Created: 02 Nov 2003
Two classic World Cup games this weekend, both Northern Hemisphere vs. Southern Hemisphere, with the Southern teams starting favourites, looking very complacent and getting shocks.
Ireland only narrowly missed beating an uninspired Australia - had Humphries scored from a drop goal attempt it would have been a deserved victory. They played with discipline and passion. Keith Wood led by example, but looked absolutely exhausted by the end, after several surging runs and beautifully timed offloads. O’Driscoll delivered the ball to the backs well, Stringer was near his best and coped with a rampant Gregan well. One player that stood out for me was Shane Horgan. Australia looked indifferent. Sailor was left for dead defensively on a couple of crucial occasions. Rogers coped with nearly everything that came his way. They were superior in defence and with their pace, but had nothing inspired to offer.
With the build-up to the Wales - New Zealand game, most pundits seemed to agree that New Zealand had already one and Steve Hansen had rolled over for his compatriots by selecting a below-par Welsh team. I hope Hansen will be getting apologies from these self-proclaimed experts.
New Zealand walked onto the field expecting to strut to vistory. Rokocoko waltzed through the Welsh defence after a couple of minutes and they were seven points up. It’s my opinion that they thought the game was won at that point. Perhaps the long break while Garan Evans was stretchered from the pitch disturbed their concentration. In any case, their defence looked distinctly fragile as the Welsh backs and occasionally even loose forwards sold dummies and sidestepped. The Welsh managed to get their backs into one-on-ones with forwards, break the line and beat covering defenders. The Kiwi pack looked ridiculously docile throughout the first half, hardly contesting the rucks and mauls and allowing Wales to recycle continuously.
In the end, the All-Blacks composed themselves, turned over the rucks and started to break the line at will - as they have done for their previous three games. The final score flatters them and reflects the exhaustion of the Welsh pack in the last fifteen minutes.
So, I hope our antipodean friends have a little more respect for Southern Hemisphere rugby. I’m really looking forward to the quarter finals now. I think all the matches have the potential to be real classics, with Scotland-Australia looking the most unequal match. The best seven teams are through, but Fiji or Samoa should have had Scotland’s place.