Tougher challenge ahead for All Blacks

Otago Daily Times

5 days ago

Work in progress
Thoughts on the All Blacks through the first two tests of the season?
Look for a mid-season report (maybe) in the Otago Daily Times in the next few days — and email me your thoughts if you fancy making that job easier.
For now, I suppose I would say: yeah, it's going OK.
Some new men have been blooded — and while Highlanders lock Fabian Holland is the biggest (literally — the kid is just massive) success story, Christian Lio-Willie has also been solid at No 8, Timoci Tavatavanawai has had a wee taste and will only get better, Du'Plessis Kirifi has done well, and Ollie Norris . . . well, he's a prop, so nobody really knows.
Both tests against France have been won, which is of paramount importance.
Beauden Barrett has reclaimed his status as the leading No 10 in the country.
And there have been enough signs of the Razor Way — that the All Blacks do actually have some freshness and mojo about them — to keep the critics silent.
Bank this 3-0 test series sweep then get ready for the stiffer challenge of the Rugby Championship.
The foreign legion
The Last Word is split about 80-20 on the negative side of having overseas players in the NPC.
It is fair to acknowledge the benefit of having a few classy internationals in the competition, whether that be for public interest or mentoring young local players.
And, in Otago's case, there are sound reasons to accept they are thin in a couple of areas and could use some bolstering, especially as they have been so darn poor in recent years.
Joseva Tamani, in particular, looks a good get, and who doesn't enjoy watching a giant Fijian lock rampaging around the field?
But.
This is the modern NPC.
It is effectively a developmental competition now. A vital part of the New Zealand rugby pathway, yes. A lot of fun as it tends to be a lot looser than Super Rugby, yes.
But it should be solely about the best club players and locally based Super Rugby representatives running around in their provincial colours.
International players explicitly block opportunities for local players, and if all the unions scaled back their expectations of this competition, it would not be a bad thing.
Where are they now?
Best wishes to the Baby Blacks tomorrow morning as they attempt to win the world under-20 championship for the first time since 2017.
This looks a very good bunch of lads indeed, headlined by future Otago and Highlanders star Dylan Pledger at halfback.
New Zealand used to win the world junior title for fun, so eight years represents a heck of a drought.
That 2017 team was perhaps not as stacked as some from years past but it still had some very nice players.
Captain Luke Jacobson, Will Jordan, Caleb Clarke and Dalton Papali'i are current All Blacks, Asafo Aumua would be if he was fit, and Brayden Ennor and Stephen Perofeta have worn the black jersey.
Highlanders backs Thomas Umaga-Jensen and Jona Nareki, Blues flanker Adrian Choat, Hurricanes lock Isaia Walker-Leawere, Crusaders tackling machine Tom Christie and former Highlanders Josh McKay, Sam Caird, Marino Mikaele-Tu'u and Kemara Hauiti-Parapara were in the squad.
The 2017 Baby Blacks scored a record 41 tries at the tournament and smashed England 64-17 in the final with an Aumua hat-trick.
Test cricket ...
Sheesh, where to start?
England and India got the ball rolling this week with a third-test cracker at Lord's.
Both scored 387 in the first innings, England managed 192 in their second, and India collapsed to 82 for seven.
Then came the gritty fightback — Ravindra Jadeja grafted 181 balls for his unbeaten 61, and the bottom three batters faced 53, 54 and 30 balls respectively — before the end came when Mohammed Siraj middled his defensive prod perfectly but, agonisingly, saw the ball spin back on to his stumps.
Meanwhile, the West Indies collapsed to 14 for six in the third test against Australia in Kingston, and pretty much every New Zealand cricket fan was screaming "26! 26! 26!".
Sadly, despite getting to 26 for six then watching Scott Boland take a hat-trick, the Windies managed one more run before folding, thus preserving New Zealand's unwanted record.
... is bonkers
Perhaps the real entertainment in the week of test cricket was a stunning opinion piece in the B-Metro Sport newspaper in Zimbabwe.
Under the heading NATIONAL DISGRACE: SCHOOLBOYS MOLEST CHEVRONS AT QUEENS, "Guest Writer" — not sure I would have been brave enough to use my real name either — unloaded on the Zimbabwean team for their capitulation against South Africa.
Losing two tests to "effectively a South African schoolboy side" was "a humiliation of catastrophic proportions".
It was not a cricket contest but a "massacre. It was children robbing a broken store. It was a heart-crushing, hypertension-inducing and mind-numbing hell for fans."
The Zimbabwe bowlers "couldn't even crack open a South African tail that looked barely old enough to vote."
Brilliant.
Hoop dreams
Exciting times for Mojave King and Jack Andrew following their Tall Blacks selections.
We have had a close watch on Mojave, son of Nuggets great Leonard, since he emerged, and he has an incredibly bright future.
While big Jack went to "the other school" in Oamaru, his is a lovely story of hard work and persistence, and his career is blooming.
Make it stop
Did not watch the SBW v Gallen fight.
Will quite happily never hear from either of them again.
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