Cracking the Code

Let me set the scene. The day and the hour have come, they've brought with them the power and the glory, and you better believe it your country is calling.  You answer that call...don’t you? Simon Easterby thought so.  An offer to join Joe Schmidt’s coaching ticket, drew the the former Ireland back row man, away from his job as head coach at The Scarlets, and across the Irish Sea to serve his motherland. In summary, It’s proving a decent decision.  Easterby’s promotion to the domain of international rugby left a door open at Parc y Scarlets. Enter, Wayne Pivac.  The former Fiji and Auckland chief, who has a Rugby World Cup Sevens and an NPC title to his name, had arrived in Wales only months prior to Easterby’s departure. Initially mandated with doing his Kiwi coaching thing on The Scarlets’ pack. He soon found himself promoted to big boss man. (Not the blue shirted, truncheon yielding, WWF enforcer.) Skip a few episodes, and (spoiler alert) ...

Monday’s copy of the Sydney Morning Herald made for a somewhat disheartening read for the Welsh consumer. Granted, by no stretch the target audience, I still found it frustrating at the ease by which their first piece in the build up to today's test match between Wales and the Wallabies, dismissed - in but a paragraph, any Welsh hope of victory. Incensed, my immediate reaction was an internal blurt along the lines of ‘we got closer to the All Blacks than you did’. Yes, unfortunately this is now the barometer for the rest of the Rugby planet. I calmed, and read the rest of the piece that focused on how Ireland would pose the first real threat of derailment to Australian hopes of a first Grand Slam tour since their one and only success back in 1984. The journo’s justification for the perceived lack of threat posed to the Wallaby slam train in Cardiff had nothing to do with form, quality of player, coaching reshuffle or playing style. Instead, it pointed solely to history; Wale...

October 31 2015, Rugby World Cup Final, New Zealand (1/3 - FAV) v Australia (9/4) , Twickenham. October 22 2016, Bledisloe Cup (dead rubber), New Zealand (1/25 - FAV) v Australia (9/1), Eden Park. Cold hard facts that paint a tale of exponential growth in All Black dominance, not just over their cross Tasman rivals but also the rest of World Rugby. Patience, England, we know you fancy a pop. To think there were concerns that post the Autumnal glory at HQ, the All Black ship would find itself in choppy seas without good ol Captain McCaw and First Mate Carter to guide it home. Transition period? Not here.    The All Blacks are the World's premier rugby team. News to nobody. However, the manner in which they have extended their preeminence over Rugby Championship rivals this season, is news. Six games, six victories, six bonus points and a score differential of 178 – an average winning margin of nearly 30 points. Australia, South Africa and Argentina all finished t...

Back in 2006 whilst on my pre university jaunt, known more commonly as the ‘gap ya’, I stopped by in Melbourne to take in the Commonwealth Games. My foremost memory of the event, other than the devastated reaction of local fans as an Aussie boxing man was KO’d 3 seconds before the end of a bout he had in the bag, was Wales winning some form of kitchenware (bowl or plate) in the Rugby sevens. With Google seemingly unable to assist, I’m going to have to back my memory and say that the winning try scorer in the final was a young James Hook. What I can say with certainty was that Hook, Wales’ playmaker, was the stand out player. The time Hook had on the ball and his ability to beat a defender convinced me that I was watching a guy who would not only go on to represent Wales in the XV man format but would be world class in doing so. Fast forward some nine years and Hook was removed from the Millenium Stadium pitch midway through the second half of Wales’ World Cup warm up match...

As Australia and England took centre stage, at Sydney's Olympic stadium to contest the 2003 Rugby World Cup final, there was a tangible difference between the two outfits. The like of which, we would never see again at a World Cup. A difference that perhaps symbolises the final stages of the transition of elite rugby from an amateur to a professional game. If the use of the word 'outfits' hasn't already given it away, I am of course referencing the disparity between the playing jerseys of the two adversaries. In the green and gold corner, you had a Wallaby outfit in a traditional Canterbury of New Zealand cotton rugby shirt, complete with white collar. At the other end of the spectrum, were Clive Woodward's men in their light, tight fitting, sweat removing, Nike jerseys.  This new high spec number, unveiled just before the tournament, blew away one of the game's age old traditions. Rugby shirts until that point were as a rule, cotton, loose fitting with ...

Since Leinster's Rob Kearney won the 2012 award, the three subsequent recipients of the crown of Europe's premier club rugby player, have been English ex pats plying their trade with French clubs. Jonny Wilkinson receiving the award in 2013, was but another accolade for the by then internationally retired great. However, the recent crowning of Abendanon, as it did with Armitage a year ago, has lit the touch paper in the ever simmering debate on selection of overseas players to wear the red rose.  Those that vindicate the inclusion of the overseas based players do so because they believe that for England to have an optimum opportunity for success, the selection process should result in the best XV players taking the field, regardless of whether a player is domiciled in Toulon or the Toon. The decision of Aussie selectors to renegade on their own long standing home not away policy, is evidence that they feel they can field additional quality by drawing on their overseas bas...

Finance and its impact on the motivation of young sportsmen has been a prominent topic this week, what with Raheem Sterling's questionable decision to go public on his ongoing contract negotiations with Liverpool. Meanwhile in rugby circles, the news that one of New Zealand's hottest properties Charles Piutau , 23 has signed a big money deal to ply his trade with Ulster shocked the rugby fraternity in both hemispheres. Some on Twitter even querying whether it was an April fool. Admittedly a pretty niche joke, hardly Alan Partridge to be new presenter of top gear. In his interview for the BBC , Sterling was quick to assert that the fact he had turned down the comprehensive financial offer from Liverpool didn't make him a "money grabbing 20 year old", claiming that his primary motivations were to win silverware and be perceived as a "kid that loves to play football and do the best for the team". Although a move away from the Reds may indeed enhance S...