sagenz

superb ministerial epitaph

hattip dpf for link Beehive.govt.nz - Renewed Cabinet line-up.

Both Steve Maharey and Mark Burton have carried tremendous workloads since 1999. I respect ...Mark’s decision to put all his energy into campaigning for re-election in his constituency.

He was not pushed.... Honest :)

This is way beyond a choke

This article is well worth reading for those of you who blame the ref or anybody but the team and the coaching

This is way beyond a choke

October 10, 2007 

Arrogance came back to haunt the favourites yet again, writes Brendan Gallagher in Paris.

Where did it all go wrong? And, more importantly, why does it always go wrong? Those were the questions being asked by the shell-shocked New Zealand rugby public as their beaten team again headed for home without the World Cup - nor even a sniff of it. Their fall from grace could not have been more painful.

How can it be that the self-styled greatest rugby side on earth, championed by Adidas as the template for teamwork and success across the sporting world, yet again failed to deliver when it counted? No longer can they dismiss the "choker" taunts - time after time, the All Blacks have redefined the term at World Cups.

Only once have New Zealand won the World Cup, and that was when they co-hosted the inaugural competition in 1987, a tournament in which they were effectively the only professional team.

If they are ever to regain the trophy they believe is their birthright, they have got to get over themselves and take a long look at the way the rest of the rugby world perceives them. It will hurt, but the reward could be the Webb Ellis Cup.

The All Blacks are probably the world's best rugby players, but they have a fatal character trait - a pure, unattractive arrogance that trips them up every time. Occasionally, some PR guru encourages them to show their humble side and, in fairness, the class of 2007 have tried hard to avoid public statements of superiority. But, generally, it does not last - and their administrators do them no favours.

To win sport's biggest prizes, you have to absorb and learn, not lecture and preach. You must be humble. The All Blacks have never been humble. They are told they are special from the moment they first pull on the famous shirt and they expect special treatment from the rest of the world. The All Blacks ethos is their Achilles heel.

They are huge fish in a small pool and everything they do or say goes unquestioned. If Graham Henry and the New Zealand Rugby Union want to rip up the Super 14 and take their top 22 players out of the competition for special fitness training for two months, they plough right ahead. If you happen to be Sky television, or the Australian and South African rugby unions, it is tough. The All Blacks have spoken.

That haughtiness and insularity explains why they blindly defended Tana Umaga and Keven Mealamu when they nearly maimed Lions captain Brian O'Driscoll. They would have done New Zealand rugby a much bigger service by banning the duo for two months apiece. Dream on.

There is extraordinary arrogance and pettiness over their commercially driven haka, as though they are the only nation on earth allowed to express their individuality. So, too, the pompous assumption that they always know better than the lawmakers and referees. Unbelievable. Have a flick through a law book, guys, take an honest look at the match tapes and see just how much the All Blacks get away with.

They raid the Pacific Islands to replenish their playing stocks, but have the All Blacks ever played a full international at Apia against Samoa by way of encouragement? Or even thanked them? The truth is that New Zealand are terrified Samoa, Fiji and Tonga will get their act together and become competitive teams who can hang on to their stars. On the evidence of France 2007, their worst nightmares could soon come true.

New Zealanders slag off the Six Nations incessantly but, bless them, they miss the point entirely. Yes, the Tri Nations is more athletic and skilful, and produces some very watchable, pretty rugby. But the Six Nations is played on an epic scale, in giant stadia packed with up to 80,000 screaming, half-drunk partisans.

It embraces six rugby cultures, stadia, climates and playing standards. The Six Nations breeds hard-nosed brutes who regularly grind out winning performances and learn how to win "ugly". Australia, with a wider sporting culture than NZ, also know how to win ugly. In contrast, when the lights go down and it comes to showtime, New Zealand suffer horribly from stage fright.

It is their isolation - mental as much as geographical - that makes NZ so vulnerable. If they came down off Mount Olympus and joined us rugby serfs more often, they would gain a much better perspective on the game. And the World Cup would almost certainly be their reward.

Telegraph, London

NZ's Cup calamities

1991: Semi-final, Dublin, lost 16-6
Veteran team done in cold blood by Australia. David Campese's finest moment, with Tim Horan not far behind.

1995: Final, Johannesburg, lost 15-12
Looked superb going into the final but failed to fire against a Nelson Mandela-inspired South Africa. Then tried to blame a hotel waitress for poisoning them.

1999: Semi-final, London, lost 43-31
Relied too heavily on Jonah Lomu to build a lead and were then blitzed by France in an epic match at Twickenham.

2003: Semi-final, Sydney, lost 22-10
Unapproachable for most of the tournament, New Zealand went into their shells and played like drains against Australia.

2007: Quarter-final, Cardiff, lost 20-18
Froze against a clever but hardly vintage French side. Big names failed to deliver, little leadership and tactically inept.

Jock Hobbs has a crack

This is the quality of what those foreign based of us has to put up with.  In response to The ref's to blame: NZRU - rugbyheaven07.com.au.

"Some of the decisions the referee made had an enormous bearing on the outcome," Hobbs said. "In our view some of the decisions were very, very questionable.

I got emailed the link and the following

And this from a side whose number 7 lives offside, practice accidental blocking as part of a training routine and are basically so far up themselves they cannot see reality or daylight.

When you have 70% of possession and the opposition have to make 170 (I also read 313) tackles there is nobody to blame.

If anybody knows any Kiwis tell the girls to get over it it’s a man’s game and stop choking.

the state of the game is shit

This about sums up the aussie attitude to rugby and makes some good points about the state of the game.  talk about playing forcebackThe Sydney Morning Herald Blogs: All Men Are Liars.

Part of the reason for the fans' lack of passion is they aren't really sure what happened, and why? If rugby is so good how come they always change the farking rules? If you're looking for a red flag that a game is fatally flawed, note how often its administrators change the fundamental ways the game is played.

I mean really, you've had a century or so to work it out guys, yet every couple of seasons fans and players have to digest a raft of ridiculously technical rules like the new Experimental Law Variations

rugby jokes started already

Hi,

I just wanted to clear something up....

What do you kall a Kiwi in the World Cup final?          A Referee

What do you call an Aussie in the World Cup Final?   A linesman.

France to meet England at the Stade de France. New Zealand to meet Australia at terminal two at Charles de Gaule.

The difference between a tea bag and an All Black? A tea bag stays in the cup for longer.

All Black Rugby - Says it all really

This was left on my keyboard on arrival at work this morning.  says it all really

choke (FAIL)   Show phonetics
verb [I] (ALSO choke it) INFORMAL
(usually in sports) to fail to do something at a time when it is urgent, usually because you suddenly lose confidence:
He could score points at will during the qualifying matches, but in the final he completely choked.