World Cup curse of crashing Kiwis
Get used to it New Zealand. Come October there will be another heartache semi-final exit as yet another of New Zealand’s national teams implodes.
The Black Caps were smashed in their last three matches at the Cricket World Cup and the manner of defeat against Sri Lanka reminded me so much of the All Blacks last two rugby semi-final exits.
The Black Caps couldn’t cope with the pressure of the occasion. Their fielding was ordinary, their bowling indifferent and their batting exposed as brittle. The New Zealand batting, so powerful in the early part of the tournament, folded with the weight of expectation. It surely is a sign of things to come with the All Blacks.
Cape Town, in 2005, and Rustenburg, in 2006, were evidence enough to know that the All Blacks are more than capable of that one horror match a year. And to lose the World Cup all they need to do is be true to form and produce that shocking 80 minutes against the Springboks.
Already their management are talking up the brutality of the Springboks. Already there is doubt within the All Blacks camp. Influential members of the All Blacks keep on reminding the public that victory at this year’s World Cup is not a done deal and that South Africa, in particular, pose a real threat.
It is as if they are preparing their public for the worst and the Springboks in Jake White’s squad know the only team the All Blacks fear physically are the boys in green. There is a disregard in New Zealand for the challenge of England, Wales and even Ireland. The New Zealanders simply believe they can’t lose to those players. There is a respect for Australia and France, only because the two have done New Zealand in the World Cup at the last two semi-final appearances.
But there is genuine fear that the Springboks will be physically too potent in a one-off situation. And it is a fear the Boks can already smell.
It is interesting how many of the current Bok squad have privately noted how much respect the Boks are being given in New Zealand. As some have said, it is as if New Zealand are already talking themselves into defeat.
White has the squad to beat the All Blacks, but his job will be all that easier if the All Blacks have already beaten themselves before kick-off.
I loved watching the Black Caps getting smashed. A World Cup semi-final implosion. Get used to it New Zealanders. This one is minor to what’s coming in October in Paris.
April 25th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
Love it Keo…. STIR THAT POT!
Here’s hoping you’re right!
April 25th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
Dragons
April 25th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
Tempting fate, are you?
April 25th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
Go Keo, Go Keo, Go Keo!!!!
April 25th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
The Proteas suffered a serious blow hours before squaring up against Australia for the World Cup semi-final on Wednesday as fast bowler Andre Nel injured a finger.
April 25th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
ouch!!
April 25th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Bwahahahah!!!
Lekker man lekker!!!!
Go Bokke!!!
April 25th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Keo’s best article yet!!!!
What we [the BOKS] have to do is smash England, Samoa and Australia in South Africa and beat the All Blacks here. Then send a competitive yet second string team on the away leg of the 3N’s.
Keep the players who they respect and are a little afraid of for the WC in France.
April 25th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
My heart agrees with you Keo but that last bit make me rather nervous. Unfortunately we also lost to them in this world cup! That aside , I hope this article is a premonition for things to come.
April 25th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Nou doen daai klomp moffies wat jou ban as jy se poepol op silver fern die volgend:
Some kiwi will take this article and post it there saying: SA journo bashes kiwis….Maaaaa!!!, hulle spot met my!!!
April 25th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Oh Tackles! Tackles! Where are you…
April 25th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
What’s happening in October ?
April 25th, 2007 at 12:32 pm
Keo .. the difference is that the black caps have never been close to the best at cricket in the world, it is no surprise that Sri Lanka won, they are a better team, and a good bet to win in the final.
The AB on the other hand are power, I would not write them off to soon, they are to good not to win the wc again soon .. what happens if they have that once a year bad game against the boks in the 3N and not at the wc.
That said, I think they will be very nervous to face the boks at the wc .. I’m glad that the respect for the boks is back in NZ.
SA has the players to win the wc, the question is, will they be abel to do it dispite joke white, barney smit and the useless assistant coaches holding them down.
