Keep All Blacks and England apart and let great
All this theorising whether England would beat the All Blacks isn’t such a bad thing. Rugby needs a bit of intrigue and an unanswered question gives just that.
If rugby bosses are smart, they will encourage New Zealand and England to keep avoiding each other until the 2019 World Cup. Keep the question unanswered — build the hype, the mystery and interest to create a rivalry that may be more about perception than reality. Anticipating the event is often better than living it in much the same way that the journey can be more fun than the destination.
The past month has done plenty to strengthen the view rugby should keep, as best it can, a few fixtures sacred. What November’s test window in the northern hemisphere showed is that it’s too easy to draw conclusions that aren’t quite right about the overall state of various nations and, by extension, the overall strength of rugby in the respective hemispheres.
The north had a good November — better than usual certainly with Ireland and England looking particularly good, Scotland emerging strongly and France reworking themselves as a side with significant potential now they are reconnecting with what make them tick.
In contrast, Argentina went backwards, Australia had one convincing victory, two lucky escapes and two defeats and South Africa were a shambles. The All Blacks won three from four but without their normal conviction. The amateur analysts are talking about a change in the game’s power base. After four southern hemisphere teams made the World Cup semifinals in 2015, the game has undergone a transformation apparently with the northern teams now setting the standards and leading the way.
Everyone sees a fixture between the world No 1 All Blacks and the world No 2 England as the best way to determine where supremacy lies: the game that would tip the balance.