Drought-breaking Blues on brink of big things at last
What would once have seemed as unlikely as Winston Peters ignoring a mirror will happen in Super Rugby Aotearoa: The Blues will become a major force again.
Before Covid-19 stopped rugby in March, coach Leon MacDonald had his team looking like the Crusaders — working hard and, most importantly, not seeking individual glory, but working for the team.
The Blues had their usual start to the 2020 season, losing to the Chiefs and Crusaders, but turned it around in South Africa, which might have rung some bells for MacDonald.
As a player for the Crusaders in their first golden era from the late 1990s, he would have seen how many times success was cemented into their season when they travelled to South Africa.
“When you’re living together day and night for a couple of weeks, the team gets tight, and you really start playing for each other,” said Todd Blackadder, MacDonald’s captain of the time.
When the history of MacDonald’s time at the Blues is written, the 33-14 win over the top South African team, the Stormers, on March 2 may be the opening chapter.
It wasn’t just that the Blues won, it was how, when the Stormers clawed back to be just six points behind with three minutes to go to the break, the Blues, far from caving in, struck back with a try on the stroke of halftime.
Hopefully, if regulations allow, there’ll be some sort of crowd at Eden Park when the Blues and Hurricanes meet on the afternoon of Sunday, June 14. Any Blues fans who do get in may never forget the weekend the rugby drought broke.
When a team has electrifying players such as Mark Telea and Rieko Ioane in the backline, they’re playing in daylight and, given the way the weather has been so far this winter, possibly with a dry ball on a firm ground, the potential for excitement is sky high.
And it case anyone forgets, this Blues team, already on a roll, will also have the most dynamic attacker in world rugby, Beauden Barrett, in their ranks.
It’s been a long, long time between drinks if you follow the Blues, but it’s time to get ready to raise your glass.
Coro-Na Cup
Money doesn’t talk, it swears, wrote Bob Dylan, so it was no surprise that World Rugby gave a big “**** off ” to any plans for a version of the World Cup next year in Britain.
In passing, what was startling was how speedy the response was for an outfit so dozy, they still haven’t sent a reply to a “please explain” query New Zealand Rugby sent in 2017 over the weird refereeing decision that almost certainly cost the All Blacks a series win over the Lions that year.
Francis Baron, who used to be the Rugby Football Union chief executive, had floated the idea of a 16-team competition that would have raised money for everyone involved.
If it had gone ahead, it would have been played in June and July, in the middle of the British summer. And whatever Donald Trump says about climate change being a Chinese hoax, summers in the UK stopped being the punchline for bad jokes years ago, with July weather making places like Harrogate feel more like Hawaii.
The big problem was that the golden goose of world rugby, a Lions tour, was due in South Africa at the same time.
The cash generated by the Lions is so great that we now know New Zealand Rugby virtually runs financially from Lions tour to Lions tour. It will be the same for the South Africans. And for the best players in Britain and Ireland, there’s a lazy $140,000 each on the table, with an extra $18,000 if they win the test series.
Given the massive influence of the power players in Britain behind the Lions, it’s little wonder an idea that would have helped rugby all over the world was shut down so quickly.
Failed rugby revolt
Talking of power — Agustin Pichot, having walked away from World Rugby after failing to win the presidency, hasn’t held back on suggesting why he lost a close vote 28-23 to England’s Bill Beaumont. (New Zealand voted for Pichot.)
“I was betrayed,” he said on television in his hometown of Buenos Aires. “Favours are being made on the edge of ethics. On our side, you will not find any type of negotiation. It was done that way, and for that reason, we lost. I would not have done it in any other way.”
With allowances for sour grapes, if Pichot, who had the potential to lead a massive shift in the game to make the playing field less tilted against smaller nations, really didn’t lobby, and make political promises, then the next challenger will need to be a lot more savvy street fighter.
Getting to the top in the cut-throat world of world sporting politics has rarely involved just a purity of intention and a good heart. And the best ideas are worth little if they’re being championed from the sideline.
Pichot is an intelligent, decent man. I hope he broods, plans and decides to return with negotiated reinforcements to breathe fresh air into an outfit that needs it.