April 25th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
I have got a copy of that fabulous game in RWC99 when the french smashed the all blacks. The French should have had another try before half time, wilson had grounded the ball before his own line and was awarded a 22 drop out instead of the french getting a try, of which a french player grounded the ball after wilson had grounded it. But there is another brilliant french try against the all blacks on youtube.com. The french ran the ball from their own backline, i think Sella was involved there. So yes they need to be re-running that RWC99 semi final on french tv for the entire duration of the world cup, morning, noon and night. After that semi final defeat there was councelling hot lines in new zealand to help the supporters, how pathetic
April 25th, 2007 at 12:35 pm
Hehehehe – good one Keo!
I loved the look on Flemming’s face! Hope we can get Richie to do a Flemming come WC…
I have to admit though, I like Richie a LOT more than Flemming!
Oh, and I read on another site that Flemming has ‘hung up the ol’ boots’…
April 25th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
5 semi-final exits for the Black Caps … number four coming for the All Blacks
April 25th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
I have always said:
“Four more year”
April 25th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
“Years” even
April 25th, 2007 at 12:43 pm
Amen, this is your best article ever Keo!
April 25th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
#13 on your ending, can you just give me a solution on how you will ensure that we win the world cup. you seem to have a problem with Jake, John and the assistances. Who would you rather put in there. Be realistic when you answer this!
April 25th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
LOL Keo, lets not jump the gun now..Graham Henry is a very smart man.
April 25th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
In your dreams Keo.
we heard last week all about how the baby boks were too big and brutal for the under 19 all Blacks.
Ha ha, what a joke, the got given a hiding by a TEAM playing real rugby, big and brutal just couldn’t keep up!
I can’t believe that you, Keo, haven’t moved on from that dumb old ‘bigger is always better’ mantra.
It was really tired 10 years ago, and it doesn’t get any more effective by repeating it ad infinitum.
April 25th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
Keo, one would assume that you are patriotic but I think you are really busy amusing yourself.
South africa in my opinion and in particular opinion makers like you need to start thinking realistically and with some humility. Evidence before us shows us that as South Africa we cannot really shout that we are physically stronger than NZealanders. Correctly we can say we can compete with them but records show that over the past 5 years NZealanders have won ore than we have.
I think the fact that NZealanders see us and talk openly that SA can be a threat shows that these people are thinkers and are already protecting their teams by directing pressure to SA.
NZealanders yesterday lost to a better team and we must give credit to Sri Lanka bcause they played better and used their resources better.
April 25th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
Geez you guys are a sad bunch. It seems you feel better about your own worth when the standard setters experience misfortune. If you are actually happy that sa can scrape a win against the all blacks in one off clashes, then you are a bunch of losers. Well done to nz for dominating rugby at the moment. Just like we did prior to isolation. If we are too **** now-due to political interference in sport- to challenge the all blacks for out and out supremacy then it is petty to take some absurd sense of gratification from seeing them fail due to obscure psychological issues. You’re a bunch of wannabe’s. If we cant rule the rugby world, i’d rather have it be our worthy rivals the all blacks, than the upstart aussies or english…
April 25th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
Who want’s to bet that Tackler is going to say that he was supporting to Ozmob all along and that the Black Craps did not choke. Any takers?
April 25th, 2007 at 12:51 pm
Stirring… Where are our NZ friends? KEO how can you compare NZ Cricket to Rugby???????????
April 25th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
16mm very sharp, don’t know how you picked up on that, was trying to be suttel about it
lets see .. what we I do .. firstly joke white sould have been fired at the end of last years 3N, but he was not, so know it will be more difficult to win the wc.
Now what .. pray pray and then pray some more ..
Hope like hell Rassie can make a possitive contribution and get joke white to see past his obsession with size, caps, one gameplan and rush defence.
April 25th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
The AB’s may not even make it to the WRC semis. Their pool includes the likes of Scotland, Italy, Romania and Portugal. They will have to face either France, Ireland or Argentina in the quarter finals. IMO the rusty Blacks will have had a month of easy matches, ready to face a team that has had some serious game time.
