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#Post#: 29771--------------------------------------------------
The NZ Papers
DIR By: DOK
Date: October 27, 2019, 11:09 am
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The NZH has a paywall (I on the other hand have Google) so
articles reproduced here
Mark Reason - Stuff.co.nz
HTML https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/rugby-world-cup/rwc-2019-japan/116956723/all-blacks-v-england-how-a-demonised-john-mitchell-outfoxed-steve-hansen-and-ian-foster-in-rugby-world-cup-redemption
Duncan Johnstone - Stuff.co.nz
HTML https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/opinion/116957797/all-blacks-v-england-why-this-is-new-zealands-worst-rugby-world-cup-loss
Gregor Paul - New Zealand Herald
HTML https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=12279986
By: Gregor Paul
Sports writer
gregor.paul@nzherald.co.nz
COMMENT:
There's no more powerful emotional fuel in sport than defeat on
a grand and public scale and the All Blacks' loss in Yokohama is
both an end and a beginning.
For 10 years the All Blacks have sat atop the rugby world – a
summit they reached through a desire to find redemption.
A decade of unprecedented success was fuelled by a need to bury
the abject failure of the 2007 Rugby World Cup and all the
frailties and flaws that one defeat exposed.
At some point, that emotional tank was going to run empty.
Success can't be a sustainable fuel for more success. Humans
aren't built like that – they need a spanner in the emotional
works as it were which is why success is cyclical.
There is a natural ebb and flow to the world order and while the
All Blacks have done an incredible job in distorting that by
preserving their place at the top for an unprecedented period,
it couldn't last forever.
They were chasing great which is noble and exciting, but
ultimately beyond the scope of possibility.
And as the All Blacks sift through the rubble of their collapsed
World Cup campaign, they should realise once the dust settles
that their semifinal loss to England was an evil necessary.
They didn't want it, but they probably needed it to expand their
emotional palette and to provide a number of young and hugely
promising players with the adversity they require to fulfil
their potential.
Nothing stokes the internal fire quite like failure and while
there are legions of sports psychologists employed these days to
plant all sorts of motivational seeds in players' heads, it's a
simple truth that athletes find it easier to chase redemption
than they do trying to sustain a place on top of the world.
The hunger to get to the top is always more intense than the
hunger to stay there and the All Blacks' played with all the
desire they could muster in Yokohama, but England, who had
suffered the most intense humiliation four years earlier, had
more.
They had the taste of failure still fresh in the system. They
had the near demonic determination that comes with the need to
put things right while the All Blacks were chasing more of what
they already had.
In a sense it came down to the old argument of what motivates
best - fear or reward and in top level rugby, fear will win
almost every time.
The All Blacks learned this in 2007 when a World Cup loss to
France paved the way for the most successful decade in New
Zealand's rugby history.
Failure at that tournament made a generation of good players,
great players.
That loss to France drove Richie McCaw for the next eight years
of his career and was the inspiration for him becoming the
greatest leader the game has ever known.
That loss fuelled Daniel Carter's desire to stay in New Zealand
and only leave once he had won a World Cup with him at the helm,
the undisputed best play-maker on the planet.
They, and teammates such as Tony Woodcock, Ali Williams, Keven
Mealamu, Conrad Smith and Mils Muliaina, took the hurt and the
humiliation of that dreadful night in Cardiff and stored it some
place deep within themselves where it poked into their
respective souls, only easing once redemption came in 2011.
That defeat 12 years ago was New Zealand's darkest rugby hour
and while it felt in the immediate aftermath that it was the end
of everything, it proved to be the beginning of something
unimaginably good.
And what shouldn't be missed in the inevitable gloom of
introspection that comes in the wake of landmark defeats, is
that there are a handful of young players in the All Blacks with
the potential to write a history every bit as impressive as the
likes of Carter and McCaw.
Anton Lienert-Brown and Jack Goodhue are both only 24 and could
end up surpassing the midfield combination of Ma'a Nonu and
Smith in terms of experience and contribution.
Richie Mo'unga could be a brilliant All Blacks No 10 and Sam
Cane and Ardie Savea could be one of the greatest flanker
combinations the game has known.
Forget not that Beauden Barrett could be even better in another
four years, as could Brodie Retallick and by accepting the power
of defeat to reshape the emotional landscape is to see that the
loss to England is not only the end of one era, but also very
much the beginning of one.
The likes of Lienert-Brown, Goodhue and Mo'unga needed to feel
the full pain of World Cup defeat and experience the emotions
that come with failure.
They need to be driven by the more powerful goal of finding
redemption and ridding themselves of the taint of failure rather
than endlessly trying to sustain the legacy of those who went
before them.
