New Zealand Dominance

Dominance in sport is unusual a team may be able to dominate for a certain period of time like Spain who up to this year’s World Cup dominated every major tournament since the 2008 European Championships. But no one team has had a vice like grip on any one sport like New Zealand have had in the sport of Rugby Union.

They have won two World Cups in 1987 and again in 2011 on home soil after many near misses in between. People often ask what the secret is, but as is always the case it is very simple they work hard on the basics of the game until they perfect them. Rugby Union of course dominates the New Zealand landscape and it goes so deep down in New Zealand that people’s moods are dictated by the result at the weekend.

New Zealand culture has always fascinated yours truly and of course their achievements on a rugby field have to be commended and rewarded. They are born winners and they certainly do not settle for second best. They are never happy, They must be one of the only teams in world sport who can beat a team by 40 or 50 points and not be happy with that performance. That cannot be thought that to me is an in-built function of the New Zealand mind set.

They were seen a chokers from 1987 until 2011. In that period they could not make their dominance in between World Cups count. They were beaten at every turn by far more focused teams , it was as if all they felt they had to do was turn up and the win was on the board. That particular trait is great in theory but you need to be able to back up the confidence with results and trophies.

 Until Graham Henry took New Zealand on they were never going to cross that bridge between winners and has beens. Look at the 2005 Lions tour where they dispatched that Lions team with ruthless aggression and no less skill. Lets not forget that squad was full of World Cup winners from 2003.

 Also Clive Woodward was the coach on that tour and before that tour he would have been regarded as the World’s best coach but in the aftermath of that tour his reputation was in shreds and Graham Henry ‘s name was on everyone’s lips even though he had coached Wales  and also the 2001 Lions Tour of Australia.

He of course was the man to mastermind that 2011 World Cup win and you take one look at the players at his disposal throughout that period , He had Mc Caw , Carter , Nonu , Marshall , Brad Thorn just to name 5 men that he could call upon. These men don’t know what it is to lose wearing that famous black fern. That must give you real confidence and some may say it gives you a cockiness that helps you when things are tight in a game.

Think back to Brian O Driscoll’s statement in 2005 that New Zealand rugby players are like robots , They can do plan A but if they need to change can they implement plan B. That question has been answered on a number of occasions in recent times.

 They were about to lose to Ireland back in November 2013 for the first time but they used that now well known resolve and their core skills to create a try from deep to see them level and then knock over the extra two to seal the game and go unbeaten in a season 14 from 14.

Can Ireland learn from this particular team and become as ruthless and as efficient as this group of All Blacks. It is not only the senior team that are this ruthless. There under 20s team are the same and the women are that way aswell. They never settle for 2^nd best and for that  reason New Zealand will continue to dominate rugby union for years to come.

By

Cian Mc Gibney.

24/06/2014.

North vs South – Battle of the Hemisphere’s

So at the end of three summer tours its advantage the Southern Hemisphere in the battle for supremacy before the 2015 World Cup. New Zealand whitewashed England 3-0 after a close first test , they went onto win the first test 20-15 and tests two and three 28-27 and 36-13. As always the first test was tipped to be the test that England had the best chance of winning for the first time since 2003. This did not happen and in the post-mortem of this English tour they will focus on their inability to finish the chances they create.

 In that first test England held the lead at half time but has so often been the case they could not close out the game and Conrad Smith scored a try in the 77^th minute to seal a first test win and again show the mental strength that has been seen many times since their World Cup win of 2011.

Both England and Wales faced a three test series and also a two test series in New Zealand and South Africa. From a Welsh point of view they were well beaten in the first test but stormed back in the 2^nd test to almost seal a first win over  a southern hemisphere side under Warren Gatland. Maybe Northern Hemisphere sides play too much rugby against Southern hemisphere teams and they totally lose focus of what they want to achieve.

 When southern hemisphere teams come up here to face their respective tours in November they don’t seem  to get caught up in the hype that Ireland , England , Wales and Scotland seem to suffer from when the big three come calling.

If any of these four teams can get a win over  “ The Big Three “  before the 2015 World Cup , they will put down a major marker down to say to the big three that they are still here. England were beaten 3-0, Wales were beaten 2-0 and Australia beat France 3-0 to make it 8-0 to the southern hemisphere over the summer tours.  

The big question is can the 6 – Nations sides pick up at least one win against the big three. If they can we can then dream of a northern hemisphere winner of the 2015 World Cup. Here’s hoping the internal pressure of beating the big three can ease and they can just focus on winning a test match and not have the weight of history on their back each time they play New Zealand , Australia and South Africa.

By

Cian Mc Gibney

23/06/2014.

Irish Mentality

The Irish mentality has always been in my opinion to be happy with 2^nd best and never to stride to become the best the number one side in any sport. Although in horse racing we are out in front in terms of excellence in the equine world.

In other sports though we do seem to settle for 2^nd best, I know we have won a Grand Slam and a Six Nations title in the last 5 years. But in between 2009 and 2014 Ireland have underachieved and they need to beat both South Africa and Australia next November to send out a real statement of intent and to set down an early marker to all the teams in our Group for the 2015 World Cup.

Since the tour to Argentina has finished with two wins over an under strength Argentina side that are fully focused on the Rugby Championship that begins in August. They sent 13 players away to Florida for a short camp to prepare. Ireland won the first test 29-17 and they won the second test 23-17. Both performances were below par and there is plenty of room for improvement before next November.