April 25th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
There Cricket might be up to **** , but there rugby is the best in the world.
April 25th, 2007 at 12:57 pm
#8 Totally agree with you.
I bet you the AB’s shrink has been working on their mental health-the Captain Morgan has worn off and they are experiencing some DT’s (shakes and sweat)about their inability to skae the Choker tag
The AB’s on a neutral ground against SA are pretty normal and even another 20 week conditioning camp will ot clear their heads
April 25th, 2007 at 1:02 pm
Tacitus, your post #24 holds no merit.
If we beat the AB’s in a one off match, becuase of their perceived psychological issues and we go on to win the WC… surely we are then the best team in the world?
Arent we then dominant? The fact remains, arrogant NZ aside, the winner of the cup will have to beat a few other nations… it is no fault of ours that the world cup is made up entirely of one off games. Dont blame the format.
April 25th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
If you beat the “Standard setters” arent you then setting new standards?
April 25th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
#24 STOP TALKING RUBBISH! Transformation is not the only reason we’ve had problems with our rugby. We have lost to the AB’s with all white teams before ,so just stop your siliness.
April 25th, 2007 at 1:05 pm
16 inch…
thats it, rip post 24 apart. Rubbish like that deserves it.
April 25th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
only thing i love more is the ausies getting smashed!
April 25th, 2007 at 1:09 pm
#26 On Rassies i would agree but you must admit that we did not utilise rush defense that much last year. He is therefore making alterations to the game. on the issue of size, I hope you watched the under 19’s! On the Praying part, you should have started praying last year!
April 25th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
Ja Tac,
Habana and Steenkamp really are f*cking up your beloved Bulls
April 25th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
meant #27
April 25th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
Green
Then turn on the tellie at 3:30 today…
April 25th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
#34 Uh, 16inch actually confirms in his post that transformation is one of the reasons…
April 25th, 2007 at 1:15 pm
nowadays you can tell when an article like this is coming. i don’t see any facts. where is the quote from AB management about SA and where is the quote from the bok players re the AB’s.
all the same it’s inventive of keo to come up with this piece.
April 25th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
Bert, Tac maintains in his post (unless he explained it elsewhere) that politics are the only issue.
April 25th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
#36 .. I’ve been praying ever since 2005.
April 25th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
The Black Caps losing in the semi finals is no surprise. They were never #1 favourites.
The Black Caps have only lost to 2 teams in this CWC. Australia and Sri Lanka. And in each loss they were hammered.
It wasn’t only in the semis they were hammered, but they were crushed in the super 8 stage too.
I don’t understand why the All Blacks now would need shrinks? How many current All Blacks were in the 1999 RWC losing side?
I thought they’d have good memories of France, considering their recent visits over there.
April 25th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
Post #24
And lets not forget that its due to politics that our coaches (white, black, red, yellow and green) are less skilled than their Australasian counterparts
April 25th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
TigerShark: oh, well, politics is def. a reason, but not the only reason.
April 25th, 2007 at 1:20 pm
What’s with the head Monarch?
Wants to paint it black !!!!!!
April 25th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
Tiger and 16inch: wcup is a farce. Beating the all blacks once and then losing to them 5 times after that means they are dominating, not us. And re habana and gurthro. That is not the issue. The best players in sa should always be picked, as in their case. The difference is that pre isolation parliament, the cabinet, the army you name it came to a standstill when the boks played. Back then, the entire country was geared towards making the boks win. With such honour and pride at stake, how could we lose. Today, we scrape the odd win DESPITE the inept and largely indifferent efforts of the powers that be, not BECAUSE of them…
April 25th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
48#
For once I agree with u on one point. Look at England. World Champs but NOBODY respects their rugby.
April 25th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
“four more years”
all time classic
kudos to Gregan,I’m sure if the ABs beat the Aussies in the final, there be players lining up in Gregans face.