Chris Rattue - New Zealand Herald
HTML https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=12280047
By: Chris Rattue
Sports writer
chris.rattue@nzherald.co.nz
COMMENT:
Steve Hansen's extraordinary reign as All Black coach has ended
with an embarrassing whimper in Yokohama a la New Zealand's most
infamous World Cup collapses.
But first, the very good news.
England's emphatic victory masterminded by the Aussie Eddie
Jones, a World Cup specialist, was not only good for rugby but
will rejuvenate the game in New Zealand. The drive to regain the
World Cup stirs more passions than efforts to keep it, and it is
from these very sorts of crashes that the All Blacks find new
gears.
A New Zealand side clinging on for a three-peat would have been
tiresome quite frankly, and probably not even healthy for the
game here. There's a new world order, a re-boot. Brilliant.
But this was a performance so disappointing that it may cost
Hansen's assistant Ian Foster the All Black coaching job.
And it at least raises other questions such as whether it was
wise to sign veteran superstar lock Sam Whitelock for four more
years.
Defeat against a terrific England forward pack was always a
possibility, but how the heck could it go so badly?
There were so many things wrong with a pallid All Blacks
semifinal effort that it's hard to know where to start.
And one place you wouldn't start is with Scott Barrett.
Hansen – when questioned – agreed that it was a mistake to put
the converted lock on the blindside flank. If he didn't throw
him under a bus, Barrett was certainly rolled in the general
direction.
And Hansen compounded this post-match gaffe when he shot down a
television journalist who asked, in effect, the very simple
question: Why didn't the All Blacks turn up?
It was the very question worth asking, deserving of a considered
answer instead of the "that's disrespectful" nonsense.
Apart from the sad "dive" by England captain Owen Farrell to
earn a penalty like one of those superstar football flakes, the
semifinal victors were utterly superb in Yokohama.
England were off the charts, led by forwards such as Maro Itoje,
Courtney Lawes, Mako Vunipola and Sam Underhill who can become
rugby legends who re-shape the international game. Itoje and
Vunipola were astounding.
Jones' men deserved to win by a lot more, and had a try rubbed
out for the sort of maul infringement which goes unnoticed in
hundreds of games every year. That decision by Nigel Owens and
his team could have haunted the tournament if the All Blacks had
won.
There were so many All Black fades in the face of England's
rampage that putting any extra attention on Scott Barrett is
akin to mentioning the dairy owner when your ticket doesn't win
Lotto.
There were far more experienced players who let the All Blacks
down, from the tired looking captain Kieran Read to the even
more tired looking Whitelock.
Richie Mo'unga was out of his depth, the prop revamp didn't
work, and Codie Taylor is not the player of 2018.
Four years of precise planning by a rugby regime which has
turned the game upside down in the pursuit of World Cup cream
turned sour.
With a few exceptions – I'd give a tick to
still-below-his-very-best Brodie Retallick – the All Blacks
capitulated.
They didn't physically confront England, and were tactically
embarrassed. They kept giving the ball back to a team that was
rolling over the top of them.
I believe it was a mistake to bench Sam Cane – the bruising
number seven should have started, with Ardie Savea providing the
second half energy burst.
But considering the extent of England's dominance, it is
pointless quibbling over the odd selection. And it is truly
bizarre to see Scott Barrett's selection as something more
significant than anything else, Hansen doing so by accepting
blame that should not have been laid so narrowly.
As for Hansen's exchange with Newshub's Andrew Gourdie, it felt
as if the departing coach - in his hour of greatest
disappointment - could not get his amusingly gruff media charm
offensive over the finish line.
The question about attitude was directed at Kieran Read, but
Hansen interjected saying "it's quite a disrespectful question
to suggest that the All Blacks turned up not being hungry."
The fact is there appeared something very wrong with the mental
preparation from the opening exchanges. It was a far more
pertinent question than any about Barrett.
Hansen is, I would still contend, the greatest All Black coach.
But the manner of the defeat has certainly dimmed that glow in a
way almost unimaginable before the Yokohama Drama.
As for Farrell, rugby will be knackered if staying down to draw
penalties becomes the norm. World Rugby needs to address an
issue which has already hit league.
The more immediate danger, for England, is that a stunning win
will knock the edge off their final effort. But Jones is looking
like a man with an answer for everything.
All in all, a great and possibly historic rugby occasion if
underperforming England can continue on this new path.
Dylan Cleaver - New Zealand Herald
HTML https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=12279989
By: Dylan Cleaver
dylan.cleaver@nzherald.co.nz @dcleaverNZH
OMMENT:
It stings a little bit, like undiluted Dettol on an open sore.
The fact that it's an England side coached by an Australian
makes it worse, no doubt.
Salty, even.
But it's the end of the World Cup, not the world.
Let's give magnanimity a go – we haven't tried it in this
situation for a while (since 1995 probably, and even that was
tempered by the enigma of Susie the Waitress).
