When losing became a habit
It’s been fashionable to dismiss John Hart’s Class of 1998 as one of the most under-performing All Black teams of all-time. There is no denying they co-own the worst record in All Blacks history with five consecutive test defeats to Australia (three times) and South Africa (twice).
The dual holder of that dubious distinction were the 1949 All Blacks, who lost four tests against the Springboks and another (with a separate set of players, including Ma¯ ori banned from touring South Africa) in Australia.
But there have been worse All Black groups (remember the 1973 home defeat to England?) than the 1998 mob.
Hart, speaking to Stuff in 2018, noted when asked to reflect on 1998, noting that no media outlets had called him for ‘‘a 20th anniversary piece on 1997 which really was the golden year’’ [when the All Blacks won 12 out of 12 tests].
While Hart has never offered excuses for the 1998 campaign, he did point out ‘‘most of the games that year were very close’’. Three of the five defeats were by five points or fewer .
Hart was right to say the All Blacks were only comprehensively beaten once – when two late tries allowed them to close the margin to 27-23 against the Wallabies in Christchurch.
‘‘If the TMO [video replay system] had been around then, we would have won the game in Durban,’’ says Hart, who felt James Dalton’s last-minute match winning try would have been ruled out due to a dropped ball.
But the All Blacks blew that match after leading 23-5 with 15 minutes to go.
So, were the ’98 All Blacks a side in crisis mode or simply the alsorans in southern hemisphere rugby’s golden age? A bit of both.
Rod Macqueen’s Australia, who would go on to win the 1999 World Cup, fielded many men now regarded as all-time Wallabies greats – captain John Eales, midfielder Tim Horan, George Gregan, Stephen Larkham, Matthew Burke, Joe Roff, Toutai Kefu and Phil Kearns.
The Springboks, who won the Tri-Nations in 1998, had rebuilt since winning the 1995 World Cup final. Their formidable pack included current South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus, Mark Andrews, A J Venter and a young Bob Skinstad. They had a talented halves pairing in Joost van der Westhuizen and Henry Honiball and plenty of pace in the outside backs among Stefan Terblanche, Pieter Roussouw and Percy Montgomery.
The All Blacks had world-class performers, too, in fullback Christian Cullen, wings Jeff Wilson and Jonah Lomu, halves Andrew Mehrtens and Justin Marshall, locks Ian Jones and Robin Brooke and tighthead prop Olo Brown while the great Michael Jones was in the twilight of his career.
New Zealand entered the 1998 Tri-Nations as defending champions after four consecutive wins in ’97, following on from an historic first test series triumph in South Africa in 1996.
The All Blacks were rebuilding after losing three all-time greats in captain Sean Fitzpatrick, No 8 Zinzan Brooke and centre Frank Bunce, who, collectively, boasted 205 caps.
Halfback Justin Marshall was also only just back after snapping his Achilles tendon.
At various stages of the ’98 campaign, Hart dropped Mehrtens, Walter Little and Michael Jones and lost other key players to injuries. By the end of the series, he estimated the All Blacks had lost close to 450 international caps.
Backdrop
People forget now that, at that stage of his career, Hart was the All Blacks’ most successful coach.
The Aucklander had led the All Blacks to 24 test victories and just one defeat in his first two seasons in charge.
He was still basking in the glory of an historic first series win in South Africa in 1996.
However, Hart was also acutely aware the All Blacks were in rebuild mode. He even saw fit to warn a disbelieving public that the All Blacks might – perish the thought – lose a game in ’98.
While Hart could still call on 10 players from the 1996 series winning team, but he needed a new leader.
Fitzpatrick, the skipper since 1992, had carried a long-term knee injury in ’97. He reluctantly retired just two months out from the 1998 home series with England.
Hart had little time to groom a replacement.
Halfback Marshall had captained the All Blacks against England and Wales in 1997, but had made it abundantly clear he preferred to focus on his own game.
Hart’s other experienced options were nearing the end of their careers.
Michael Jones was 33 and injuries had started to take a toll. Locks Ian Jones and Robin Brooke were 31. Brown, 30, loathed media duties, which would have ruled him out as a captaincy contender.
