Publications
Partners
Comment: Rob Houwing, Sport24 chief writer
Cape Town – New Zealanders collectively are rather revelling at present in the Crusaders’ sexy exhibition of running rugby against South African powerhouses the Sharks at Twickenham.
And why not? We would silly, in turn, at this end to under-estimate the havoc caused by, in particular, the key “10 and 12” alliance of Dan Carter and Sonny Bill Williams against the Currie Cup champions and one of our leading Super Rugby hopes for 2011.
But it is also pertinent, I think, to note that alarm bells shouldn’t ring out too loudly, nor any unnecessary pre-World Cup paranoia take root in our country either.
For one thing, the Crusaders are on a rather obvious, form-based roll right now, and even in its relative infancy we have already been able to observe that teams will simply not be able to hit giddying peaks week after week in the greatly expanded competition.
And when haven’t the Cantabrians been a vibrant, almost unmatchable fast-paced outfit? Barring a few “gap” years, they’ve pretty much been that since 1998, when they earned the first of seven titles – the most of anyone, still by a country mile – in the southern hemisphere showpiece event.
The modern Crusaders squad is also not invincible: whilst the 2010 team humbled by the Stormers at Newlands to the tune of 42-14 might not have included league convert Williams then, it did contain another talisman in Richie McCaw, the regular captain who did not oppose the Sharks on Sunday because of injury.
It is also educative to assess the impact of Super Rugby dominance on World Cup achievement by that country: it hasn’t helped them hoist the “Webb Ellis” yet, even if home soil will be a useful little tool to try to break the bogey since 1987 later this year.
And if anything, the Crusaders did the entire rest of the rugby world a favour by just reminding them of the importance, come RWC 2011, of getting under the skin of flyhalf magician Carter, the pin-up boy of All Blacks rugby and essential “pipeline” of gas to his outside backs.
As veteran critic Wynne Gray of the New Zealand Herald noted this week: “The match (at Twickenham) showed how critical the ‘Get Carter’ message will be for teams intent on displacing the All Blacks at the World Cup.
“The same instruction has been there since Carter’s 2003 introduction to Test rugby and his ascension to backline commander late the next year.”
Of course the very likely addition now of franchise partner Williams to the All Blacks midfield may only make Carter that much more of a handful at the World Cup, and the Springbok brains trust, one would assume, will have noted that with due seriousness after Sunday’s fine spectacle.
Here’s another little point of assurance to broader South African fans: with due respect to Jacques-Louis Potgieter and Meyer Bosman, the often severely-stretched opposite numbers to Carter and Williams for the Sharks at “Twickers”, the Boks’ Nos 10 and 12 will almost certainly be a different kettle of fish.
Potgieter, after all, was only playing because of the temporary absence of highly-rated new Bok Patrick Lambie, who will be among contenders for flyhalf when the international season gets underway.
My own fancy is that the relative carnage sowed by Carter and Williams in London will only have helped advance the Bok claims of men like Peter Grant and Butch James in the vital channel -- rugged customers who are prepared to attack the gain line (or read: have a run of their own at Carter), will certainly not shy away from physical contact and defensive responsibility, yet also possess many of the other gifts required to be the “package” at No 10.
At the same time, someone like incumbent Morne Steyn of the Bulls, who has been mediocre and sans X-factor in general play thus far in Super Rugby – nor especially known for his relish in tackle and one-on-one situations -- may see himself slip a notch or two down the pecking order if he is not careful.
Of course pressuring and by extension possibly rattling a No 10 tends to include a loose forward component: you want these marauders at the job too, with the open-side flank quite naturally especially to the fore.
Older South African enthusiasts will not forget a decade or three back how Western Province, in those right old scraps with arch-foes Northern Transvaal, used to task tearaway Rob Louw with making a bee-line for Blue Bulls kingpin Naas Botha to try (not always successfully, it must be said) to blunt the pivot’s influence.
The game has changed in many ways since then, but not enough to fundamentally alter this aspect of play, and the Boks will already be praying, for instance, that the Cheetahs’ dynamic No 6 Heinrich Brussow has thoroughly banished his frustrating catalogue of injury woes by the time the World Cup comes around.
And whether or not Brussow returns to his sensational Tri-Nations 2009 form, it is hard to suppress a suspicion that the old-fashioned mongrel and desperado energy of a Schalk Burger – potentially deployable across all three “loosie” positions? – could be influential, too, in any quest to make life more awkward than he would like for New Zealand’s No 10.
Get Carter?
