On The Sidelines — July 22

Good morning and welcome back to Sidelines with … not the beaming figure of Scotty Stevenson above but in fact Patrick McKendry, who is filling in again for Scotty while he gets some R and R and works on his Instagram game in what appears to be a warm and vibrant Europe. Bon Voyage, Scotty.

Unlike London and Paris, it’s winter here in New Zealand, but the good news is it’s almost exactly two calendar months until the spring equinox.

And to continue the optimistic and positive vibes as we pick apart some of the recent sporting highlights, there are reasons to be impressed by Scott Robertson’s first three Tests in charge of the All Blacks and chief among them was the performance of the reserves in the England series victory and big win over Fiji in San Diego at the weekend.

Related to that was the performance of the Test debutants, all of whom distinguished themselves.

Cortez Ratima, Noah Hotham, Billy Proctor, George Bell, Pasilio Tosi, Sam Darry and Wallace Sititi will all have put a little more bounce into Razor’s step as he walked towards the check-in area at San Diego international because they all proved themselves capable at this level.

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Moreover, they will have given him plenty to think about in terms of his next selections. As reported on 1News.co.nz yesterday, Robertson has the luxury of adding four more players to a 36-man squad for the Rugby Championship (and Will Jordan and Sam Cane are highly likely to be two of them), but of more interest will be his selection for that first Test against Argentina in Wellington on August 10.

Proctor did enough at centre to suggest he is rapidly closing on Rieko Ioane, Hotham showed in replacing the injured Ratima before halftime that his running game will be a huge asset, and forwards Bell, Tosi, Darry and Sititi all showed composure and physicality in the final often frantic moments at Snapdragon Stadium.

All the new boys expressed themselves on the pitch over the past fortnight, and that’s a reflection of the environment Robertson is building. One of the All Blacks’ shortcomings over the past five or six years has been a lack of impact from the reserves bench. It used to be a strength. It seems Robertson is on his way to making that the case again.

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The pessimists among us will point out that a narrow series win over England in which either Test could and perhaps should have been won by the visitors, and a victory in a “festival” game against the No.10-ranked nation in the United States is hardly cause for celebration, especially with the Springboks looming over the horizon.

The world champion Boks split their recent two-Test series against Ireland, the No.2-ranked team in the world, and that series appeared a world away from what the All Blacks and Wallabies experienced this month in terms of pressure and intensity.

The Wallabies, now ranked No.9, beat the 11th-ranked Wales 25-16 in Sydney and 36-28 in Melbourne before sneaking past Georgia 40-29 in Sydney at the weekend.

The Georgians, still battling in vain for a regular place at rugby’s top table, have now climbed to No.12 in the rankings and got to within two points of Australia in the second half. I would recommend watching the highlights if you haven’t seen it because the length-of-the-field try for wing Aka Tabutsadze is worth viewing, as is a freakish score by fullback Davit Niniashvili.

Not surprisingly, Kiwi Schmidt, who made several changes to his line-up for the Test, realises the improvements have to come quickly ahead of a visit by the world champion Boks.

"Going forward to the Rugby Championship, we've learned a little bit more about the player,” he said.

"But I'm also realistic. I've been doing jobs similar to this for a long time and the thing that you realise is that things do take time and building combinations takes time.

"Building a game model that people become familiar with and automate the actions that are required for that, that does take time.

"But we're out of time. We've got to be able to deliver against South Africa, which is a whole different level."

The All Blacks play the Wallabies in Sydney for the Bledisloe Cup on September 21 and in Wellington a week later. The Razor v Schmidt clashes, a case of the new regime coming up against part of the old, will be highly anticipated on both sides of the Tasman.

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If the All Blacks’ Saturday afternoon kick-off against Fiji was a throw-back to a glorious past, less fulfilling was the Warriors’ reversion to type against the Raiders in Canberra the day before.

