Tri-Nations: Why rugby's world-champion Springboks failed on the big stage

I am not sure if you are being very tongue in cheek here or if you are serious, but I know one thing. It is not possible that players like Schalk Burger and Juan Smith, who were outstanding last year, can suddenly not get their hands on the ball in the rucks if something illegal is not going on there. In the game against the Aussies I was shouting in my chair "holding on, holding on!" at times when an Aussie went to ground with the ball with four Springboks trying to wrestle it away from him, but magically after 30 seconds the ball would emerge on the Aussie side with the ref standing there admiring the fantastic display of ball retention by one man. Then at times a Springbok would run with the ball and get tackled, and in the process of falling the ref would already be at the point of blowing for holding on. I dare anyone who is not an Aussie or New Zealand supporter to watch the last three games, just the breakdowns, in slow motion and the refs' blowing of it and tell me that there is no difference in how it's blown for or against the Springboks. I say give us Northern Hemisphere refs when the Boks play so that we can see a fair contest.

Sour grapes - both of you.

Let's see...we've had DENIAL - "Haha flukey Kiwis and Wallabies, this won't last..." ANGER - "Grrr I bragged and bleated but now my beloved Zimboks are getting humped, why oh why?" BARGAINING - "Can those Aussie and Kiwi meanies start reciprocating the away victories for my beloved Zimboks please!" DEPRESSION - "Sob sob sob, I don't care anymore but here's a funny Bongkaka song and dance to make my mum laugh into the wee hours" ACCEPTANCE - "it's a bitter pill to watch true rugby vanish into a mist of Aussie and All Black pretence." Well done Greg, it's been a pleasure seeing the 5 stages of grief played out by the Zimboks No1 Fan. Keep it coming cuzzie - I read your stories out to inspire my high school 1st XV players so that they understand how Zimbok supporters think. Kia mau!

As a Springbok fan, the last thing you should want to do is compare 08 rugby to 07 rugby...or indeed draw any attention to 07 rugby. It is better to preserve the illusion that you won a world cup playing rugby than to encourage people to take a fresh look at that tournament and realise what really happened. Rugby in 2007 was won by kick-and-hope teams. Pump the ball in the air, come up in a flat line and for God's sake don't do anything with the ball that might result in a mistake. The ELVs aren't perfect but at least they encourage a slightly more cerebral and enterprising pattern than that. Rugby is called the running game, after all, so howzabout we play it on our feet and not with our feet. Better that than watching the game reduced to up-and-under Russian roulette. As for manufactured appeals to the referee...?? What a fitting coincidence your byline pic shows only one eye.

No, as a Bok fan, the last thing I should do, as my great, great grandfather told me, is to pay Irish rugby (and its 'experts') any mind and it's as mysterious to me as Grand Prix having is HQ in Ethiopia that Dublin 2 is home to the IRB ?

Eammon Conaghan - Unless you're actually a Kiwi or Aussie Irishman, that makes perfect sense (the IRB HQ in Dublin)

Ireland would seem the perfect place for IRB headquarters if your ambition is to keep rugby mired in the tactical vacuum of the Garryowen kicking game.

Greg - It's not too late to think about getting yourselves a Kiwi coach. Just look at the Aussies. It's the best move they ever made.

Who did robbie deans piss off in nz rugby not to land the all blacks job im not complaining hes the best coach in the world and coaching the wallabies?

Ummm, he pissed off the players. Everyone forgets that Deans has been part of the All Blacks coaching setup before. It was during a reign remembered among other things for the fielding of an All Blacks starting 15 featuring 14 Crusaders. Admittedly he was assistant to Mitchell but the fact he had a side featuring 14 of his S12 mates is evidence of the influence he held within that arrangement. An arrangement that ended with the worst of all the kiwi world cup failures...the 2003 semi final capitulation to what was an ordinary Wallaby side. A side they'd put 50 points on just a few months earlier. That turnaround is significant because it shows that the team was brittle and flaky -- exceptionally gifted but readily beatable in an alley fight. There were several Deans-Mitchell blunders. The first was the way players were managed. In his autobiography, Tana Umaga noted what a tense and uneasy relationship the players had with the coaches. Of course the other great mishap was the failure to take adequate cover at centre. Umaga was injured in the opening game of the tournament and the ABs poked an excellent fullback (MacDonald) in at centre from then on. They had Nonu on the squad as a backup centre but were afraid of his inexperience. That anxiety was probably well founded but it begs the question...did they not consider that when picking their squad? In the semis, MacDonald did not have the necessary midfield nous to contain Mortlock and even though the ABs had enough talent on the field to cover that mismatch, no-one lifted and NZ crumbled. Tragically, that massive blunder has unfairly tarnished MacDonald's legacy. Yes, Mitchell shares Deans's guilt...maybe even the lion's share. But there's no doubt that Deans wielded considerable authority in that setup and it failed. It failed miserably. While Henry's team fell over at the World Cup too...he has far more mitigation. A) NZ had no hard games ahead of the French clash B) the NZ vs Aust ref didn't miss 16 offsides C) the game was actually still close anyway (not so in 2003) and D) France was probably a better side than the 2003 aussies. So Deans is not the best coach in the world by a long stretch. It would be safer to say that in his coaching experience, he had the best provincial players in the world under him. People seem to forget that counts for quite a lot. Deans is good...probably better than anyone going around the sidelines in oz, but he’s capable of being a false profit.

I believe its the kiwi mentality they are weak when the pressure is on its something you can deny

And I do deny it. The pressure of that impending full stop didn't make you miss a vital letter there did it, Kev? Shame.

Thanks for a thorough explanation Ferguson. Very interesting. Pity you got the typical uneducated ozzie response back. They're so bitter that the All Blacks have the reputation of being the best players in the world due to their consistency rather than just the odd moment of glory in rugby....try being good sportsman would be a step in the right direction lol.

Please dopelin all kiwis are born chokers its not your fault and what consistency you cant even win a world cup in a sport your country is crazy about and theres no excuses its not as if you good at anything else.

By the way, I'm Welsh but idolise the sheer brilliance of the All Blacks and their good sportsmanship. They are true good sportsman and ozzies need to take a few lessons out of their book. Give credit where credits due. By the way, they have won 1 world cup (not that you'd probably be aware due to the totally biased media reporting that only shows ozzie wins over and over and the losses briefly shown with a wallaby scoring if they were lucky enough to lol), ozzies 2 and SA 2 so really nothing in it for a knockout games that depend on who they draw to lead up and who's luckiest on the day. The real pain for the ozzies is seeing the Tri Nations and Bledisloe results in black and white. Tri Nations games won NZ 38 Aus 23 SA 20, Bledisloe Games NZ 38, Aus 12....hurts doesn't it. I think its amazing a country of only 4 million can produce a team that whips a country of 20 million. big kev....ya gotta be dreamin mate lol. RESPECT