I still believe Joe Schmidt has begun to change the Irish mentality and the evidence to back that up came last March with Ireland holding out to win 22-20. But you go back to November 2013 when Ireland faced New Zealand and they had their greatest chance to beat them. They led 19-7 at half time and although they did not score in the2nd half they just came up short in their quest to beat what is widely regarded as the rugby team in the world.

 New Zealand have great players and terrific self-belief but I just feel Ireland failed to close out that game and showed a real lack of maturity that should be there at this stage of this teams development. Joe Schmidt was proud of his troops but I am sure deep down that he has a real tinge of regret that he and his side could not deliver the win that would have been a launch pad for an assault on the 2015 World Cup.

Then to use the momentum built up after that defeat to go on a beat the defending champions Wales in Dublin also to beat both Scotland and Italy at home and to go to Twickenham and only be beaten by 3 points against an improving England side. They travelled to Paris looking to win for a first win since 2000. They got that win by the minimum margin and they showed real hunger and desire. They showed a new side to them that seems to have developed between last November and February 2014.

Irish mentality does seem to have changed in Irish rugby circles. But in Football it still needs to change. We are now 70^th in the current World Rankings. This means that we will be in pot 4 for the 2018 World Cup draw. Can Martin O Neill turn things around over the next two years firstly to qualify us for Euro 2016 and ultimately the 2018 World Cup, only time will tell I suppose….

Irish mentality has always been a problem. We can’t help it, is it an inferiority complex and will we ever break that barrier down. For the good of Irish Sport I really hope so.

By

Cian Mc Gibney.

17/06/2014.

Irish Coaches

As we know in Ireland all we have in terms of home grown coaches in charge of any of the four provinces is Anthony Foley who has taken over as head coach at Munster on a two year deal.  Other Irish coaches are making names for themselves outside of Ireland. In the Premiership you have Mark Mc Call in charge at Saracens , Conor O Shea in charge at Harlequins and now Gloucester have appointed David Humphries to take over from Nigel Davies.

Munster have taken a massive step to give Irish coaches a real chance to prove themselves at the highest level by appointing an all Irish coaching team. Coming in alongside Foley are Jerry Flannery as scrum coach and Brian Walsh as backs coach. This is a massive chance for two young coaches , Flannery has spent some time with Arsenal as a strength and conditioning coach and Walsh has been head coach at Ulster Bank League side Cork Con. They have both finally been given major roles. Ian Costello has also been retained as skills coach so after many years of looking to outside coaches an Irish province has gone all Irish.

In Pro 2 in France, Biarritz have given Eddie O Sullivan the task of rebuilding the once mighty Biarritz back into Top 14 contenders. He will only be given one season to return Biarritz to the Top 14. That is how cut throat the leagues in France are be that the Pro 2 or the Top 14.

In the Premiership as we know Irish coaches have had a major impact both Conor O Shea and Mark Mc Call have kept both Saracens and Harlequins at the top since taking over from Brendan Venter and Dean Richards respectively. Harlequins of course have come back from the bloodgate fiasco of 2009 in a Heineken Cup quarter final against Leinster.

Bernard Jackman ex Connacht and Leinster hooker has taken over at Grenoble and guided them to a mid table finish in their first season in the Top 14. They qualified for the European Rugby Challenge Cup where they are in Pool 1. So we have seen that while these home grown coaches may not get a chance to shine at home they have all gone to pastures new and achieved big things with other clubs.

To be fair to the IRFU and the Munster Branch they didn’t look to far from home to replace Rob Penney and promoted Anthony Foley to what could still be considered one of the biggest jobs in club rugby.

Now that David Humphries has gone from Ulster to Gloucester to take on that head coach job it again goes to show that we produce top quality coaches that do go on to achieve big things with other clubs

Who knows if Anthony Foley works out as a head coach and returns Munster to winning trophies the IRFU along with the Branches of Ulster, Leinster and Connacht may promote from within to fill the big jobs into the future.

By

Cian Mc Gibney

16/06/2014.

50 Greatest Modern Rugby Players

After seeing a list of the 50 greatest rugby players, I have compiled my list of 50. Here are who I consider to be the 50 best players in no particular order.

1. Brian O Driscoll

2. Paul O Connell

3. Keith Wood

4. Martin Johnson

5. Richard Hill

6. Jonny Wilkinson

7. Fabien Galthie

8. Fabien Pelous

9. Yannick Jauzion

10. Shane Williams

11. Nicholas Mas

12. Wesley Fofana

13. Neil Jenkins

14. Jason Leonard

15. Martin Williams

16. Ryan Jones

17. Doug Howlett

18. Stephen Larkham

19. Victor Matfield

20. Matt Dawson

21. Ronan O Gara

22. Jonah Lomu

23. Oliver Magne

24. Imanol Harinorduquy

25. Joost Van Der Westheizen

26. Bryan Habana

27. Christian Cullen

28. Chris Latham

29. Brad Thorn

30. Dan Carter

31. Scott Gibbs

32. Justin Marshall

33. George Gregan

34. Mamuke Gorgodze

35. Conrad Smith

36. Ma’a Nonu

37. Jason Robinson

38. Stirling Mortlock

39. George Smith

40. David Lyons

41. Anthony Foley

42. Nathan Sharpe

43. Keven Mealamu

44. Richie Mc Caw

45. Tana Umanga

46. Will Greenwood

47. John Eales

48. John Smit

49. Raphael Ibanez

50. Gareth Thomas.

     

That is my list of 50. It would be great to get people’s opinions and lists.

By

Cian Mc Gibney.

09/06/2014.