1. The All Blacks showed why they are the number 1 team in the world with daylight second. They played superbly with speed and accuracy at the breakdown, an almost faultless kicking performance from Carter and Dagg, a brilliant offload and support game from their back row and centres, brutally effective defense across the park and a rock solid set piece. They played the kind of rugby every team aspires to play.
1. The Australians generally played a good game. Good discipline, lots of possession, good defense and a solid kicking game resulting in a close but deserved win. It was not without its slight blemishes though, namely tonight in the set piece (missed lineout throws and scrum infringements).
1.What a difference a dry track and an attacking opponent makes.
Compare this game to Tuesday night’s and it is chalk and cheese, not only were Tuesday’s conditions appalling but the Scots would of never played anything else but the style of rugby most suited to those conditions. Last night’s game however consisted of expansive attractive rugby from both teams from the very first kick off. This was not just because of the weather conditions but also because the Welsh play attractive rugby – having a go from anywhere with great enthusiasm, offloading across the park and happy to take calculated risks.
During the Wallabies’ June Internationals I’ve been asked to write short editorial pieces by the ARU and rugby.com.au for every second Test, but I’ll be covering every Test on Alastairbaxter.com. All pieces will be based on the theme of ’5 things we learnt…’
So to kick things off…
It’s the end of the Waratahs season and unfortunately the end of my Waratah career.
A month earlier, after 13 seasons, 130 Waratah games and 69 Teast, I decided that it was time to finish up at the end of the season. I still love playing
Here are a few images of our trip to South Africa this year with the Waratahs where we spent most of our time in Durban.
The month of March was not a good one for electronics in my household.
All in the space of about 3 weeks I managed to kill my laptop, my iPhone, my printer and my e-tag in my car (and while we’re at it somebody also managed to run into my car whilst it was parked in the street!). Well I now have a new iPhone, printer and e-tag and have also fully made the move over to Apple with a new MacBook Pro laptop – which means now I’m back in business to continue blogging.
We (the Waratahs) arrived into Auckland today to get ready to play the Auckland Blues tomorrow night so I thought I’d post a few images of the new grandstand at Eden Park. This ground will serve as the main stadium for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in September and in all honesty it’s not overly impressive for a ground that will be holding the final of the Rugby World Cup.
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