Thank god for the Argies! They are, Sonny Bill aside, the only thing bringing interest to the reformatted Tri Nations. I seriously hope the Boks can put on a lot better show than to date. How sad are the Wallabies if even when large parts of the 1st test's 2nd half it was a 5point ballgame no one actually thought they had a snowball's? I never got nervous...a strange feeling in a 5point ball game vs a nemesis. The bad news/good news(?) is that, as Hansen says and all can see, the All Blacks aren't just not playing well,...they are also controlling the game. If South Africa can't front up it is going to make the Championship look ridiculous. SANZAR (does it have a new name?) are fortunate to have contract in place for the next few years because I couldn't see pay tv lining up for the present product.
South Africa and Australia dropping to northern hemisphere standards will severely damage the game here. There will have to be some competitiveness to the last 2 editions of the present contract or the ABs will have to look for something else, something new to tickle the tastebuds of not just the paytv operators, but the paying public.Argentina, while going to improve, are never going to be decent opposition for the ABs in the next few years. Maybe we will have to disband the All Blacks and limit them to Barbarian style invitation matches? New Zealand could enter 2 rugby teams into the international game....the NZ North and NZ South. That, in the long run, would just make New Zealand rugby stronger and the gap between the best and the rest would widen, though I imagine the inter-island edge would dramatically increase local interest in the game. I remember as a kid the "patriotism" I felt while watching my often beaten South Island team vs the always favourites, North.
New Zealand dominance doesn't just threaten world rugby,...it threatens New zealand rugby. Any ideas?
