The Rugby Roundtable

Surely the knack of being outside of New Zealand when the All Blacks perform badly is something that few people can lay claim to.  But since I had the dubious pleasure of missing out on the mourning after Cardiff, it seems that the latest scene back in New Zealand is somewhat depressed, if not recessed and glib.  Never mind that Springboks tied one on us in Durban and proved that form and preparation is hard to beat.

Incredibly the Hong Kong Police arrived at The Doghouse on Lockhart Road on Saturday evening to execute a noise complaint; something to do with some guy on a microphone, using terrible English.  It’s fair to say that even the longest living expats in one of the worlds best known Red-Light districts were hard pressed to recall the last noise complaint actually enforced in Wan Chai.  Yet another record breaking Alternative Rugby Commentary show.

So this weekend we await a hugely powerful Springbok unit to overcome a sticky Australian unit, will the Wallabies win – I don’t think so.  Will they score or even come close?  Hard to say, but the direction that Cup-Cake offers at First Five-Eighth will benefit the Wallabies going forward, rather than the side to side action we saw from NZ.

There is one question that people are starting to ask me.  What’s with the side to side play we are seeing from New Zealand?  Well from a critical perspective it’s about creating space; space is the prime real estate of a Rugby field, the Mayfair or Park Lane of a Rugby pitch.  Hammering a fast attack wide on one side of the pitch, will hopefully create space and opportunities on the other side, all that stands in the way after that is the team skills to put the ball and the men there.

Oh and Heinrich Brussow.