If you are reading this then you are probably one of the loyal few who have stuck with this blog, like me, for the last 6 weeks and 46 games of footy. More than just a few actually! The stats show that many posts have been read by around a hundred people. Altogether the blog has had over 3000 page views.
Delving deep into the posts reveals these 3 facts about me:
1. I love rugby in general and the All Blacks in particular
2. I was made redundant on the verge of the RWC and took that as a sign to start blogging
3. My marvellous wife Megan is pregnant with twins, our first children, and she's been in hospital for the last fortnight. It is a high risk pregnancy and she's been watched like a hawk.
Amazingly all of these strands are resolving themselves at once.
1. The tournament is about to climax with the ABs, quite rightly, in the final.
2. I have accepted a fantastic freelancing gig that I have been putting off starting until the tournament ends. After 6 weeks of sifting around watching footy it is time to start earning again.
3. After 30 weeks of pregnancy our twins need to be delivered now - by that I mean tomorrow! Friday the 21st of October. The day of the 3rd/4th playoff and two days before the grand final. The twins need out, and that means no waiting for anything.
In lots of ways this blog has been a magnificent escape. An escape from working every day and from addressing the responsibilities of my impending fatherhood. But as they say all good things must come to an end.
Megan goes into theatre tomorrow for a planned C-Section, and after that our lives will never be the same again. This tournament (and the blog) which have seemed so important to me for the last 6 weeks now seem somewhat irrelevant. The results of the next 160 minutes of rugby mean nothing in comparison for our desires for a healthy outcome tomorrow.
Would I sacrifice an All Black victory for a healthy Megan and two boys (they are identical but we don't know which) or girls? You bet! Any day of the week.
Not that I think we'll have to. I'm pretty sure the next two games will deliver a victory to Wales, then a victory to the All Blacks. Astonishingly that will give the same result as in the inaugural tournament 24 years ago.
But the only delivery that matters to us now, is the one taking place tomorrow morning.
I can't imagine a circumstance that would make me feel the need to finish the blog, because its natural full stop will be when Megan and I finally get to meet our Pebbles and BamBam. We can't wait.
Thanks for reading over the last few weeks. It has been a blast.
Go Wales. Go Black. Go Megan. Go Pebbles. Go Bambam.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Game 46 - Semi Final 2 - Australia v New Zealand - Sun 16th Oct 2011
Wow I tell you it is a simply cracker-jack day in Wellington today - quite simply one out of the box. My spy in Auckland Paul "Poor" Schrader tells me that it is just as good in Auckland... Sunny, gentle westerly and 18 degrees Celsius.
Again I've ventured up to Brooklyn from Wellington Hospital where I've spent the afternoon with my gorgeous and increasingly pregnant wife Megan. I'm here at Mary's house (long suffering wife of Poor Schrader) and we'll eat dinner before being joined by her son Zeb, my Megan, our unborn twins and my Mother Janice (the world's biggest fan of Cory Jane).
Together we will all watch the game that New Zealand has been expectantly waiting for for 24 years. I know, I know, this isn't a final, but surely either the ABs or Wallabies will have too much fire power for the damp squib French side who will be opposing either of them in next week's final.
Last night's Semi between Wales and France has taught us plenty. Wales were the best team at the tournament thus far. They had standout players in crucial positions and they played in a way where the whole team complimented each other all around the park. They were brilliantly drilled, and had a fine skipper to boot. They seemed prepared for anything. On paper, and in my prediction, they were always going to win last night.
And then the game came along and spoiled the theory. Last night showed that the best team won't always win. We have seen this proven for the last few weeks running at this RWC. Samoa deserved to beat the Springboks, who in turn should have monstered the Wallabies last week. So my worry about tonight's match has come starkly into focus.
Despite the Daniel Carter and Richie McCaw injury scares, the All Blacks look the better team for this match than the Wallabies. They are driven by a finely-honed pack, who have performed perfectly in this tournament at scrum-time and in the lineout. They have 3 excellent loose forwards, with Jerome Kaino thus far being the most consistent player at the RWC. They have rugby's best outside center combination of Ma 'a Nonu and Conrad Smith, and outside of them 3 of the most inventive and clinical finishers in the business. They even have one of Rugby Union's biggest drawcards up their sleeve with SBW on the bench.
The team's only perceived weakness is the very fresh combination of Weepu/Cruden at halfback/first five. But this may end up working out for them too, as the Aussies will have had little chance to analyse their deficiencies. Make no mistake this is a very good team on the verge of greatness.
The Wallabies look much more shaky; they have lost their most potent player Kurtley Beale to a bad hammy, their scrum and lineout were both abject against South Africa and their talisman Quade Cooper has looked off-colour for weeks. They would not be here if it weren't for David Pocock whose scrambling quest for ball single-handedly bested the Springboks.
If they were to play this game 10 times I reckon the All Blacks would win by 9, but they only get one shot. Will tonight be their night? I will find out with you all in real time, without my trusty iPad. This game is way too important for me to have any distractions.
I'll give the last word to my Mother-in-Law Winifred Bull. She told Megan the other day that after Aotearoa's annus horribilis; with the Christchurch earthquakes, the Pike River tragedy and now the Rena disaster that it becomes incumbent on the All Blacks to cheer all 4 million of us up. While I see her point, it is a lot of pressure on those 15 men in black.
So, no pressure ABs, show us what you got.
80 minutes later... The All Blacks had plenty. The loose trio isolated Pocock and totally dominated the breakdown. The tight 5 were supreme at scrumtime. Everyone (except for SBW with 4 minutes to play) showed amazing discipline. The outside 3 were brilliant on defence and attack. Piri was steady and Cruden ice cold. They won the kicking battle. They won the pressure battle. And they won the top two inches battle.
They were simply way too good for the Wallabies.
New Zealand 20 - 6 Australia
Tweet of the match - "Is AC the new DC?" @SmithyInBrissy
Again I've ventured up to Brooklyn from Wellington Hospital where I've spent the afternoon with my gorgeous and increasingly pregnant wife Megan. I'm here at Mary's house (long suffering wife of Poor Schrader) and we'll eat dinner before being joined by her son Zeb, my Megan, our unborn twins and my Mother Janice (the world's biggest fan of Cory Jane).
Together we will all watch the game that New Zealand has been expectantly waiting for for 24 years. I know, I know, this isn't a final, but surely either the ABs or Wallabies will have too much fire power for the damp squib French side who will be opposing either of them in next week's final.
Last night's Semi between Wales and France has taught us plenty. Wales were the best team at the tournament thus far. They had standout players in crucial positions and they played in a way where the whole team complimented each other all around the park. They were brilliantly drilled, and had a fine skipper to boot. They seemed prepared for anything. On paper, and in my prediction, they were always going to win last night.
And then the game came along and spoiled the theory. Last night showed that the best team won't always win. We have seen this proven for the last few weeks running at this RWC. Samoa deserved to beat the Springboks, who in turn should have monstered the Wallabies last week. So my worry about tonight's match has come starkly into focus.
Despite the Daniel Carter and Richie McCaw injury scares, the All Blacks look the better team for this match than the Wallabies. They are driven by a finely-honed pack, who have performed perfectly in this tournament at scrum-time and in the lineout. They have 3 excellent loose forwards, with Jerome Kaino thus far being the most consistent player at the RWC. They have rugby's best outside center combination of Ma 'a Nonu and Conrad Smith, and outside of them 3 of the most inventive and clinical finishers in the business. They even have one of Rugby Union's biggest drawcards up their sleeve with SBW on the bench.
The team's only perceived weakness is the very fresh combination of Weepu/Cruden at halfback/first five. But this may end up working out for them too, as the Aussies will have had little chance to analyse their deficiencies. Make no mistake this is a very good team on the verge of greatness.
The Wallabies look much more shaky; they have lost their most potent player Kurtley Beale to a bad hammy, their scrum and lineout were both abject against South Africa and their talisman Quade Cooper has looked off-colour for weeks. They would not be here if it weren't for David Pocock whose scrambling quest for ball single-handedly bested the Springboks.
If they were to play this game 10 times I reckon the All Blacks would win by 9, but they only get one shot. Will tonight be their night? I will find out with you all in real time, without my trusty iPad. This game is way too important for me to have any distractions.
I'll give the last word to my Mother-in-Law Winifred Bull. She told Megan the other day that after Aotearoa's annus horribilis; with the Christchurch earthquakes, the Pike River tragedy and now the Rena disaster that it becomes incumbent on the All Blacks to cheer all 4 million of us up. While I see her point, it is a lot of pressure on those 15 men in black.
So, no pressure ABs, show us what you got.
80 minutes later... The All Blacks had plenty. The loose trio isolated Pocock and totally dominated the breakdown. The tight 5 were supreme at scrumtime. Everyone (except for SBW with 4 minutes to play) showed amazing discipline. The outside 3 were brilliant on defence and attack. Piri was steady and Cruden ice cold. They won the kicking battle. They won the pressure battle. And they won the top two inches battle.
They were simply way too good for the Wallabies.
New Zealand 20 - 6 Australia
Tweet of the match - "Is AC the new DC?" @SmithyInBrissy
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