So Hart approached Taine Randell, who burst on the test scene in 1997, and handed him two new roles in ’98 – Fitzpatrick’s captaincy mantle and Zinzan Brooke’s No 8 jumper.
It was never openly expressed, but resentment lingered in the All Blacks’ senior ranks at being led by a young, rookie officer.
Hart has since acknowledged it was a mistake to foist the captaincy on Randell so early in his career.
Randell admitted in a NZ Rugby World interview in 2002 that ‘‘getting the captaincy so young was just wrong’’.
‘‘We had guys in the team like Robin Brooke and Ian Jones – genuine New Zealand greats – and we had this punk little kid stepping into the breach.
‘‘It was no good for me. It was no good for the team.’’
The blame for ’98 could not be laid at Randell’s door. It was a collective failure against two better teams, not a lack of leadership.
MCG meltdown
The All Blacks dispatched an under-strength England, 64-22 and 40-10 in a one-sided series marred by an error-riddled second test performance.
A fortnight later, the All Blacks were up against Eales and his cobbers in front of 75,000 fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The Wallabies – hungry to turn around a seven-match losing streak against New Zealand – won 24-16, to inflict the All Blacks’ first ever TriNations defeat.
Hart admitted at the time the All Blacks were guilty of ‘‘too many mistakes and too many missed kicks’’ and ‘‘a lack of composure in decision making areas’’.
He reminded the public that the All Blacks were ‘‘human and we are going through change and it’s going to be difficult’’.
‘‘The reality is that we don’t have the right to be that arrogant about our performance to think we [should] win every game. That doesn’t happen any more in professional sport.’’
Athletic upset
Hart rung the changes for the final Athletic Park test against the Springboks in Wellington.
Out went Mehrtens, Scott McLeod and Joeli Vidiri from the backline. In came Spencer, Mark Mayerhofler and Lomu.
Close to 40,000 fans watched the All Blacks attack shut out for the only time in the series. They failed to score in the first half, trailing 3-0 to a Percy Montgomery penalty. Carlos Spencer’s second half goal was the All Blacks’ only score while the Springboks celebrated a converted try to Pieter Rossouw and another Montgomery penalty.
Hart admitted later it had been a mistake to ‘‘play Carlos, in hindsight . . . because he didn’t kick the goals’’.
Wallaby walkover
Hart brought back Mehrtens for the next test in Christchurch against the Wallabies, but lost flanker Josh Kronfeld to an injury.
He called up his old Auckland favourite Mark Carter, who had won three caps in 1991, but later left for a season of rugby league with the Auckland Warriors in 1996 before returning for two tests in 1997.
The All Blacks did not lose because of Carter, or any individual. The All Blacks struck a Wallabies side in vintage form on a perfect winter’s afternoon.
Young lock Tom Bowman gave Australia an early lead and the Wallabies – whose defence was first-class – strung together 18 phases before Matthew Burke scored what an Australian rugby writer later acclaimed as an ‘ensemble try’.
Second half tries to Jason Little and Stephen Larkham gave the Wallabies a 27-9 lead as Waltzing Matilda chants broke out in the Jade Stadium stands.
The All Blacks – guilty of 17 turnovers – scored tries to Cullen and Lomu in the final three minutes to make the final score a more respectable, 27-23.
The All Blacks showed their accountability when the whole squad attended a post-match press conference.
Three test defeats in a calendar year was the All Blacks’ worst run since 1994. The sun still rose next morning, but there were more disappointments to come.
Durban defeat
Hart made four changes for the test in South Africa, ending the All Black careers of Michael Jones – the great flanker he had introduced to first-class rugby in 1985 – and 50-cap midfielder Little.
They were axed completely while Ian Jones, after more than 70 tests, was dropped to the bench for new cap Royce Willis.
Isitolo Maka came in at No 8 for his first – and only – test start with Randell reverting to blindside flanker. Kronfeld returned at openside and Carl Hoeft earned his first test start at loosehead prop for Craig Dowd.
