All Black fan Tim Cronin from RugbyShirts.net has some advice for the Welsh before they face the World Champions
Following the weekend’s tests, the ‘phrase self-fulfilling prophecy’ springs to mind!
There was an undeniable sense of inevitability about the Welsh loss to Samoa.
When interim coach Rob Howley reacted to the disappointing loss to Argentina by dropping the team’s captain, and best player, Sam Warbuton, the writing was on the wall. That, coupled with the local media’s incessant talk about Samoa being Wales’ ‘bogey-team’ contributed to a feeling that the home side were almost destined to experience defeat on the weekend.
Wales is a proud Rugby nation, and of course expectations would be high following their successful Six Nations campaign.
But they performed well in Australia despite the 3-nil whitewash and were in with a shot in all three of the tests there, and while they would have hoped to beat Argentina, the Pumas are riding high on a wave of emotion at the moment, and have made huge leaps in ability since the start of the year.
So I have to say that dropping their captain seemed like a pretty harsh, knee-jerk reaction to what was a disappointing, but not diabolical run of form.
Nothing undermines the confidence of a team more than the knowledge that the coaching staff don’t have faith in the team leaders. The most successful teams in recent history have retained their captains through the good times and the bad, safe in the knowledge they picked the best man for the job, and taking heart from the fact that those individuals will grow as leaders as a result of weathering the odd loss here or there.
By panicking and dropping Warburton, the Welsh management allowed the media to smell their fear, and they attacked like the hungry dogs journalists are! Yes, Wales have suffered defeat at the hands of the men in the Samoan jerseys previously, but there really was no reason it should have happened on this occasion. But on the weight of media speculation and scare-mongering about the health of Welsh rugby, combined with their coaching staff’s inability to keep their cool when the heat came on, Wales capitulated, and now face the daunting task of having to defeat either the Wallabies or the All Blacks to halt their losing streak.
But Wales weren’t the only ones to kickoff an international with the stench of failure already permeating their changing shed this weekend.
Realistically, Italy were never really a chance against the All Blacks, but the scenes I saw in Rome prior to the opening whistle suggested the players themselves had completely accepted that fact.
The pre-match Haka, in front of a packed Olimpico Stadium in Rome was a stirring event, made even more impressive by the silence of the crowd. Everyone in that stadium, including the Italian players themselves, looked awe-struck by the very fact the World Champions were in their backyard.
Don’t get me wrong – respecting the Haka is a great thing. But you can respect the Haka without looking as star-struck as the Italians did. There is a big difference between standing arm in arm in front of the Haka, staring it down with a ‘bring it on’ attitude, and what the Italians did on Saturday in Rome. You could almost see them thinking ‘wow, how cool is this, the All Blacks are doing the Haka right there in front of us!’, and that almost reverential respect would have only helped the All Blacks’ already sky-high confidence to soar even further.
I thought both the All Blacks, and the Italians, played well in Rome. I thought the All Blacks stepped it up a notch from their performance in Scotland the week before, and given that improvement, the Italians did well to stay in touch for so long. But their lack of self-belief was glaringly obvious in the dying moments – when the All Blacks began piling on the points the Italians threw the towel in.
Now, like I said earlier, realistically the Italians were the slimmest of chances to actually beat the All Blacks, but as a top-ten international side there’s nothing wrong with dreaming, with aspiring to topple the best of the best.
In both games the home sides bought in to the pre-match theatre. Wales let their emotions snow-ball over the course of the week following their loss to Argentina, while the Italians acted like they’d been granted a private meeting with the Pope when the All Blacks strode on to the pitch. But while the Italians can take a number of positives from their performance, the beleaguered Welsh now face an incredibly tough battle to change both the public’s opinion, and their player’s self-belief, ahead of two challenging matches over the next fortnight.
Tim Cronin is a Rugby fan and full time writer based in the rubble of the Canterbury Crusaders’ home town, Christchurch. Tim is a part of the Pukeko Sportsteam, where his role is watching, writing, and complaining about all things rugby.
