“…A strange, alien sighting was glimpsed in the skies above Wellington’s Westpac stadium last Saturday night.
Or rather, it was something that wasn’t there that was so bewildering, so baffling.
A rugby Test match was played without any aerial ping-pong, the great kicking plague of the modern game.
Well, that isn’t strictly true.
One side did still try it.
But they lost by 31 points to 17, four tries to two.
So they don’t matter, do they?
Well, let’s hope not.
It might be stretching credulity to suggest that the rugby played by New Zealand these past two weekends in the Tri-Nations, at Auckland and Wellington, has been of a revolutionary nature.
After all, can you envisage the All Blacks coach, former Auckland schoolmaster Graham Henry, kitted out in a tee-shirt and beret, Che Guevara style?
No, nor me.
But the encouraging thing is, Henry’s team is revolutionising rugby.
Or at least, it should be.
For those with a brain to think, a mind to rationalise, what the All Blacks are doing right now in world rugby terms is what Guevara proposed all those years ago.
Sweep away the old rubbish and start afresh.
Here’s to the revolution, comrade…
Yet it’s not as if Henry’s All Blacks are doing something never seen before on the fields of world rugby.
Mils Muliaina is taking high kicks from opponents, looking up to assess his options and, when he spies space, counter attacking.
Radical? I don’t think so.
Remember a bloke called Christian Cullen, or JPR Williams?
The All Blacks backs are throwing passes, short and long, unloading and scampering around the back of the ball receiver to take the off-load and make an extra man in the back line.
Never seen before?
Please, be serious.
Have you never heard of players like Frank Bunce, Mike Gibson or Jo Maso?
But the point is, the modern game had descended into a miasma of predictability.
It had become boring and formulaic.
They kick long to you; you’re too scared of losing possession and just lamely kick it back.
They catch it and hoof it back to you.
Gee, how did we ever stay awake watching all that gumph?…”
go to source/story>>>Peter Bills: New Zealand are revolutionising rugby – News & Comment, Rugby Union – The Independent
