All Blacks Furious With Leaked Photo
The photo of the All Black playbook that is causing all the fuss.
New Zealand assistant coach Steve Hansen slammed the appearance of a photograph of a page of the All Blacks’ playbook in Australian newspapers on Wednesday as a breach of trust with the media.
The picture, showing the hand of New Zealand coach Graham Henry clasping notes detailing five different tactical plays from lineouts and scrums, was snapped during All Blacks training ahead of Saturday’s Tri-nations test against the Wallabies.
“At the end of the day you guys and photographers come to training and there are a few unwritten rules and the photographer has breached the trust. There’s not too much we can do about it,” he told local media on Wednesday.
“The good thing about it is yesterday was a defensive training day so we won’t have to change our tactics too much.
“There are a whole lot of things that are going to happen on Saturday night and I don’t think one photo is going to make too much difference.”
The picture was splashed across Australian newspapers accompanied by varying degrees of analysis.
The Australian newspaper concluded the All Blacks would target flyhalf Matt Giteau and wing James O’Connor in defence, while focusing on negating flanker David Pocock, whose ball-pilfering was praised during the 30-13 defeat of South Africa in Brisbane last week.
Australia’s assistant coach Jim Williams said he had not seen the photograph but dismissed the idea that it would influence his team’s preparations.
“I wouldn’t read too much into it myself and I probably won’t even bother looking at it,” Williams told reporters.
“(It’s) not going to make me take any extra precautions.”
The Wallabies host the All Blacks at Melbourne’s Docklands stadium on Saturday in their first Tri-Nations clash for the season.
Courtesy of REUTERS
Weekend Rugby Wrap
The Sharks vs the Bulls.
The Springboks probably used up their three wishes on their matches against Italy, France and Wales and thought it would be enough for the Tri Nations.
Unfortunately it was not.
This weekend the All Blacks dished out their second dose of terror on the Springboks and won 32-17, having beaten them 32-12 the previous week.
The Springboks luck had run out.
I say luck because it didn’t help that the Northern Hemisphere referee seemed to favour the All Blacks.
The cards, especially the one given to Danie Rossouw, have caused Springbok Coach Peter de Villiers to lash out against the refereeing decisions.
Springboks coach Peter de Villiers lashed out at the standard of rugby Test referees and suggested cheating may be the only way to beat diverse law interpretations.
The All Blacks responded well to the new rules and coach Graham Henry was full of praise for new law interpretations which allowed the team in possession to win quick ruck ball and play an expansive, running game.
As a result they scored eight tries in the two Tests.
South Africans were again unlucky when wing Jean de Villiers was suspended for two weeks for making a dangerous tackle.
De Villiers faced a Sanzar judiciary hearing after he was cited for an alleged lifting tackle on All Blacks winger Rene Ranger in the 27th minute of the match.
De Villiers admitted to making a dangerous tackle.
He was suspended for two weeks up to and including August 1 which will see him miss South Africa’s Tri-Nations match against Australia in Brisbane next Saturday.
Currie Cup Action
The Sharks on the other hand got their break beating the Blue Bulls 34-28.
History was again on the Shark’s side of the Sharks as the defending champions, the Bulls, have only defeated their KwaZulu-Natal opponents twice during their last 10 fixtures.
The Bulls were last victorious in Durban in 2006 when they secured a 50-32 win over the Sharks.
Western Province made it two wins from two games in this year’s Currie Cup with a 32-0 victory over the Lions at Newlands on Saturday.
Fly-half Wilem de Waal gave Western Province an early lead but they struggled to hammer home their dominance and had to wait until midway through the half before flanker Pieter Louw crossed for the opening try of the game.
De Waal added the extras and three further penalties before the break.
De Waal’s boot kept the scoreboard ticking over after the break and his fourth penalty was followed by a try from fullback Conrad Jantjes.
