Posts tagged Sonny-Bill Williams
4 perspectives on Sonny-Bill Williams
0I’ve been avoiding wading in on the Sonny-Bill Williams saga because it’s being done to death in the papers so here’s 4 perspectives
1. End the hurt – get everyone you can
New Zealand haven’t won the World Cup since the first one in 1987
That’s 24 years and 5 cups that we have gone without and it hurts – a lot!
For a nation that prides itself on producing the best rugby players and has the best rugby team, we aren’t doing it when it really matters.
We are the England of football. They won the football world cup in 1966 when they hosted it and haven’t won it since - despite a lot of their fans thinking/expecting that they should.
Brazil are treated like the favourites almost every time a football World Cup is played, just like the All Blacks in rugby. But Brazil have won 5 out of 19 football world cups, a 23.6% success rate.
We have won the rugby World Cup once out of 6 times, which is a 16.66% success rate.
Australia and South Africa are at 20% with 2 wins each and we are with England on one win.
New Zealand is the third equal performing rugby team in world cup history
We demanded that the Rugby Union take action and they tried to get the best players for this World Cup
They went out to entice some of our top players back and recruit Sony-Bill Williams
- Karl Hayman
- Nick Evans
- Luke McAllister
- Chris Jack
- Aaron Mauger
Two of the ex-pats came back but neither have made the squad.
Luke McAllister was one of the standouts of the 2007 World Cup. He was making breaks and creating tries. He also backs up at first five eigth, a potential problem area for the All Blacks.
McAllister had a great season with Sale in the English Premiershi and came back to play in the World Cup but it didn’t work out.
We got SBW - and good on the Union for that.
2. In the modern game the All Blacks need X-Factor to win a World Cup
New Zealand has tried to play platform, highly disciplined rugby in the past but it didn’t work that well.
John Mitchell had a very regimented playing style and it resulted in a bad loss at home to England in the lead up to the 2003 World Cup and a loss to Australia the following year in the semi-final.
Why doesn’t a conservative, platform-oriented style work?
- We aren’t as big as many of our opponents (South Africa; England)
- Set pieces aren’t the focus of New Zealand (domestic) rugby
so we don’t have a culture of scrum and mauling; and our lineout has been shakey under pressure
Ours is a fast, expansive game. Australia proved last weekend that this can be shut down.
We need exceptional individual players in key positions.
Chris Laidlaw talked about x-factor in the lead up to the 2003 World Cup. He was concerned about the style of pley we would adopt and where tries might come from. Basically, we could compete at several areas of play but lacked penetration and genuine try-scoring ability.
We have more of that now than before, but the argument is simple
- New Zealand needs serious x-factor
- Sonny-Bill has serious x-factor (regardless if it has yet to be exploited to its maximum potential)
3. There really isn’t that much competition at second five
The only centre-playing guy I’d like to see in the squad who isn’t there is Rene Ranger – and he is injured.
Ranger is a risky player but I believe he should be given more opportunities to see if he can reduce his error rate on the international stage. Ranger scores tries that other players cannot.
After Ranger, New Zealand does not have a lot of elite talent in the centres at the moment. Robbie Freuen is the exception and he plays centre, not second five.
Conrad Smith and Richard Kahui are in front of him at the moment. Perhaps he should have been given a chance before now.
4. There’s still time to see SBW at his full potential
I personally would have loved to see Sonny Bill play sevens. He was rushed into top rugby in France and rushed into it in New Zealand and we never got to see him run, pass and tackle in the more open format of sevens rugby.
There are 4 less players on a rugby league field and I think sevens rugby would have helped his transition. It has worked wonders for many other players.
Jonah Lomu sparked the interest of everyone including coaches and selectors when he was running in the open spaces of Hong Kong Stadium in 1994 as an 18 year old schoolboy. He was not even in the frame for the 95 World Cup at the time.
In fact, he was back in Hong Kong the following year just 2 months out from the World Cup in South Africa still not considered a world cup prospect.
