In this week's newsletter, Scotty discusses the first All Blacks vs Springboks test this season, the shining Kiwis in the Paralympic Games, Emirates Team New Zealand and Shaun Johnson's final game for the Warriors.
Test for the ages finishes with lesson in fast finishing
The All Blacks could hardly have done more to get themselves in a winning position in Johannesburg on Sunday morning, but the Boks’ unwavering belief in the bench was the difference between the two sides.
There will be much discussion about the officiating of this test match*, but that debate will mask a tough truth for the All Blacks: Test matches are 80-minute affairs, and once again the All Blacks couldn’t ice it on the run to full time.
Instead, it was the relentless pressure from the South Africans that got the job done. The bench was coach Rassie Erasmus’s key weapon, as it so often has been during his colourful and successful tenure. For all the talk about the Boks’ rejuvenated attack, there was scant evidence it was firing on all cylinders in this match. It was the All Blacks who looked the superior offensive outfit, and there was plenty of harmony in the way the side structured its tries – especially the second half lineout special capped off my Caleb Clarke in the left corner.
With a 10-point lead heading into the final quarter, the All Blacks must have known the counterpunch was coming. It did, led by the likes of Malcolm Marx and Kwagga Smith (who must be considered the greatest finisher in the game). A card for Ofa Tu’ungafasi certainly opened the door for the Boks, but the All Blacks will be frustrated they allowed the home side to rush in.
The All Blacks will take plenty of heart from the first 50 minutes of this match. One of the more pleasing aspects was the performance of Ethan Blackadder. The blindside flanker was simply immense, especially in the opening half. Result aside, this was a career-defining match for a player who has shown plenty of grit and promise.
In the end, though, the Springboks deserved the win. They played to their strengths, stayed in the fight, and showed the requisite stamina to chew up the deficit and bury the game in the dying minutes.
*It is patently clear that the Springboks are afforded much leeway at the breakdown, but teams must be better at addressing this physically. The controversial try awarded to Bongi Mbonambi did not turn the match in the same way the card to Tu’ugafasi did. Both decisions, however, deserve to be reviewed if only to elucidate the fans on the process leading up to them. The penalty against TJ Perenara for imploring the referee to make a call on a defensive penalty is another worthy of scrutiny. Halfbacks are yappy by nature, but unless Bruce made it patently clear pre-match that he would not accept such behaviour, that call does feel heavy-handed.
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Paris shines in support of Paralympic Games
It was a brief shot in a profile story on Kiwi Para-Badminton representative Woytek Czyz that resonated. In vision, Czyz, formerly a German paralympic track and field star, is lining up on the track at the Athens games, about to secure one of the seven medals of his career. But there is something missing. The crowd. The stadium is a sea of empty seats, a reminder that no so long ago, the Paralympics were considered by many to be merely a charitable tack on to the global extravaganza that is the Olympics.
Fast forward 20 years and the scene could not be more different. The crowds at Stade de France have been incredible, the noise at times overwhelming. The same could be said for scenes at the Velodrome, the pool, and the many other venues scattered across the City of Light.
The Opening Ceremony of these games promised a Paradox, a movement from a Discord to Concord, from a rejection of those living with disability to an embracing and understanding of competition through impairment and adversity. It was a universal message and one that has clearly been taken to heart by the French fans, and the many others who have gathered in Paris for these games.
There can be no doubt that the Paris edition of the Paralympics will provide the movement with yet another boost. One can only sit back in New Zealand and admire the performances, including those of the New Zealand team. Overnight it was the turn of Danielle Aitchison, Nicole Murray and the nation’s trio of para-sport shooters to have their moment to shine. And there was success to savour.
Johnson turns back the clock with time up at Warriors
Oh, how the Warriors have missed this version of Shaun Johnson in the 2024 NRL season. The retiring halfback somehow conjured a final match worthy of his prodigious ability, guiding the Warriors from a 4-22 deficit to a 30-28 victory over the Sharks. That his final match was played between the two clubs he has represented in his 13-year NRL career added a certain piquancy to proceedings, too.
It was vintage Warriors early, with Johnson and Luke Metcalf – another whose season has been severely impacted by injury – linking for the first score of the match. The Warriors looked every ounce a top eight side in the first 15 minutes, but the now customary collapse duly came and the Sharks ran in four first half tries to have the visitors reeling at the break.
It was as if the Warriors figured to end the season in the same way they had played for much of it. Andrew Webster had revealed his frustrations with the team a fortnight ago, when he suggested they could certainly live with any side in 20-minute bursts, but they had lost their ability to go the full distance.
Not at Shark Park. Not on Shaun Johnson’s watch. The second half was a master class in orchestration and manipulation and as Johnson lifted, as did the entire team. A second-half hattrick from Watene-Zelezniak brought to mind many a ‘what if’ thought. His winner on the stroke of full time bringing the curtain down on the career of Johnson, while simultaneously sewing the first seeds of hope for 2025.
The Warriors might not be the flagbearers of consistency they are desperate to be, but that was a special win to show they’re still up for the fight.
Emirates Team New Zealand Back in the water, Alinghi all at sea
When asked how on earth his team was able to repair their boat, Taihoro, with such speed after the AC75 had been dropped by a crane at the team’s base, CEO Grant Dalton was straight to the point. “Kiwis!”
That was the long and the short of it, but it’s the long part that really matters to the America’s Cup defenders. While the New Zealanders are taking part in the opening double round robin of the Louis Vuitton Challenger series, they will have no further official racing against any of their would-be usurpers between then and the Cup match proper in October.
That affords Team New Zealand the requisite time to ensure the full componentry of the boat is in place, and that the hull itself is given more than just a necessary patch up.
Meanwhile, Luna Ross continues to flex its muscle as the likely challenger. The Jimmy Spithill-skippered entry has been the form team of the series and they’re next show down with Team New Zealand will come on September 4 New Zealand time. It remains to be seen whether the kiwis will look to simply participate for the rest of the series, or whether they will try to really duke it out with the favourites.
Regardless, it is a minor miracle that the New Zealanders were back on the water over the weekend. Dalton says “Our points count in October”, and it is fair to say it is better to learn this tough lesson now, than on the eve of the defence.
What’s making news this week..
The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games continue on TVNZ1 and TVNZ+ with five dedicated streaming channels offering LIVE and FREE coverage of every moment of the games. TVNZ 1 offers action every night from 7.30pm.
The All Blacks will assess the fitness of the side today after a bruising encounter at Ellis Park. Scott Robertson will be hoping he will have a fully fit squad to choose from – a squad that should be bolstered by the return of Dalton Papali’i from a thumb injury that ruled him out of the first test against the Springboks. We’ll have the latest on 1news.co.nz.
The Black Ferns continue their build up to a much-anticipated test against the Red Roses at Twickenham. The match is now just a fortnight away with many expecting a new world record to be set for a women’s test crowd.
All eyes on the build up to Round 5 NPC action, and especially the crucial Shield match between holders Hawkes Bay and Tasman. Tasman have never lifted the Log O’ Wood and will have their work cut out for them against a Magpies side that is sitting five points clear at the top of the table.
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