It is not impossible, especially with much dedicated tactical thought ...
Cape Town – New Zealanders collectively are rather revelling at present in the Crusaders’ sexy exhibition of running rugby against South African powerhouses the Sharks at Twickenham.
And why not? We would silly, in turn, at this end to under-estimate the havoc caused by, in particular, the key “10 and 12” alliance of Dan Carter and Sonny Bill Williams against the Currie Cup champions and one of our leading Super Rugby hopes for 2011.
But it is also pertinent, I think, to note that alarm bells shouldn’t ring out too loudly, nor any unnecessary pre-World Cup paranoia take root in our country either.
For one thing, the Crusaders are on a rather obvious, form-based roll right now, and even in its relative infancy we have already been able to observe that teams will simply not be able to hit giddying peaks week after week in the greatly expanded competition.
And when haven’t the Cantabrians been a vibrant, almost unmatchable fast-paced outfit? Barring a few “gap” years, they’ve pretty much been that since 1998, when they earned the first of seven titles – the most of anyone, still by a country mile – in the southern hemisphere showpiece event.
The modern Crusaders squad is also not invincible: whilst the 2010 team humbled by the Stormers at Newlands to the tune of 42-14 might not have included league convert Williams then, it did contain another talisman in Richie McCaw, the regular captain who did not oppose the Sharks on Sunday because of injury.
It is also educative to assess the impact of Super Rugby dominance on World Cup achievement by that country: it hasn’t helped them hoist the “Webb Ellis” yet, even if home soil will be a useful little tool to try to break the bogey since 1987 later this year.
And if anything, the Crusaders did the entire rest of the rugby world a favour by just reminding them of the importance, come RWC 2011, of getting under the skin of flyhalf magician Carter, the pin-up boy of All Blacks rugby and essential “pipeline” of gas to his outside backs.
As veteran critic Wynne Gray of the New Zealand Herald noted this week: “The match (at Twickenham) showed how critical the ‘Get Carter’ message will be for teams intent on displacing the All Blacks at the World Cup.
“The same instruction has been there since Carter’s 2003 introduction to Test rugby and his ascension to backline commander late the next year.”
Of course the very likely addition now of franchise partner Williams to the All Blacks midfield may only make Carter that much more of a handful at the World Cup, and the Springbok brains trust, one would assume, will have noted that with due seriousness after Sunday’s fine spectacle.
Here’s another little point of assurance to broader South African fans: with due respect to Jacques-Louis Potgieter and Meyer Bosman, the often severely-stretched opposite numbers to Carter and Williams for the Sharks at “Twickers”, the Boks’ Nos 10 and 12 will almost certainly be a different kettle of fish.
Potgieter, after all, was only playing because of the temporary absence of highly-rated new Bok Patrick Lambie, who will be among contenders for flyhalf when the international season gets underway.
My own fancy is that the relative carnage sowed by Carter and Williams in London will only have helped advance the Bok claims of men like Peter Grant and Butch James in the vital channel -- rugged customers who are prepared to attack the gain line (or read: have a run of their own at Carter), will certainly not shy away from physical contact and defensive responsibility, yet also possess many of the other gifts required to be the “package” at No 10.
At the same time, someone like incumbent Morne Steyn of the Bulls, who has been mediocre and sans X-factor in general play thus far in Super Rugby – nor especially known for his relish in tackle and one-on-one situations -- may see himself slip a notch or two down the pecking order if he is not careful.
Of course pressuring and by extension possibly rattling a No 10 tends to include a loose forward component: you want these marauders at the job too, with the open-side flank quite naturally especially to the fore.
Older South African enthusiasts will not forget a decade or three back how Western Province, in those right old scraps with arch-foes Northern Transvaal, used to task tearaway Rob Louw with making a bee-line for Blue Bulls kingpin Naas Botha to try (not always successfully, it must be said) to blunt the pivot’s influence.
The game has changed in many ways since then, but not enough to fundamentally alter this aspect of play, and the Boks will already be praying, for instance, that the Cheetahs’ dynamic No 6 Heinrich Brussow has thoroughly banished his frustrating catalogue of injury woes by the time the World Cup comes around.
And whether or not Brussow returns to his sensational Tri-Nations 2009 form, it is hard to suppress a suspicion that the old-fashioned mongrel and desperado energy of a Schalk Burger – potentially deployable across all three “loosie” positions? – could be influential, too, in any quest to make life more awkward than he would like for New Zealand’s No 10.
Get Carter?
It is not impossible, especially with much dedicated tactical thought ...
