All Blacks look real good atm mainly due to international rugby being so weak, I can't remember when it was this bad.
A lot can be blamed on the World Cup. Every single country is so obssessed with building a side for the world cup, that you get mediocre games in between the tournament.
It is no coincidence that to blood players, South Africa and Aussie are playing **** in the NH. It is such a false sense of security for the NH teams esp. Ireland thinking that they are better than they actually are.
International rugby's farce is what makes AB rugby look so good rather than us inventing some new way to play the game. Rugby has been around a while and you would think that what need evolving has already evolved barring rule changes.
The rugby ABs are playing are just Mitchell's attack plan + Henry's defense plans if you really think about it.
(edit: Glad to read that Fitzy is thinking along the same lines)
Fitzpatrick says World Cup is ruining rugby
11/20/2006 1:48 PM
Former All Blacks captain Sean Fitzpatrick says World Cup is ruining international rugby with team only peaking every 4 years
Former All Blacks captain Sean Fitzpatrick believes the international game is being poisoned by a heavy focus on the World Cup.
The comments come in the wake of Australia's crushing defeat to Ireland this morning.
Fitzpatrick believes the 21-6 result and others like it, prove that too many international teams are using the years in between World Cups to develop players, meaning fans are getting a diluted product. He says he's never been a huge fan of the World Cup and the fact everything seems to come down to one or two games.
Fitzpatrick says player rotation has become the norm and fans are not getting to see the best players week in, week out. He says the All Blacks rotation policy is a classic case of what he is talking about.
Taken from
http://radiosport.co.nz/SportsNews/sprug/D....aspx?id=107784