Monday 29 September 2014 12:22, UK
That first Rugby Championship win may have eluded Argentina to date but they have been competitive throughout this season’s tournament – until Saturday.
Yet on Saturday the Pumas played some of the best and most attractive rugby I have seen from them in years. Shift them from the Rugby Championship to the Six Nations and they would be seriously competitive.
On Saturday however they encountered a New Zealand team that produced one of the most ruthless displays of finishing power I can remember. Half chances were turned into tries as one of the most magnificent displays of basic running lines and support angles combined to devastate Argentina. The South Americans have nothing to feel ashamed of; no other side on the planet could have lived with them.
Whilst a draw in Sydney and a narrow win in Wellington against the Springboks is a reminder that no team is invincible, Saturday’s victory and the fifty-point pasting of Australia in Auckland is a chilling reminder that on their day there is only one team in the world. With just the one defeat since winning the World Cup, Steve Hansen’s team are both statistically and quality-wise one of the greatest teams we have ever seen.
Next Saturday’s game in Johannesburg will be fascinating. The Springboks were tactically superb in New Zealand but if they think the same tactics will work twice against them, South Africa should think again. Hansen’s team will have analysed the manner in which they were shut down and altered their game. The world has been chasing the All Blacks for a long time but there is no sense in which the rest of the world seems to be catching them. At their best they are on another level to any other side on the planet. If New Zealand plays well then they win.
Second best
The Springboks will have to be much better than they were against Australia. The wide margin of victory is testament to their enduring qualities of determination but if they are as scrappy against New Zealand as they were for seventy minutes against Australia the game will be long gone come the final few minutes.
Rugby is a more simple game than many directors of rugby would have you believe, until it comes to stopping New Zealand
Clearly still the world’s second best team the concern for South Africa must be the lack of progress this season. They are a more aged team than last season’s and they are not playing anywhere near as balanced a game. The absence of the great Fourie du Preez leaves a glaring gap. If the scrum-half is fit and in form next September they will be a threat; if he does not make the plane they will be diminished.
The Wallabies will have been pleased with the competitive nature of their effort, especially up front. With half-backs like Quade Cooper and Will Genia potentially back to their best in England, their summer sequence against France and their scrappy but gutsy performances in the Rugby Championship suggest they are on an upward curve that will see them timing their run well. But it must be reiterated they and the rest of the world are miles behind New Zealand.
Ben Smith’s creation of space to send Israel Dagg into the corner was the try of the year, all the better for the simplicity of it. Rugby is a more simple game than many directors of rugby would have you believe, until it comes to stopping New Zealand.
Closer to home much of Sky’s rugby focus is on Ireland at the moment. We were in Limerick last weekend and will be in Dublin this one for the Leinster match with Munster, always one of the highlights of the Pro 12 league.
Munster are under pressure after two home defeats in four games while Leinster themselves are performing in fits and starts. Unfortunately for Munster those fits and starts have been exclusively in Dublin. The champions start clear favourites.
Ospreys on the rise
At Thomond Park there was no shortage of effort from the inexperienced home team but they were outclassed tactically. The days of Ronan O’Gara seemed distant indeed as Rhys Webb and Dan Biggar delivered a masterclass in how to run a game. Mike Phillips would be a surprise inclusion in the Welsh starting line-up this autumn. The Ospreys half-backs are the form players and with the all-important symbiotic relationship of nine and ten in place I would be shocked if Rob Howley, for example, did not impress the benefit of such a relationship.
The Ospreys defended with aggression and accuracy, their scrum has not suffered with the loss of Adam Jones and Richard Hibbard and their spirit under the ever impressive Alun Wyn Jones was something to behold. Hopefully Justin Tipuric will return soon and we have a league where Ireland’s usual dominance is being challenged with Ospreys and Glasgow (for my mind the best team in the tournament so far) the principle challengers.
Zebre’s win was good news for Italy and the tournament if not for Ulster. I raised my glass in a fine establishment Saturday night in Limerick to both Zebre and the bewitching and brilliant All Blacks.
Got a question for Stuart? Email him at skysportsclub@bskyb.com or use the feedback form below.
Everything the RFU does seems to be with a view to appeasing Premier Rugby. Doubling the number of 'marquee' signings allowed will have adverse effects on the progress of English players. Plus it will soon create a half-dozen strong clique at the top of the Premiership - as in English football - with the rest in that league merely cannon fodder to fill out the fixture list. Club rugby in England is not good enough to prepare players for test rugby against the very best. The same applies in NZ, which is why that country persists with domestic rep rugby. So if any Kiwi club wishes to import a marquee player from, say, Europe, it can do. There are no salary caps, restrictions on overseas players, etc. The difference is that NZ hasn't got itself into a situation where it totally depends on just a dozen self-interested clubs to supply its national side. The RFU doesn't seem to realise how brittle its structure is with absolute dependence on the Premiership in which - as Brian Moore says - 30% of the players are still not qualified to play for England. The Premiership has bullied its way into getting a new European format which could become a disaster for one or more of Italy and at least two of the Celtic nations. It has bullied its way into becoming so isolated from the rest of the English game that its players now have no first-hand playing contact whatever with even full-timers in the Championship. It has bullied the RFU and rest of the English game into believing that a meaningful domestic rep stage is now unnecessary, with the result that areas like Cornwall and Yorkshire are left on the sidelines. The doubling of the number of the number of marquee players allowed is just the latest in the never-ending saga in which the Premiership always gets what it wants. It is time for the RFU to show some backbone and stand up to these bullies.
Jeff Gage
STUART REPLIES: Jeff, That is not a question but a heartfelt statement in its own right. All I will say is that the nature of the professional game in England and France is based upon club and not central control of the players which leaves the game in the situation where country comes before club with the goodwill of the clubs which might explain your analysis of Twickenham's relationship where compromise is perceived as a key word.
I too have concerns about the sort of excessive free market in which some of the clubs dream of existing but on the other side of the coin it was the club game that delivered Exeter when the South West had been little more than the odd Cornwall jolly to Twickenham for the dated county championship finals.
Evening Stuart, do you think Stuart Lancaster should take another look at Tom Varndell for a possible World Cup berth? He scored his 79th Premiership try against Newcastle and is just six tries behind behind all-time record try scorer Mark Cueto on 85. He looks to have worked hard on his defence too and surely deserves a chance?
Steven Mason
STUART REPLIES: Steven, I think Tom Varndell has been judged and will not be considered again. Should he be considered? On from yes but selection is a matter of taking previous test form, hunches and personal likes and dislikes into the equation....
Well done to the boks for beating Australia although the score did not quite reflect the close battle it was. Not sure if you saw it but why on earth did Francois Hougaard get the MOM award? Yes he made a couple of try saving tackles but he was appalling at getting his backline going and stuck to his Blue Bulls roots which belong in the past! Once again Duane Vermeulen was huge and I thought jean de Villiers had one of his best games for the boks in a while?
Andrew Reece
STUART REPLIES: One weird man of the match, I agree with you. Again DV showed the world that he is up there as the second best Number Eight on the planet behind that man, Read.