Jonah Lomu was a very late inclusion in the 1995 World Cup team and his impact is the stuff of legend
We need players running off SBW when he has the ball and we need him threatening the line more.
When he played league – defenses were in 2 minds when he was running. Stop the man and then try to cover the guys he might pass two while you are trying to stop him because he can get the pass away with 3 men on him.
Tries got scored off his back-flip passes. It’s up to All Black tacticians to make the most of the talent that is SBW.
There is still time to see him at his best in a black jersey. If we do not, then those responsible for his development have just as much to answer as he does.
As for the 2012 super rugby and NPC competitions?
Who cares!
Win the World Cup
End the Hurt
Must applaud retention of Dan Carter but is it enough?
0We’ve talked a lot about all the players who have left or are planning to leave New Zealand and so we must applaud the NZRFU for retaining Dan Carter.
The contract has flexibility for playing stints in high paying competitions in the years between world cups and no doubt includes the highest salary ever paid to a New Zealand sportsperson plying their trade in New Zealand.
Sonny-Bill Williams has even more flexibility in his contract. Believe it or not, the Crusaders and All Black centre is due to box in a professional bout during a bye weekend.
I’ve been hoping to see a well thought out medium-term strategy for the preservation of the All Blacks brand. So far there have been flexible contracts for 3 chosen players.
[Ali Williams has had a planned sojourn to the USA for some time]
No doubt there was everything the Union could afford thrown at Carl Hayman to try and lure the highly accomplished tight head prop back to NZ for the world cup.
The same would have been done for Nick Evans bit both men chose to remain in Europe and who can blame them. The Carter, Williams and Williams contracts clearly gave them what they needed and Hayman and Evans’ ones do the same for them.
The Issue
If current big paying contract offers continue in the way they have done through a global recession, the likelihood that the NZRFU can afford to retain the best players becomes less and less likely.
The options?
A. Get more money so you can pay them more
OR
B. Come up with a model that works with the top players playing in foreign competitions
The risk of not coming up with a genuine, workable solution is that the All Blacks brand becomes diluted and devalued – devalued by the stakeholders including you and me and devalued by sponsors like those who pay millions to outfit the team.
A lot of people treat the All Blacks like they are the Brazil of football. Favoured to win any contest anywhere in the world whether it be a one-off Bledisloe, a mid-week tour match against Munster or every World Cup ever played.
The reality is that our World Cup record reads more like that of England – ‘We won it in ’66 but haven’t really looked like winning it since’.
This is harsh on Laurie Mains and the ’95 team I know but a fact is a fact – we haven’t won it since we hosted the first tournament in 1987. That’s 5 in a row!
5 times people favored the All Blacks to win and on 4 occasions we didn’t even make the final.
How long before the secret is out – that we are not the best rugby team in the world?
And how long before the value of the All Blacks brand suffers?
The powers that be have got to find ways of generating revenue outside of the News Limited deal – ways that allow players to play their rugby where they choose and it not come down to an argument of salary vs country.
Freedom from News Ltd means freedom from SANZAR, Super Rugby and the Tri-Nations.
This would come at a huge cost. The deal is worth around $35 million in TV rights.
Bit it does cover pretty much all rugby in NZ and all All Black matches.
How many other codes do this?
Would our football team have gotten close to qualifying for the FIFA word cup?
Ideas
North v South
Revive the old rivalry and turn it into a State of Origin with similar parochialism and fervor. The resulting Kangaroo side that comes out of the State of Origin series is unbeatable.
Forget the farcical Probables v Possibles crap and give the people something they can really get excited about.
Europe v Asia
See how the Franks brothers measure up to Carl Hayman and what would happen if Nick Evans squared off with Dan Carter.
These would not only be opportunities for locals to see their favorite Kiwi players but to gain a greater appreciation for the All Blacks brand.
Also, it might allow for an even greater playing pool for All Black selectors. Players eligible for Pacific Island nations as well as New Zealand may not feel compelled to make a decision.
Recent comments