A try from replacement flanker Pieter Myburgh raised hopes of a try-scoring bonus point to accompany their outstanding defensive display but they were denied by some desperate defence from the Lions as the game drew to a close. However, the result was enough for WP to claim top spot in the table.
Western Province continue their season unbeaten.
Friday night’s match saw Prop Coenie Oosthuizen score a hat-trick of tries to help the Free State Cheetahs to a 33-26 win over neighbours Griquas.
It was the Cheetahs first win of the season after they lost 25-11 at home to Western Province last week in a scrappy season-opener.
While the Griquas lost for the first time.
Lastly, the Pumas inflicted a 38-32 defeat on the Leopards.
Courtesy of ESPN
HAVE YOUR SAY: Do you think there is a difference between the North and South when interpreting the new laws?
Sportard – The Horror
Sportard
How sad; how tragic; how utterly depressing. The indomitable Boks vanquished by those eager men in black. What on earth went wrong?
Coming off the high of an all SA Super 14 final it seemed as if the 2010 Tri Nations must surely go the way of last year’s tournament. Not so.
Even before Bakkies ‘the man-punisher’ Botha tried to mate with the Kiwi scrumhalf – he likes scrumhalves does Bakkies. He’d mate with all of them if he could* – the Boks looked crappy. There was none of the confidence and coherence that we’ve grown so accustomed to.
Tugboat Smit was throwing the ball all over the place which made things difficult for Victor who, in turn, was clearly distracted by Bakkies’ obvious affection for Jimmy Cowan and couldn’t catch a venereal disease from a Kiwi sheep.
And the backs were as wretched as a pack of street kids in winter when the glue runs out. It was appalling and I’m only glad that it happened so early on in my hangover that I was still sufficiently anaesthetised to render the pain vague and dispersed.
So where does that leave us then? Well let’s just say that I’m not quite ready to throw in the towel just yet but I will take some good lessons from last week’s game.
Given that there’s nothing that I can do to affect the Boks’ performance other than offer up gentle encouragement and sage advice I tender this – humbly and with great affection – and hope they take it to heart.
First: to Captain Smit – throw the ball on target. I’m almost certain that you’ve been trying to do this but trying isn’t good enough. You need to concentrate. I want to see the same look in your eyes that one sees in a bergie’s eyes when he’s eating chicken scraps or shitting on the promenade.
Secondly: to Victor – don’t be distracted by the shenanigans of your ex roommate. He’ll be back soon enough and you can get on with whatever it is that two very large men with inordinate affection for each other do ‘on tour’. For now, though, focus on seeing the ball like the Force is with you (in fact the way that Tugboat’s been throwing, you might want to rent Star Wars for some pointers and then play with your scrum-cap on backwards).
Thirdly: not to make too fine a point of it but I think it would be a good idea to have a game-plan that doesn’t involve losing too many set pieces. Otherwise it’s a bit like placing a Perspex partition between a room full of hungry morons and a hamburger. In fact I noticed quite a lot of Springbok drool on the All Black strip last Saturday which brings me to my final point.
Fourthly: to all of you highly paid show-ponies – Tackle for pucks-sake. When you’ve given away more ball than Sex-change Sally the least you can do is tackle. It makes all the difference.
Well that’s enough from me. All that now remains to be done is to see to it that I start drinking brandy early enough this evening to ensure that by the time I arrive at the Fireman’s Arms at 8am tomorrow I’m suitably girded against the guaranteed cold and the possibility of defeat.
The trick is to have just enough residual alcohol in your system to cause that first draught to reactivate the previous nights drunk in such a way that the effect of a whole evenings worth of drinking is achieved in as little time as it takes to have just the one.
I shall set about this task immediately and by tomorrow I shall establish a personal first by calling Goodfellas to drive me to a pub and not just from it.
