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[2016 Rugby Championship] New Zealand v South Africa (17/09/2016)

Obviously I'm going to watch when they play England! We're maybe better placed than anyone else at the moment to mount a challenge, but we've got a long way to go to match that - and stocks can go down as well as up.

When do we next play you?
 
Any top team or player in any sport needs a rival to define them. Pre 2015 RWC it looked like this would be the Springboks. Right now ABs don't have one. Maybe England could be in this RWC cycle, but I think they will have to back up what they've achieved in the 6Ns and June, by winning all their November matches, winning the Grand slam again next year; pretty much remain unbeaten until meeting the ABs in November 2017.
 
I never said they haven't earned it - I don't want to suggest I am anything but in absolute awe of the All Blacks. They are the absolute pinnacle of their sport, and beyond that they are the best team in any sport that I have seen. They are also, unlike many champion teams, not at all unlikeable.

I don't intend any disrespect, or bitterness - just making the point that, after about five years of them being too good for anyone, it is getting boring as a spectacle for me.

Yes one way traffic rugby is boring. I agree. Fans want games with a real contest.
 
I guess it's also more of a psychological thing. All the other nations accept the All Blacks to be the best and that can be seen on the rugby field. If you think your opponent is better than you and more superior than you, then you will not defeat him. The All Blacks play brilliant skillful rugby that is a cut above the rest at the moment, but that inferior belief that they cannot be beaten also plays a part in their dominance and makes it easier for them to win games.
 
It affects everything.
It affects the opposition, the sets of fans, the referees, the pundits, the mindsets of nations, but the funny thing is that real Kiwi's don't buy into it, we know that on any given day we are human and we are vulnerable like everyone else.
Since Graham Henry forward the coaching staff have not let the guard down and thats why the winning aspect has come to the fore, the players are buying into it.
Aussie has a selection of star players but they don't buy into it, they are more about themselves and that stops this current Wallaby team from reaching it's true potential.
England under eddie Jones are buying into their coaching regime and with their wealth of players it is paying off in immediate dividends.
The Pumas are starting to seriously believe in themselves and the Boks are in a terrible place where their playing staff are better than the coaching team.
Once the saffers get their coaching team right they will be a nightmare to deal with on the pitch.
 
Interesting to see a couple of moans about AB's winning everything but i would say this, in the last two weeks I thought the games to watch would be the games that didn't involve the AB's because on paper they should be a closer match up in regards to form, results, injuries etc but I was wrong on both weekends.
Both times the AB games have been better for intensity, for tries of quality from both sides and for the standards of rugby teams were trying to achieve.
Yeah ok I'm a dyed in the wool AB fan so of course I'm going to enjoy an AB win but sometimes we win ugly and I don't mind that but I would much rather we were playing sublime attacking rugby, as we are under Mr Hansen, than grudging along like we have in the past at times.
Even the neutrals, who will all naturally be rooting for the other team ( it shouldn't be any other way) are admiring the style, class and quality of running rugby the AB's are turning out and the level of intensity they are maintaining for the full 80 minutes.
I am truly grateful for the quality management and player group we have producing fabulous rugby at this time.
Aussie, Saffers and England can all beat us in a relatively short time, especially on their respective home patches, IF they can match the same level of quality coaching they all have the players to do the damage, Pumas are not far behind now, and perhaps Wales, Ireland and France could be somewhere if they could also follow a similar construct and regimen.
 
Ireland can certainly give the All Blacks a go, end of the year, if they are at full strength.
 
It's not NZ winning I find boring. Because they do win in style scoring great tries. I'm not begrudging their success. They've earned it. And they have one if not 2 better players than most in virtually every position. So no argument.

There's 2 more rounds in the RC and we already know the winner. That's boring. Not the way NZ play.

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and perhaps Wales, Ireland and France could be somewhere if they could also follow a similar construct and regimen.

DOn't know about Wales and Ireland but France are not going to follow same regimen and structure. Not a chance. The club culture here is too strong. Club rugby is also strong in England.

Besides, our union has neither the finances nor the vision to promote anything else.
 
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Let's not exaggerate. They've earned their dominance.

However the current imbalance in test rugby now will open up the way for a Clubs World cup which is now being talked of (reports in L'Equipe and The Times). It would also better reflect the strength of the club game in France and England.

Not much support or interest in club world cup in these parts. Frankly, I think its a flaky idea and not something I would bother watching unless the Crusaders were involved. In football, hardly any of the big clubs like ManU, Barcelona or AC Milan club sends a full strength team. Most NZ SR franchises might not want to overextend their top players with additional matches when they should be resting

What might be of interest once they get a global season sorted is a one-off match every year between the Super Rugby Winner and the Rugby Champions Cup winner.

