Re: Did the All blacks Miss Lomu ?

On Mon, 1 Dec 2003 12:30:18 +1300, "Jake" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:

>
>"John Williams" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
>news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]

>> What do you think the consequences of the coming changes to the NZ
>> set-up will be? It seems from here there will be a bigger divide
>> between the NPC and S12 competitions. I guess players popped into S12
>> from the NPC fairly easily before, but there may be even more pressure
>> for players to go abroad to earn a crust? Maybe there's a case to send
>> all the younger NZ forwards over to join the AB retirees and form
>> (boost?) London NZ, who could get some forward practice.

>I would prefer it if NZ put a greater focus on forward play in its own
>competitions.
>The writing has been on the wall now for over five years.
>This said little if any emphasis has been placed on improving in this area.
>IMO that is because the focus has been money.
>Those who have been paying large sums to the NZRFU it would seem to me have
>dictated the style of rugby played.This has been done largely (IMO) through
>the way the game is refereed.

If that's how it works out, then the recent S12/NPC announcement seems
against what is needed.

>In a way it has been unfortunate for New Zealand that a combination of our
>backs and  number 7's have managed to get us out of jail free on to many
>occasions.
>There are a large number of New Zealanders that desire tight hard forward
>packs that can dominate games both at test and domestic level.

I've no doubt the players are there - it's "just" a matter of feeding
the talent into the national team. I think NZ (only SA matches this)
has so much internal pressure, the coach has absolutely no margin for
error, as seems to be happening now with Mitchell's requirement to
reapply for his job.

>Needless to say these past years have been very dry for us.The result of the
>world cup might finally prove a turning point.This  would have provided me
>with hope but for the fact that the same mistakes were repeated in each of
>the last two world cups.

It's a matter of luck to a great extent, though. On the whole NZ have
done well enough in international rugby recently even by their own
standards. The WC is a lottery. Next time round, one of the
semi-finalists will have SA in their group - an automatic "group of
death" there.

>It must also be admitted that the effort the English have put into rugby and
>the results gained over the last few years can only be desirable to the game
>of rugby.
>You have gone from being deplorable to the best in the world and such change
>can only be respected.

It's a start, definitely...

-- 

Regards,
John Williams