England had a plan.
They came to stop the All Blacks playing.
They had all the answers, the All Blacks just a bunch of
open-ended questions.
Perhaps we should have seen it coming.
Perhaps Perth wasn't the anomaly it was painted as.
Perhaps Eddie Jones is just a little bit smarter than our
smartest.
That's two semifinals after all where his game plan has neutered
the best attacking team on the planet. Sixteen years apart,
mind. Still?
Please don't kick the cat.
Don't post beer-fueled rants on Facebook, or add tweets to an
echo chamber of grievance.
Don't spit venom at a coach that might have failed this time but
isn't a failure.
Don't aim your crosshairs at the captain who has given 126 tests
and 11 years of service to a cause so brutal that he will likely
spend the winter of his life managing pain.
Some players had better games than others.
You probably know who.
You're cleverer than the average punter.
We all are, aren't we?
That's sport.
It soars, it sinks, it never flatlines.
It keeps blood pumping through the veins.
That's why in a digital age when we have all sorts of reasons
not to engage with something as fundamentally human, we keep
coming back to it.
For consecutive World Cups it gave us pride as a nation and
reinforced the idea that our size and isolation will not be an
ongoing impediment to success, even in an era where the real
rugby money sits in vaults far north of the equator.
This one didn't go awfully, but it didn't go so well.
The All Blacks came up against an England side that is the real
deal.
Some teams are beaten the moment they line up in the tunnel and
see 23 blokes next to them dressed in black.
England used to be that sort of team.
Not so much now.
You could tell by the way they met the haka.
By the way they spent the first minutes of this game busting
tackles, stripping the All Blacks of possession and generally
imposing themselves at boss level.
You sense this is rugby's next great rivalry.
It's about time that England came to the party with all their
resources and bluster.
Not that it will give New Zealanders much solace right now.
Instead take small comfort in the fact that all good things must
come to an end and this has been a very, very good thing.
The All Blacks won 18 World Cup matches in a row (and no,
nobody's counting the Italy cancellation as a draw).
It will take England, or Wales, or South Africa, a long time to
surpass that feat.
It will take other rivals, here's looking at you Australia, even
longer.
There were times when it seemed inarguable that the All Blacks
were the best team at this tournament, but last night wasn't one
of them.
It still stings a little to write that.
Imagine what it must feel to live it.
#Post#: 29772--------------------------------------------------
Re: The NZ Papers
DIR By: Monte
Date: October 27, 2019, 11:18 am
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Black front page of NZ Herald on Sky review of the press was the
best. Little note to see sports pages for rugby report
#Post#: 29786--------------------------------------------------
Re: The NZ Papers
DIR By: Mayor West
Date: October 27, 2019, 2:17 pm
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They still can’t resist a little dig even when they are almost
giving us credit for beating them soundly. Not only us but any
other nation that hasn’t been as good for the last 12 years.
Coming second from bottom in the rugby championship wasn’t a
blip, they really are in decline.
#Post#: 29789--------------------------------------------------
Re: The NZ Papers
DIR By: Robertquin
Date: October 27, 2019, 3:25 pm
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Rather full of themselves aren't they?
#Post#: 29837--------------------------------------------------
Re: The NZ Papers
DIR By: T-Bone
Date: October 28, 2019, 6:09 am
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What was the alleged dive by farrell? We got a try disallowed
due to some fairly theatrical appealing by Whitelock (I think)
#Post#: 29844--------------------------------------------------
Re: The NZ Papers
DIR By: Fearless Fred
Date: October 28, 2019, 6:38 am
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--- Quote from: T-Bone link ---
>
> What was the alleged dive by farrell? We got a try disallowed
due to some fairly theatrical appealing by Whitelock (I think)
>
--- End Quote ---
When Farrell stayed down after being shoved in the face by
Whitelock, ending up reversing a penalty that had been awarded
against England initially.
#Post#: 29848--------------------------------------------------
Re: The NZ Papers
DIR By: ChiddQuin
Date: October 28, 2019, 7:07 am
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Still, look on the bright side, there's no mention of food
poisoning!
#Post#: 29859--------------------------------------------------
Re: The NZ Papers
DIR By: Quinky
Date: October 28, 2019, 9:10 am
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--- Quote from: ChiddQuin link ---
>
> Still, look on the bright side, there's no mention of food
poisoning!
>
--- End Quote ---
Give it time.
I can't believe they still go on about the 1995 final...
#Post#: 29875--------------------------------------------------
Re: The NZ Papers
DIR By: Banstead Quin
Date: October 28, 2019, 1:21 pm
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Interesting that only one of them mentioned the haka repost.
Clearly shows that they didn't have a problem with it. It seems
to be World Rugby's issue more than the Kiwi's......surprise
surprise
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