The year of the All Blacks
Posted by | Posted in All Blacks, Rugby Debates | Posted on 21-01-2010
This, I am hoping and somewhat confidently, will be a year in which the Sports Axis stops spinning in reverse and goes back to normal and The All Blacks dominate every aspect of the Southern Hemisphere Rugby Union Football game. I have some reason to be hopeful as the New Zealand Rugby Sevens team has destroyed its opponents in the first two rounds of play in the Seven series.
Super Rugby: The defending champs from Tswane (Pretoria to the Boer
Nationalists) are struggling with some high profile injuries to Botha and Dewald Portgeiter. Some may argue the return of Gary Botha may not help an aging scrum. With this in mind I boldly state the following rankings for the end of the Super 14 round robin stage and the overall victors in no specific order: Crusaders, Brumbies, Hurricanes and Bulls. The Crusaders will win the tournament for the 7th time reestablishing their dominance in Super Rugby and swing the balance of rugby power back to its righful home New Zealand. What will be interesting is the return of the best and only serious Australian team in Super Rugby-The Brumbies. They will be a fierce team with a youthful pack and Matt Giteau and Adam Ashley Copper running their offense.
What will not be suprising is the poor form of the South African teams like The Cheetahs and The Lions. Not even a great All Black Fly-half like Carlos Spencer (who used to be King Carlos until he joined the Lions is now a lowly Earl of Gauteng) can save The Lions. The Stormers and Sharks will threaten but nothing much will come of it. Australian teams will show little promise with The Force doing nothing and The Reds remaining useless. The ‘Tahs will be interesting especially with Barrick Barnes running the offense. New Zealand under achievers will be Otago and Auckland but I must note that The Blues have made some good changes and thus are my dark house team.
Tri-Nations: All Blacks will win back the trophy for the record 8/9th time. After a woeful tour of the North the Springboks in late ‘09 showed that they struggle with depth at certain key positions and thus are one or two injuries away from disaster. Australia will improve and may thus finish second.
These are the impassioned predictions of an All Black fan but as a fan of Rugby Union Football I would like to see less defensive rugby and more free flowing attractive football. Bok Ball is boring and the whole Rugby world seems to be playing defensive 10man rugby.
Finally I will not be synmpothic to the Bok Nation.
Last year was a great year for the Bok Nation and your fanatical fan base but this year the wrongs of the past to the All Blacks will be righted by The All Blacks and this great team and its franchises will restore itself to the top as the winniest team across all professional sports over the last decade with a winning percentage over 75%.
To All ALL Black fans, I hope good things are ahead.
Simbarashe
P.S. I am aware of the easy retort of our RWC performances and yes fair point but engage us on how we have put the Rugby Union Football brand on the map, how time and time again we redefine the way the game is played and how we play the best rugby on the world. We are aware and yes you (those who love to say this will sing it all day long) but not matter what The All Blacks set the tone in Rugby Union Football.
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Simba, i like your article from the point of view of a fellow AB supporter mate!
my only concerns would be to not write off the bokke too much just yet. while your arguements at this stage may seem sound, i doubt that they’ll unfold that way, the SA teams arent gonna role over at the sight of a stampeading Crusaders/hurricanes etc.
Bulls are going to battle without some key players early on. Stormers can build from where they left off at the end of last season and have a decent squad, they’ll be the dark horse of SA teams i reckon. the sharks bite may not quite be the same as the start of last season but dont expect them to shy away. The lions and the cheetahs are still going to be dwelling at the bottom of the heap.
i agree with your analysis of the aussie teams, i dont see any of the mounting much besides the brumbies and possibly the tah’s, but remember that they’re now without Lote now as well. reds and the force will be battling without barnes and matt g respectively.
the NZ sides seem to be fairing a bit more favourably at this stage and i’d expect to see the usual suspects there or there abouts especially in the early stages. the return of some players, the developement of others over the end of year tour, will see them strenghen their positions.
come trinnations, a lot of it will come down to injuries i believe. the kiwis were rattled by them mid 2009 and the same happened to the boks on the end of year tour exposing a very soft underbelly.
the bokke felt the squeeze of not having some usual first choice players and suffered the consequences of not blooding younger players. Morne Steyn didnt do his selection chances any favours in the last few games, so it’ll be interesting to see how/if he bounces back during the S14.
while i agree that the style of rugby employed by the Boks hasnt been the most eye-catching, 50years down the road it’ll be the end result that matters, no one will remember anything about the kicking. and the NH sides nullified the aerial game as the irish showed and we all know how that ended. so we’ll see what PDV and co can produce this year and if the like of brossouw and m.steyn are enough to save the boks this year.
all in all, im looking forward to this year, firstly as an all blacks supporter, then as a rugby supporter, and if all else fails, as a Zimbabwean!!
here comes the BOOM!!!
Aus will win the 3N’s Simba…watch this space!
wE’Ll SEE MANNY