* Witness Bakkies ‘I-like-‘em-little’ Botha’s transparent attempts at covering his tracks after trying to solicit sex from little Welsh scrumhalf, Mike Phillips, during the Lions tour by complimenting him on his ‘beautiful eyes’:
By Mike Stephen
Fitter Rugby Refs Needed
Referee Alan Lewis of Ireland looks on as Jimmy Cowan of the All Blacks passes during the Tri-Nations.
All Blacks assistant coach Wayne Smith has warned referees they might need to get fitter to keep up with the increasing pace of test rugby.
The All Blacks have made no secret of their desire to play a high-tempo game as they work towards the next World Cup, believing the new rules encourage that.
There were clear signs of that approach in last weekend’s four-tries-to-none demolition of the Springboks in Auckland and the All Blacks won’t be taking the foot off the accelerator in Saturday night’s rematch in Wellington.
Referees have been a recurring theme with the All Blacks coaching staff this week. Head coach Graham Henry again raised the prospect of rugby following league’s lead and having two referees officiate.
Asked his thoughts on how rugby’s officiating can keep pace with the high-octane game, Smith said: “It’s just like the players – get fitter.
“The ball in play is around 40 minutes now consistently in the test matches we have played this year. If you talk to tight forwards they will tell you how the game has changed markedly with the amount of running they’ve got to do.
“Just as the players do, the referees are going to have to make sure they are right up there fitness-wise.
“I see it’s been suggested that we get two of them (referees) on the track. Those ideas might be good ideas too.”
Smith obviously likes the improvements to the game this year, moving it away from the kick-fest that had dominated play last season.
But the new law interpretations meant everyone involved needed to be on the same page.
“I think the game is going in the direction that people want it to go in. There can’t be too many complaints from people watching the game at the moment and that’s great.
“But we’ve got to make sure that the fitness levels of everyone go up so we can continue playing it like that.”
The Springboks seemed to take a limited approach into the Eden Park match and were left bamboozled by the All Blacks’ brilliance and willingness to attack from anywhere.
The Boks, meanwhile, went with many of the methods that made them so strong last year. They tried to go up the middle and they also employed their kick and chase tactics.
That played into the hands of the All Blacks. The New Zealand forwards loved the challenge in front of them and outmuscled the Boks while the All Blacks backs were happy to run virtually every kick back at the South Africans.
Smith suggested the Boks were too clever to be caught out again and they would surely modify their game for the Cake Tin.
“We’ve seen in the Super 14 that they’ve got multi-skilled players and they can play a different game,” he said.
“You’ve got to suggest that maybe they can come and play that on Saturday. Certainly you go in and predict they are going to do certain things but you’ve also got to expect that there will be some unpredicted events that will take place and how you handle that is one of the big factors in the result.”
Courtesy of stuff.co.nz
HAVE YOUR SAY: Do you think refs are unfit?
Wallaby Flanker George Smith Signs With Toulon
Toulon may be facing the prospect of losing star Kiwi centre Sonny Bill Williams to his All Black ambitions, but have continued their restocking of talent for the 2010-11 season, signing Wallaby test centurion George Smith.
Smith agreed to a one-year deal to join the French club where he will team up with former All Black prop Carl Hayman, but possibly not Williams if he accepts the New Zealand Rugby Union’s offer that is in front of him.
The 29-year-old Brumbies loose forward has 110 test caps for Australia, but has now retired from the international game. He has signed a one-year deal to join Toulon as they continue their quest to be the top club in France.
Smith will team up with Springbok flanker Joe van Niekerk and Pumas No 8 Juan Fernandez Lobbe in what should be an outstanding loose trio at the club.
Toulon reached the semifinals of the Top 14 before going down in extra time to Vern Cotter’s Clermont. They also made the final of the European Challenge Cup before going down to Cardiff Blues.
Smith made more than 120 appearances for the Brumbies and ended his international career as the world’s fifth most capped test player, as well as being the world’s most capped loose forward and Australia’s most capped forward.
With thanks to Stuff.co.nz
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