Muddled and mediocre, at best
All’s right in the rugby world. The All Blacks arehome and out of quarantine, captainsamcane has been crowned player of the year andwe can all write off the team’s ordinary performances to Covid-19.
That’s about the tenor of things right now, isn’t it?
Cane, for instance, has proved his leadership credentials by playing well. Nevermind that the team had a 50per cent win rate and suffered miserable defeats to Australia and Argentina.
Youonly had to watch thepumas and Wallabies play each other to realisehowlimited each of those sides were. Andyet they both cleaned upthe All Blacks.
Again, though, that’s not the narrative now.
No, from head coach Ian Foster on down— he declared himself
“satisfied” with 2020— we’re sitting back and admiring these brave fellows in black. They’ve been through a lot, you know, what with having to justify their big pay packets by actually playingsomerugby.
The domestic part was too taxing, mind. Not enough walkovers and byes and All Blacks-prescribed rest weeks.
Internationally, we’re being told to cherish the Tri-nations trophy as if it meanssomething and to savour the wins over Australia in Sydney and Argentina in Newcastle. They’re a true reflection of this team under Foster and Cane, not the other rubbish that wasserved up.
You’ll probably have detected a tone to this column by now. Maybe deduced that I haven’t been dazzled by the All Blacks’ performances this year andamnot ready to rewrite history.
That Idon’t feel that, because a panel gave Cane a prize and he did a little bit of media, weneed to pretend this has been a stellar season of All Blacks rugby.
Samcane has played well this year. He’s an immensely braveman whoalways tries his best. But, let’s be frank, that’s the leastweshould expect from every All Black, let alone the captain.
Wewent through this before with Kieran Read, whenhewasskipper. There were periodswhenhis play actually wasn’t that good but, boy, look outwhenhe did play well.
Anyonewho’d been critical of Captain Kieran priorwaspromptly told to tender an apology.
All Blacks teams need to win. And win well. Newzealand rugby hasn’t scaled the heights it has becausewe all endorse mediocrity. Far from it. Excellence is the expectation and anything short of that is a failure. Which takesmeback to the top. Weseem to be acting— or least being told or encouraged to act— as if this has been a satisfactory All Blacks’ season.
The team’s admirable captain has been praised for being a fine fellow (which he is) and we’re allnow looking forward to seeing coach Fozzie and the boys build on their TriNations title-winning success. Is that a fairsummaryor not?
Again, Cane is a good bloke. You knowhe’d be a great mate, whocould be relied upon in any situation. Cane’s the kind of guy you’d be happy for your daughter to marry and you just knowhe’s going to enjoy a full and successful life after rugby.
But the team lost to two pretty ordinary teams in 2020 andwonjust three of the six tests they played. And whenyou get results like that, then the captain, the head coach and the first five-eighth are responsible. Always have been, always will be.
This has been as bad an All Blacks season thatwecould have imagined. Tobe that average, against such scant opposition, really isn’t an endorsement of those in charge.
Will it be any better in 2021? Maybe. It’s hard to be a lotmore positive than that.
Yoususpect that if the team succeeds it will be in spite of Foster while, despite Cane’smanyfine qualities as aman, he doesn’t look like the actual leader of that team. That’s Samwhitelock.
The 10 bit is aworry, too. Either Richie Mo’unga or Beauden Barrett needs to be in charge but, for the time being, it appears as if it’s neither.
We’vecometo the point where one needs a clear run without the other, otherwise we’re going to continue to get the muddled footy we’ve had ever since Mo’unga emerged. It’s nice to have multiple playmaking options, but the first five has to have absolute authority and youdon’t look at that All Blacks team and see anyone who’s taking ownership for the winning and losing of matches.
It’s easy to like Cane. Just as itwas to like the similarly-admirable Taine Randell, whenhe was All Blacks captain. Only the team didn’t win under Randell. Or at least win often enough.
Youdidn’t develop a sense that Randell, for all hismanyqualities, had acommandover that side or that the team were fully playing for him. The results bore that out.
Wecan all sit around and write puff pieces about Cane. Wecan garlandhim with awards and proclaim his greatness as ahuman being.
But it’s the results that matter in the end and 2020’s didn’t reflect that well on the All Blacks captain.