ETA: The way to deal with one team being dominant is for the other teams to improve. NZ has done what it has done with very few financial resources, certainly much less than their immediate rivals, so they have had to be smart about the way they have used those resources. People who complain that we are lucky to have our huge pool of talented players underestimate how smart the NZRU have been in nurturing, developing and growing that talent pool. It started at the bottom with grass roots, and worked upwards, not the top down approach that some National Unions have taken, for example, the ARU.
 
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My support of the Springboks has reached critical mass. Why keep wasting my time and money on a racially driven sports team where racist bigotry starts from the highest level (government) and rots down right to school level? I paid for premium seats to last week's Test here in Brisbane. What a f###ing joke that was. Rugby is so poorly supported in Australia so the only thing that gets me going to a match is if one of the teams that is ingrained with my background (Sharks & Springboks) are playing. Never again will I financially support a team where some racist policy is being benefited and advanced from it. The players will get bigger and better pay check elsewhere like Japan or France. I'm done until World Rugby steps in and kicks the Boks out. Continuing to turn a blind eye is to the detriment of the sport.

Going to start fresh with NRL now and choose a new team where race isn't constantly debated.

/rant
 
My support of the Springboks has reached critical mass. Why keep wasting my time and money on a racially driven sports team where racist bigotry starts from the highest level (government) and rots down right to school level? I paid for premium seats to last week's Test here in Brisbane. What a f###ing joke that was. Rugby is so poorly supported in Australia so the only thing that gets me going to a match is if one of the teams that is ingrained with my background (Sharks & Springboks) are playing. Never again will I financially support a team where some racist policy is being benefited and advanced from it. The players will get bigger and better pay check elsewhere like Japan or France. I'm done until World Rugby steps in and kicks the Boks out. Continuing to turn a blind eye is to the detriment of the sport.

Going to start fresh with NRL now and choose a new team where race isn't constantly debated.

/rant

The race issue in SA Rugby is a huge problem, but on Aussie Rugby I definitely feel your pain mate... 10-15 years ago the Waratahs and Reds had crowd averages 25+ and they'd sell games out whenever they played each other, whilst the Wallabies sold matches out against all the big teams.

But in that time the game has been so poorly run, with access limited to the 30% of the population who have cable TV unless it's a test and the NRL and AFL dominating the free to air stations. Add to that, the game spent no time investing in growing the grass roots beyond the private school regions after its 2003 RWC cash windfall, instead opting for high profile NRL signings etc.

TBH I've been watching more and more NRL lately. I've always liked both sports, but rugby is just too much up its own arse in this country and for a game run by blokes who are all part of an ultra-expensive private school alumni they have just zero business acumen and a level of insularity that is just mind-boggling.
 
Not much support or interest in club world cup in these parts. Frankly, I think its a flaky idea and not something I would bother watching unless the Crusaders were involved. In football, hardly any of the big clubs like ManU, Barcelona or AC Milan club sends a full strength team. Most NZ SR franchises might not want to overextend their top players with additional matches when they should be resting

What might be of interest once they get a global season sorted is a one-off match every year between the Super Rugby Winner and the Rugby Champions Cup winner.

ETA: The way to deal with one team being dominant is for the other teams to improve. NZ has done what it has done with very few financial resources, certainly much less than their immediate rivals, so they have had to be smart about the way they have used those resources. People who complain that we are lucky to have our huge pool of talented players underestimate how smart the NZRU have been in nurturing, developing and growing that talent pool. It started at the bottom with grass roots, and worked upwards, not the top down approach that some National Unions have taken, for example, the ARU.

agreed, no club world cup, i would like to see a one off or maybe a three game series between european champs and southern hemisphere champ with a home game each and then one to expand the game

i think a lot of people get confused that new zealand is good because of their policies at the top and not their policies at grassroots levels

new zealands youth rugby should be a model that every country looks at
 

Ugh, that's filth. Best players play. End of story. Bye bye.

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agreed, no club world cup, i would like to see a one off or maybe a three game series between european champs and southern hemisphere champ with a home game each and then one to expand the game

i think a lot of people get confused that new zealand is good because of their policies at the top and not their policies at grassroots levels

new zealands youth rugby should be a model that every country looks at

I've commented on how their grassroots work and their structures before.

Just as an example, right this second. On Sky Sports the U19s provincial tournament is on. Canterbury vs Waikato.
 
Autumn 2017 at Twickers

So you play a non-event third game against Australia soon but the game every rugby fan wants to watch is scheduled over a year away. Suppose it builds the hype factor.
 

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