Winners & Losers : Blues triumph includes warning for All Blacks
Losers The All Blacks maybe
The Blues’ escape against the Brumbies made for a gripping end to their Super Rugby clash.
This Blues outfit is unrecognisable from the rabble which has been misrepresenting Auckland rugby for decades, a team to be proud of.
But the joy might end there if you are analysing whether the All Blacks revival is on track.
The best of the Australian teams — the Brumbies and Waratahs — are much closer to the Kiwi sides than people imagined. This, despite Australian rugby being stuck in a low ebb with almost no genuine world stars in their ranks.
Maybe the most informative part of the Blues-Brumbies match occurred just before Beauden Barrett’s winning dropped goal when the Brumbies’ rolling maul waltzed through the Blues pack like it wasn’t there.
The Brumbies pack didn’t even have to twist and shout. Their forwards quickly settled into a structure from a lineout and trundled down like a Telly Tubby strolling through a field.
It was just another danger sign. New Zealand has dominated Super Rugby since the 2015 World Cup victory, yet the All Blacks have been caught and overtaken by a muscular pack.
New Zealand rugby’s problem isn’t beating Australia. We’ve been smashing them in all areas for decades.
But South Africa, England, Ireland, France . . . that’s another matter.
Or to put it another way: Has New Zealand found a way to produce the required test players despite Super Rugby?
Or put it this way: Why is Barrett (one of my favourite footballers ever) running wild in Super Rugby when his test career has crept backwards?
Winner The PGA
More wonderful drama from a golf major, this time the PGA Championship on a tough course in Oklahoma.
A leaderboard of rising stars included the Chilean Mito Pereira, whose collapse on the last hole — when in sight of victory — was agonising to watch.
There were all sorts of other storylines, including Tiger Woods hobbling around on one-and-a-half healthy legs.
Maybe the PGA has things to work on, but golf doesn’t need a rival league. Golf isn’t broken, because it does tradition as well as any sport.
The four Majors provide many of the highlights of any sporting year. Saudi Arabian money will never come close to matching that.
Winner Mito Pereira
The Chilean golfer, the world
No 100, was warmly wonderful in a TV interview after the heartbreak of seeing the PGA title slip from his grasp on the final hole. As the commentators remarked, hopefully there are not too many deep scars for a man who may never get that close to the ultimate glory again.
Winner Equality
What a remarkable deal.
The United States men and women will pool their World Cup prizemoney, American football’s way of balancing out the unequal Fifa payouts. I can’t see many others following suit, but it is still a significant moment in a transitional period of hope for women’s sport.
Loser Matt Lodge
The troubled prop walked out on the Warriors, which is no surprise. Everyone knew he had a prickly personality.
Ironically, Lodge was probably their best player in the weeks leading up to his walk-off. Maybe he was trying to push up his price elsewhere.
The Warriors should be much more discerning about who they sign in the first place if they want to turn that wobbly club around.
Too many people, and not just players, have been allowed to use the Warriors for their own ends.
As for Lodge . . . good riddance.
Winner Inclusiveness/clumsiness
Eritrean Biniam Girmay became the first black African to win a stage of the Giro d’Italia. He may also be the first sportsperson in history to need a hospital visit after popping a champagne cork into his eye while celebrating on the podium.
Winners Black Ferns
The sevens stars won in Toulouse, a much-needed tonic for Kiwi women’s rugby in this World Cup-hosting year.
Winners Queensland league
The Broncos and Cowboys are resurgent, which is great for the NRL.
Winners Manchester City
Football fans expected to wake up yesterday morning to find that Manchester City had retained their Premier League title, holding off Liverpool.
But the manner of their final comeback victory over Aston Villa was certainly a shock.
However, it wasn’t a shock to see the superlative Kevin De Bruyne produce a stunning run to set up the winner, as City scored three in five minutes.
With Norwegian wonder striker Erling Haaland on the way, Manchester City are primed to make it a three-peat in the world’s greatest domestic sports competition next season.
Winner Mohamed ElShorbagy . . .
. . . for putting some spice into squash. The Egyptian thanked Paul Coll’s coach Rob Owen for putting too much pressure on his Kiwi charge.
ElShorbagy reckoned Owen’s reported comments, that Coll was almost unbeatable, was “one of the most stupid articles I’ve ever read”.
The Egyptian duly beat Coll in their world championships semifinal.