand to ensure the game was played in the Australian territory. Tony Woodcock enjoyed this strategy as it got the team close enough to the line for him to burrow over for two tries.

The tactics represent a shift from the standard All Black gameplan of counter-attacking rugby, running from anywhere on the pitch. Carter (and others) probed the corners for territory and allowed Brad Thorn and Ali Williams to pressure the Aussie lineout. It sounds like a familiar English tactic, but the Kiwis just executed it sublimely.

Some commentators are now suggesting that actually the ELVs won’t make a huge difference to our game, and perhaps we won’t have a slightly different version of rugby league.

It seemed to me that the ELVs didn’t have a huge impact. It could be the quality of refereeing, since the All Blacks were allowed to scrummage properly (which they weren’t last week) - and maybe we shouldn’t be quite so fearful here in the Northern Hemisphere?

New Zealand and South Africa renew their rivalry once again on Saturday, with the second instalment of the Tri-Nations taking place in Dunedin.

Graham Henry and Peter de Villiers have been engaging in a so-called war of words, each criticising the other’s team’s interpretation of laws and trying to expose a number of areas of contention.

De Villiers has a point in my view. The recent England series suggested as much in the land of the long white cloud where Richie McCaw is god and can do whatever he likes on the field without penalty!

However, every coach wants his team to play to the limit of the referees' tolerance, and the laws are only relevant if the referee chooses to apply them. Both coaches are meeting with tomorrow’s official to try to agree on what’s allowed and what isn’t.

Both teams have made a couple of changes, and it’s likely to be another close game in the cold and wet House of Pain. I’ve gone for the All Blacks by 9 on SuperBru…

Here are the teams:

New Zealand: 15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma’a Nonu, 11 Rudi Wulf, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Andy Ellis, 8 Jerome Kaino, 7 Rodney So’oialo (captain), 6 Adam Tomson, 5 Ali Williams, 4 Anthony Boric, 3 John Afoa, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Tony Woodcock.

Replacements: 16 Keven Mealamu, 17 Neemia Tialata, 18 Kevin O’Neill, 19 Sione Lauaki, 20 Jimmy Cowan, 21 Stephen Donald, 22 Leon MacDonald.

South Africa: 15 Percy Montgomery, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Adrian Jacobs, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Butch James, 9 Ricky Januarie, 8 Joe van Niekerk, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Victor Matfield (captain), 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Gurthro Steenkamp.

Replacements: 16. Schalk Brits, 17 Brian Mujati, 18 Andries Bekker, 19 Luke Watson, 20 Ruan Pienaar, 21 Francois Steyn, 22 Conrad Jantjes.