Chanel Harris-Tavita’s goalkicking – he missed three shots, including a conversion from almost in front which would have tied the match with seven minutes remaining – was clearly a factor.

But, again, one doesn’t need to search far for positives and the performance of prop Mitchell Barnett fits firmly into that category.

Barnett played 48 minutes for the New South Wales Blues during their stunning victory over Queensland in Brisbane on Wednesday night, and 48 hours later he played 73 minutes for the Warriors. Not only that, he made 110 metres with the ball, broke five tackles and made 35 tackles, with two misses. 

That’s tough.

“The first thing I wanted to do was back up,” he said. “I wouldn’t have been where I am without the boys in that locker room.

“The best thing I could do was front up for them.”

Hamish Kerr, the reigning Commonwealth Games gold medallist, appears to be on target for the Paris Olympics after winning gold at the Diamond league event in London over the weekend. Kerr cleared 2.30m (he cleared 2.25pm for his gold at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022). His best outdoors is 2.31 (and best indoors is 2.34m), so he appears to be peaking nicely.

The Paris Olympics begin early on Thursday morning with New Zealand involved in football and sevens rugby.

Another big medal hope, rower Emma Twigg, gets under way in the single sculls next Saturday night.

Twigg has been competing in Europe in warm up events and is grateful Hawke’s Bay boat builder SL Racing provided her with two single scull shells after one was damaged on the way.

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Just as any Parisian waiter worth his or her salt will try to convince you that a certain bottle of wine should not be drunk with a certain dish under any circumstances, and indeed would have an aneurism if you asked for a digestif before a meal, so there is a certain way of doing things in the Tour de France.

For example, one must never attack if a large part of the peloton is having a “nature break”, the euphemism for a quick toilet stop on the side of the road. It is also seen as beneath the race to sprint at the end of a stage when you are in a trailing group with nothing to gain. Similarly, one shouldn’t launch an attack immediately after the race leader crashes. That’s just poor form.

And then there are the “gifts”.

The race leader may decide not to challenge a rival if the pair if there is just the two of them at the end of a stage as a way of showing respect, for example, but that particular show of etiquette was lost recently on Tadej Pogacar, the Slovenian who will win this year’s race providing he doesn’t fall off his bike over the next few days.

Pogacar was again utterly dominant in winning the final mountain stage to the Col de la Couillole in the Alpes Maritimes but could easily have allowed Denmark’s Jonas Vingegaard to claim it. After all, Pogacar had already won four stages in the race, with Vingegaard the only man within five minutes of him overall.

Non, said Pogacar.

“You don’t give away stages,” he said when it was suggested he was being greedy. “We gave the breakaway enough time. They had big chances, they had chances lots of times. You’re also paid to win.”

After leading Pogacar into the final 250m, Vingegaard had few complaints. “Everyone has their tactics,” he said. “I don’t judge anyone on their tactics. I’d probably do the same in his situation.”

Both Pogacar and Vingegaard have won two Tours each and are set to dominate the race for years.

Pogacar is about to become the eighth rider, but the first in the 21st century, to win the Giro d’Italia and Tour in the same season. The 25-year-old with the goofy smile is an absolute monster on a bike.

The Olympics, as mentioned, and keep visiting 1news.co.nz to check out what our large news crew is delivering in Paris. Football, sevens rugby, rowing, equestrian and swimming will be the main focus of the first week.

Warriors v Wests Tigers at Mt Smart Stadium on Friday, kick-off 8pm. The Warriors’ chances of making the top eight have almost certainly been flushed into the Waitemata Harbour but the host the bottom-placed Tigers next. Going by the Warriors’ recent trademark madcap inconsistency, anything could happen.

There is no Test rugby this weekend or even premier club rugby in many places (and hearty congratulations to the North Shore prems after they beat fierce rivals Takapuna 20-15 in a tense final at Vauxhall Rd on Saturday). It’s yet another sign that spring is just around the corner.