Oval Office August 2007

Bring on the World Cup

By Grant Batty

IT’S game, set ... and now we’re waiting for the match.

Richie McCaw lifts the Bledisloe Cup... will the next silverware be the World Cup?

With the Tri-Nations and Bledisloe Cup Tests done and dusted (and the trophies safely locked in the All Blacks’ cabinet), southern hemisphere rugby fans have nothing to do now but stock the fridges, clean the barbies and wait for September 7.

Trouble is, what should have been a clear-cut form-guide to the World Cup is still nothing of the sort.

Let’s start with the All Blacks.

Certainly, by winning the Bledisloe and Tri-Nations series, they have reinforced their right to favouritism for the end of the year festivities.

But there should, nevertheless, be some concern in their ranks.

On the evidence of their hard-fought battles against the Springboks and the Wallabies, the New Zealanders are certainly the team with the most grunt and best discipline among the forwards

They handled the set pieces with confidence and in the loose, led by the indomitable Richie McCaw, they were hard to fault.

The line-outs weren’t too flash but coach Graham Henry and his support crew are certain to iron out the glitches before they get to France.
However, the back line is another matter.

Words like competent, adequate and businesslike all spring to mind when analysing the efforts of the three-quarters.

Words that don’t come so readily to mind, with the exception of pivot Daniel Carter, are flair, pizzazz and domination.

Taken separately, each of the men in the All Blacks backline is a terrific player and each brings to the team the promise of great things to come.

The problem is they have a limited amount of time to deliver. For some reason they just don’t seem to have gelled into the tight, well-disciplined phalanx that has been a feature of New Zealand rugby in the past.

If they get their act together and play with brain instead of brawn, they will be superb in Europe. If they don’t, the form guide could take a hammering.

And then there are the Wallabies.

Full credit to them for surviving the slings and arrows of the past.

In the space of three months they have, under coach Connolly, gelled from a bunch of assorted misfits to a team that has a realistic chance of taking home the Webb-Ellis trophy.

After denying the All Blacks victory in Melbourne they succumbed to the Kiwis 26-12 on a bleak Auckland night a fortnight later.

But you’ll note the word succumbed. They did not surrender!

There was no white flag in their kit bag and, but for a couple of decisions from Welsh ref Nigel Owens, the final score could have been a lot closer.

Steve Larkham goes over the top against the All Blacks

Under the inspired stewardship of caretaker skipper Stirling Mortlock they steadily but unspectacularly closed the gap. Now they head for France with Mortlock confirmed in the leadership role and the wily George Gregan as his deputy.

On the down side, there are a few young and relatively inexperienced heads in the team. Players like Drew Mitchell, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Julian Huxley and Berrick Barnes are facing a big ask and how they survive in the World Cup cauldron is a matter for conjecture.

It can be argued that they are all dirt trackers and probably won’t be in the starting line-ups for crucial games.

But rugby and injuries are synonymous and, from an Aussie perspective, it can only be hoped that they are not tossed into the mix master too soon.

However, there is one major concern hanging over the team. To win against class opposition they need Stephen Larkham. The trouble is the ace five-eight is becoming increasingly brittle and an early injury to him could easily bring Connolly’s house of cards tumbling down.

Finally there’s South Africa.

Happily good sense has prevailed and Jake White will be taking his 30 best players into the competition.
For a while it looked like politics and sport were on a collision course again ... and had the impact occured the result would not have been pretty to watch.

That said, the Springboks have settled on an enviable mix of brawn and pace and one would expect them to be right up there when the Cup reaches its final stanza.

There is a huge amount of experience in the forwards and, just like the All Blacks, they have a terrific backline just looking for somewhere to happen.

For a danger man, the money should be on winger Bryan Habana who homes in on the white line like a cruise missile (and is just as difficult to destruct).

For a weak spot? In a perverse way, the whole team. They are prone to rushes of blood to their collective head and are just as likely to implode as explode.

If they manage to put a lid on it, watch out. The Springboks could easily pull off a repeat of 1995 and go home with the biggest prize of all.

Last but not least... my World Cup wish.

Please, referees, show some common sense, particularly around the scrums.

There are countless technical infringements a team can be blown for. But what the hell is the point of doing so if the ball is already in the hands of the halfback?

Just bear in mind that the fans have not come to see you blow your whistle (apologies to Nigel Owens), they have gone to the ground to see a flowing game of rugby.

Grant them that tiny privilege instead of treating each game as an examination of your knowledge of arcane and inexplicable rules.