Eroni Clarke came back from a five-year hiatus as the All Blacks’ third centre of the campaign with Mayerhofler moving in to a more familiar second five-eighth role.
After conceding an early try to Stefan Terblanche, the All Blacks’ young pack dominated the Boks in the scrum and at the breakdown.
They struck back with a super breakout try with Lomu breaking Percy Montgomery’s tackle before Justin Marshall kicked ahead and won the race to the loose ball in the in-goal area.
Maka set up the second try with a big bust and a clever draw and pass for Randell to score and give the All Blacks a 17-5 halftime lead.
Two second half penalties by Durban-born Mehrtens extended the advantage to 23-5 – and it seemed the losing streak would be snapped.
But, somehow, the All Blacks conspired to lose it from there.
Trailing by 18 points with 14 minutes to play, the Boks took the game to the All Blacks. Joost van der Westhuizen and Bob Skinstad claimed tries. Clinging to a fourpoint lead, the All Blacks blew a chance to apply the coup de grace, turning over the ball at a scrum 5m from the Boks’ line.
Then Lomu was penalised for a late tackle. Honiball kicked for touch, a lineout drive was launched and Dalton was awarded a try under a ruck of All Black bodies despite a hint he had lost the ball.
Sydney struggle
With Olo Brown nursing a sore back, Kees Meeuws made his test debut in an all-Otago front row alongside Anton Oliver and Hoeft. Xavier Rush was the other new cap, at No 8 for the injured Maka.
The All Blacks raced out to an 11-0 lead after a Mehrtens dropped goal, penalty and a try to Cullen after Clarke’s fantastic offload.
Matt Burke missed three kickable penalties in the first spell so skipper Eales – known as Nobody because ‘‘Nobody’s perfect’’ – took over the duties in the second half, slotting 14 points.
Even then, at 19-14 down after a 14-6 lead, the All Blacks had one last chance to win the match and salvage some self-respect. Cullen made a searing break and kicked head, but Tim Horan won the race to force the ball.
The All Blacks had been beaten for the fifth time on the bounce.
Summary
So, what went so badly wrong in ’98?
Hart, speaking in 2018, says the All Blacks, back then, were ‘‘coming down’’ from two successful years, while ‘‘the Wallabies and South Africa were coming up’’.
The All Blacks were going through a rebuilding phase – any team in the world would have struggled to replace Fitzpatrick, Brooke and Bunce.
But they contributed to their own demise by blowing leads in Durban and Sydney.
‘‘That’s where experience comes in,’’ Hart said.
The Wallabies and Boks knew how to close out games, the All Blacks – average age 24 by the end of the series – didn’t.
The All Blacks were also guilty of too many errors under pressure and not nailing their goals in Melbourne and Wellington.
Apart from in Christchurch, the All Blacks had parity up front in most matches, but, strangely, a backline boasting Cullen, Lomu, Wilson and Mehrtens produced only seven tries in five games, never getting near a four-try bonus point.
It was a different game in 1998 – teams did not empty their benches. Tactical substitutions had only been introduced in 1996. The All Blacks made just two front row changes across five tests (both injury-enforced).
Would fresh legs have made a difference? Maybe. We will never know.
Injuries did not help, nor did some selection decisions – Spencer for Mehrtens in Wellington, McLeod and Mayerhofler – specialist 12s at centre, etc.
But cut some slack to the opposition.
The All Blacks won the TriNations in 1999, but crashed out of the World Cup semifinals where their loss to France was eerily reminiscent of their second-half surrenders in 1998.
The Wallabies won the TriNations in 2000 and 2001, when Hart’s successor, Wayne Smith, was All Blacks head coach.
New Zealand won it back in 2002 and 2003, but John Mitchell lost his job after a World Cup semifinal exit to the Wallabies.
No-one will forget the five flubs of ’98. Some will never forgive.
But few could argue with Hart’s contention that the late 1990s to early 2000s was a golden age of southern hemisphere test rugby.
Then, unlike now, every test hung in the balance.
‘‘The reality is that we don’t have the right to be that arrogant about our performance to think we [should] win every game. That doesn’t happen any more in professional sport.’’ John Hart