Aisle be Back: The NPC Final

• By Kevin McCarthy 

A week of turbulence, and red alerts for many of us – tragically so for some, and a reminder of the precariousness of life at the bottom of the world.

But as I write this, the sun’s shining, there’s no wind, the cliché Wellington on a good day.

The sort of day that has you looking forward to a daytime NPC final – albeit on some island south of the Capital and starring teams both hailing from such hinterlands.

The final was to be played at 7 in the evening, just the sort of time that makes it a coin toss for some on whether to go. The sort of dewy, potentially cold evening when the crowd that turn up look a tad miserable.

Still great atmos and all that, but most fans know that daylight games dial everything up a significant notch. The visuals, the potential quality, the conditions (not always!), and the desire of people  to get out themselves, and their kids, to pack things out.

This should all be self-evident and yet, in this blessed 25^th year of the new millennium, we had to wait till excessively late in the piece for the NZR to issue a statement saying it would be moved to a 4 in the afternoon start.

A statement from the NZR’s Steve Lancaster described the new time as slightly earlier.

As it’s three hours earlier, one imagines Lancaster is the guy who factors in tons of wriggle room to make a plane flight (I salute you, I too am that guy).

Who knows what backroom deal was cut with Sky, who probably wanted it for evening audience numbers. Sure, it may suit the out of towner TV watchers, and those who rarely venture to live matches. But many more might be tempted to go in future if they catch a game that hits all the right notes with the grassroot fans.

As to the game itself, it’s of course a case of same-old, same old, Otago having snatched the shield off Canterbury just a few weeks ago at the same place, same bat channel.

With an epic second half comeback, and surely no fear about playing away, Otago are riding, and tapping into, this being their time after  long drought.

Then again, Canterbury at home is the rock on which many such ambitions have been crushed, never to see the light of day.

+++++

I’m not going to venture into speculation around Jason Holland’s departure from the All Blacks two years out from the World Cup.

There simply isn’t enough to go on. On the face of it, you’d suspect some discord – given Leon MacDonald also bailed a year ago. Some are even relitigating the demise of the Foster coaching era as pointing to something more untoward in the Razor regime.

Things do go wrong – coaches do leave. Am I wrong to be most interested however in who will replace Holland – and whether anyone else might go.