THE ULTIMATE TEST
As Steve Hansen would tell it, it’s just 80 minutes of footy. No lives will be saved, no worlds altered when the All Blacks meet the British and Irish Lions at Eden Park to decide global rugby supremacy. It means so little, yet so damn much.
It was interesting to hear Hansen play down the significance of today’s finale to this wonderful series (locked 1-1) between the No 1 team on the planet and the collective might of British and Irish rugby. He drew on his police background to compare this hefty sporting moment with trying to save a life through CPR, or informing next of kin later you had failed in that duty.
It was an odd comparison by a man who makes his living in the sporting theatre. No one pretends the drama here matches the more meaningful stuff of real life, but that’s not to say it does not matter. Just ask the 20,000 Lions fans who have outlaid small fortunes to follow the pilgrimage south. Just ask All Blacks captain Kieran Read, who, like the six men who have been before him, will be desperate to mark his 100th test with a victory.
On reflection, this is the All Blacks coach attempting to ease the pressure off his men as they look to quickly refind their identity after their Wellington walkabout. The Big Bear does not waste his words from his media soapbox, and inevitably there’s a message to be delivered.
Hansen’s ‘‘nothing to see here’’ tone contrasted sharply with Warren Gatland’s final public words to his Lions, who have created a vortex of hope, optimism and swagger on the basis of a 15 v 14 (24-21) victory at the Cake Tin. He says it is their chance ‘‘to do something special, to create their own bit of history and leave a Lions legacy’’.
Undoubtedly this is an occasion when the All Blacks must be motivated more by the fear of fail- No pressure young fella. Your first test start is just the biggest match the All Blacks have played since the World Cup final. If the 20-year-old handles the inevitable pressure coming his way, and stamps his own mark, it will provide a huge lift for the New Zealanders. Don’t be surprised if he does just that.
ure than joy of winning (only once before have they lost a home series after leading 1-0, way back in 1937 against South Africa). Win at Eden Park, where they haven’t been rolled since 1994, and they will be just another (the 11th) All Black team to defeat the Lions in a series. But lose and they join their 1971 predecessors as the only New Zealand side to have failed to quell the great touring troupe.
That sort of infamy would not sit well at all with an era of All Blacks who have tucked away back-to-back World Cup triumphs, established unprecedented domi-
nance over their southern hemisphere rivals and have now lost just five of their 71 tests under Hansen since 2012.
That’s why this past week has been unusual for these All Blacks. They hadn’t lost a test at home in eight years. They are having to relearn a few old skills in terms of regrouping, rethinking and reclaiming lost territory.
Their task is a pretty simple one. Last week circumstances – notably Sonny Bill Williams’ 24thminute red card – forced them to narrow their vision, hunker down and dig their way out of a tight spot by playing as little rugby as they dared. It did not work.
The personality swap was complete when the Lions roared home with the only two tries of the match in the final quarter.
The message has been consistent from the All Blacks camp. They must widen their vision and their ambition. They can’t die wondering a second week on the bounce.
Backup first five Aaron Cruden, who will play his 50th, and final, test on Saturday, summed it up beautifully: ‘‘One of the things we’ve spoken about is we’d love to
go up [on the scoreboard] in 7s this week. We were going up in 3s last week and it didn’t get us over the line.’’
In short, the All Blacks have to go back to being All Blacks. Front up physically, but play some footy with it. Find pace, find width, and use their skills to befuddle. They did it pretty well in the first test, but then Williams’ act of malfeasance in the second turned everything on its head.
‘‘It’s going to be a physical test,’’ surmised Hansen. ‘‘Every test is won up front. We won the first one up front, they won the second one
up front; so whoever wins that battle on Saturday will probably have a smile on their face.
‘‘We’ve got to go out there and own our little piece of the dirt individually and as a team, get some go-forward, and play some rugby. When we do that, all that other stuff goes out the window.’’
As flanker Sam Cane put it: ‘‘Whatever happens the sun will still come up the next day, and your loved ones will still love you. At the same time, we’re very driven to get the result we want.’’
Sporting theatre at its best. Win, lose or cry.