James Mortimer - (17/10/2011)
Earlier in the week the Australian media claimed the All Blacks had played their greatest emotional card, with the 1987 World Cup winning team having a special lunch with their current counterparts.
These All Blacks don’t lack for motivation when considering the factors they could use to drive them on when approaching the Final this weekend against France.
There is the small matter of a 24-year winning drought at this tournament, with this now the sixth World Cup since the All Blacks have hoisted the Webb Ellis trophy in triumph.
Add to this being at home amongst their ‘stadium of four million’, the poignant emotion and feeling that is hammered back home every time we think about Christchurch and the devastating earthquakes, not to mention Jock Hobbs special touch in presenting the new All Blacks centurions their caps, Jonah Lomu being hospitalised during the World Cup – and let us not forget the shock when it was revealed Dan Carter was ruled out.
If anything, there was a risk that there was too much emotion or feeling, something that the All Blacks could have succumbed to.
But with a moment of clarity, I personally knew this was not to be the case.
As I was standing during the New Zealand anthem, I must admit – with no embarrassment - that for the first time I was in tears as I was overcome with emotion prior to arguably the biggest All Blacks test I had ever been privledged to watch.
Then it hit me.
The All Blacks, to a man, looked relaxed and composed, some belting out ‘God Defend New Zealand’, while others, as is their want, stood deep within their own thoughts.
However emotion, nervousness, or even the slightest look of apprehension, was not in sight.
These All Blacks were focused.
This team was calm.
They leaked a steely resolve that coach Graham Henry had said was a consistent theme building into the test.
This All Blacks team was always going to be judged on the World Cup, and while Henry and captain Richie McCaw have cautioned they are still to ‘win the damn thing’, they are now on the precipice of adding the one trophy that has alluded them for two decades.
In 2004, when Henry took over as All Blacks coach, there was a small hint of things to come as England – admittedly understrength – but World Champions, arrived in New Zealand and lost 36-3 and 36-12.
The Springboks may have won the Investec Tri Nations that year, but Henry would add to the All Blacks legacy, a word he has spoken of with hushed tones during his long tenure.
Last night’s victory against the Wallabies was the All Blacks 87th test win in 102 matches under Henry - pushing his statistic to 85.7 percent of games won.
It was also the 192nd win on New Zealand soil, a remarkable ledger from 235 matches that has seen the All Blacks colours lowered just 37 times in their own backyard since 1904 - a home winning record of precisely 81.7 percent.
These All Blacks, led initially by Tana Umaga and now captained by Richie McCaw, has given rise to the most experienced New Zealand test team of all time.
Five of the All Blacks ten Tri Nations titles have been won in this period, including a competition record four straight from 2005 to 2008.
The Bledisloe Cup has not been conceded since 2002, the solitary Grand Slam victory achieved by Graham Mourie in 1978 has had three successes added (2005, 2008 and 2010), while records have been re-written with trans-Tasman streaks, home winning runs, while 50 tests against Northern Hemisphere opposition has resulted in just two losses in eight years.
The one thing to all but confirm this team as one of the great All Blacks sides, and one of the best outfits of all time – is the Webb Ellis Cup.
France and eighty minutes now stand between the All Blacks, as they prepare to pass their final barometer.
No comments:
Post a Comment