Two tests ...
They came, they saw, we conquered them.
But what did we really learn from the All Blacks’ two wins over England?
2 But we don’t need Richie Mo’unga. I genuinely believe that. Great Super Rugby player who had a handful of good games for the All Blacks. Give DMac a chance.
3 Cortez Ratima is the best halfback option after the injured Cam Roigard.
4 Rieko Ioane is not at the races right now. Ioane has sometimes seemed square-peggish as a natural winger converted into centre. He was completely shut down by the English.
5 The All Blacks have a mighty scrum. The de Groot-Lomax propping partnership, in particular, is tracking to be as good as anything we have had.
6 But ye gods the lineout is poor.
... into Razor era
7 Beauden Barrett still has a lot to offer. He gets a deserved start against Fiji this afternoon but, honestly, the best bet is surely to have a fit-again Will Jordan at fullback and Beaudy being the world’s best impact player for the next few years.
8 Marcus Smith is some player. Quiet in the first test but showed all his bag of tricks in the second.
9 If Scott Robertson has a grand plan to reinvent the All Blacks, it is not yet clear what it is. Winning is obviously a good start. But will we see some real innovation this year? Too soon?
10 Referees deserve respect. But there were, shall we say, some rather odd decisions from the young Georgian bloke in the first test.
11 Atmosphere makes games, especially when international rugby is such a grind. And the Dunedin test fell a bit flat in that regard.
Where in the world?
New Zealand playing Fiji in San Diego. Crazy, really.
But the United States is hardly the final frontier for the All Blacks.
They first played there in 1906 — two games against British Columbia, in San Francisco and Berkeley — and returned in 1913 (13 games in five weeks, mostly around California), 1954 (couple of exhibition games), 1972 (v a New York team), 1980 (v USA in San Diego), 2014 (v USA in Chicago), 2016 (that historic loss to Ireland in Chicago) and 2021 (v USA in Washington, DC).
There have been much rarer venues for the All Blacks over the years: Bucharest (1981), Apia (2015), Robina (2021), the magnificently named Gilbert Brutus Stadium in Perpignan (1981), Montevideo (1976), Hong Kong (2008 and 2010) and the Oamaru Showgrounds (1930).
Doubles trouble
Why does nobody care about doubles in tennis?
Someone asked me that last week. And while I am quite sure plenty of people DO care about doubles, there is no doubt that form of the sport exists in the shadows. Most of the top players do not bother with it, and few fans can recall who won the major tournaments.
Shame, as it is can be fun to watch, and New Zealand has some cracking doubles exponents, world No 1 Erin Routliffe among them.
There is also the great Mansour Bahrami, the French-Iranian dude with all the trick shots. Check him out on YouTube.
Seasoned duo
Phil Salt is, despite being Welsh as a leek, a fairly regular member of the England cricket white-ball team.
And readers, I have exciting news.
The highest score of the current English T20 season — 120 not out off 53 balls — has just been blasted by an Essex batter. And his name .. his name, ladies and gentlemen ... is Michael Pepper.
We are THIS close to Salt and Pepper opening the batting for England.
Dunedin club rugby prediction
I am thinking . . . wait for it . . . the Sharks by 10.
Observant readers will have noticed this column had a shocker last week, tipping Southern and University to win the Dunedin club rugby semifinals (wrong), Valley to win the Citizens Shield (wrong, sob) and England to win the Euros final (it’s never coming home). This is why they call us experts, people.
Hence, by tipping the Sharks this afternoon, I am guaranteeing Green Island will win a first banner in 46 years. Up the Grizzlies.
Name of the week
Sting Ray Robb.
He competes for the AJ Foyt team in IndyCar racing.
Apparently the parents were huge Chevrolet fans and named him after the Corvette Stingray.
