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- By Kevin McCarthy
Three extraordinary things happened in the past week. Extra time was needed for the Lions to clinch the NPC title. An All Black on the northern tour did something naughty. And the haka was again relitigated.
Okay I lied, only the first was extraordinary. The other two, just vanilla.
The final dished up a game for the nostalgics. The weather a swirling mix with plenty of rain, but two teams playing with skills much better suited to a dry track. Perhaps we need to bring back poor draining turf and the resultant mud to make things more authentic.
Certainly, the crowd knew their role and positioned themselves above the dreaded stadium drip zone.
Wellington of course looking to nail a title that they always look capable of – only to sometimes fall short. And Bay of Plenty, chasing their first championship since being the inaugural winners in 1976. Fun fact – the first sponsor of the NPC was …. Radio New Zealand.
They chipped in 100 thousand dollars, the equivalent of just under a million dollars in today’s pesos. Wouldn’t buy you too much today, but certainly a cracking budget for some decent scones and keeping the Zambuks happy. For younger readers, players weren’t paid in those days.
Not sure how long its been since BoP made the final, but they’ve had a grand season, and you’d expect them to have another good crack next year.
Praise be, though the teams might disagree, that extra time was used to the final. Golden Point maybe exciting and all, but also a phoney resolution.
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But back to Wellington and when those two late goal kicks didn’t go over from Jackson Garden-Bachop in regular time, I bet the trolls were lining up to provide their wisdom. But winners have the last laugh, thankfully.
And Julian Savea bought back memories of his heyday, more the boss than the bus. He looks in great nick still.
Apparently the interest in the NPC ticked up this year. It was , I suspect down to most a fairly even competitiveness across the teams – rather than the big three or four hammering the rest. That, and it being a simple, easily comprehended, competition structure. Whatever it is, I hope they figure it out, rather than drawing the wrong conclusions and putting it through another restructure.
One nice change would be to stop framing it as a cost to the game. Surely it’s an investment. Those are two very different mindsets.
On to other stuff, I look forward to Keith Murdoch’s Angel Hotel troubles being rewritten as a breach of internal standards. We don’t know what those standards are, or what Ethan De Groot did. Was it missing curfew by two minutes, or did he go the full one-foot jandal and need rescuing by Cortez Ratima. Details people, we need details!
Oh, and it was very enjoyable, or incredibly tedious, to relive the saga of the haka at Twickenham. Or the Hacker as more than few northern rugby scribes like to pronounce it, presumably by design rather than ignorance.
Joe Marler’s tweet was also by design. Quite what it’s meant to achieve, I don’t know. Ersatz controversies are hardly needed to sell out Twickers or to raise tensions ahead of this particular fixture.
But I do not that he lobbed his hand grenade knowing full well he won’t be facing the haka on Sunday morning. So yes, that’s a sense of humour right there.
All Blacks match-day 23 (Test caps in brackets)
1. Tamaiti Williams (15)
2. Codie Taylor (93)
3. Tyrel Lomax (40)
4. Scott Barrett (76) (Captain)
5. Tupou Vaa’i (34)
6. Wallace Sititi (6)
7. Sam Cane (101)
8. Ardie Savea (90) (Vice-Captain)
9. Cortez Ratima (8)
10. Beauden Barrett (131)
11. Caleb Clarke (25)
12. Jordie Barrett (65) (Vice-Captain)
13. Rieko Ioane (77)
14. Mark Tele’a (16)
15. Will Jordan (37)
16. Asafo Aumua (16)
17. Ofa Tu’ungafasi (64)
18. Pasilio Tosi (4)
19. Patrick Tuipulotu (47)
20. Samipeni Finau (5)
21. Cam Roigard (6)
22. Anton Lienert-Brown (80)
23. Damian McKenzie (57)
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Du’Plessis Kirifi will captain the All Blacks XV for the Northern Tour.
All Blacks XV v Munster, 2 November 5.30PM (GMT) / 3 November 6.30AM (NZDT), Thomond Park, Limerick, Ireland
All Blacks XV match-day 23:
1. George Bower* (Crusaders / Otago)
2. Brodie McAlister (Crusaders / Canterbury)
3. George Dyer (Chiefs / Waikato)
4. Isaia Walker-Leawere (Hurricanes / Hawke’s Bay)
5. Fabian Holland (Highlanders / Otago)
6. Oliver Haig (Highlanders / Otago)
7. Du’Plessis Kirifi – Captain (Hurricanes / Wellington)
8. Devan Flanders (Hurricanes / Hawke’s Bay)
9. Finlay Christie* (Blues / Tasman)
10. Harry Plummer – Vice-Captain* (Blues / Auckland)
11. Kini Naholo (Hurricanes / Taranaki)
12. Quinn Tupaea* (Chiefs / Waikato)
13. AJ Lam (Blues / Auckland)
14. Chay Fihaki (Crusaders / Canterbury)
15. Shaun Stevenson* (Chiefs / North Harbour)
16. Bradley Slater (Chiefs / Taranaki)
17. Xavier Numia (Hurricanes / Wellington)
18. Marcel Renata (Blues / Auckland)
19. Naitoa Ah Kuoi (Chiefs / Bay of Plenty)
20. Corey Kellow (Crusaders / Canterbury)
21. Noah Hotham* (Crusaders / Tasman)
22. Josh Jacomb (Chiefs / Taranaki)
23. Ruben Love* (Hurricanes / Wellington)
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Petone and Wellington fullback Tjay Clarke has signed with the Hurricanes for 2025.
Hurricanes Head Coach Clark Laidlaw said he was thrilled to add Clarke to the mix.
“We’ve watched Tjay play really well in the NPC over the last couple of years, with a stellar performance for Wellington this year. He feels like a really good addition, he’s young, hungry and keen to get stuck in.”
When asked what he’ll bring to the team dynamic, Laidlaw remarked: “He fits the model and style that we want to play from the back either at fullback or on the wing. Tjay’s got a good left boot on him and he’s exciting on attack.”
Read our recent article with Clarke at:
