RWC RANT NO.13

After the All Blacks demolition of France with such ruthless precision, no sensible pundit would have doubted they had a better than average chance of winning their semi-final against the Springbok, albeit by a pretty slim margin. What South Africa showed is their lack of ability to change and adapt their style. They hedge their bets on bullying but nowadays it fails more than it succeeds. The All Blacks showed they can maintain composure regardless of what is thrown at them.

The second semi is bound to be a cracker as the Wallabies try and tame the confident Pumas. Naturally I would love nothing more than to see another epic encounter between Australian and New Zealand but I won’t count my chickens just yet. What is really intriguing me is how the crowd will react to the both teams in the final consider it will be a Southern Hemisphere showpiece hosted by the North?

Will they simply cheer for whoever is playing against the ABs to prevent them from rewriting history and pushing rugby parity even further from the northerner’s reach? Or will they want to see the bar lifted to new heights and want to watch a game for the game itself?

If the Pumas get up I think they are likely to win support from the northern crowds because they’re not Australian or New Zealanders and they’ll be happy not to see the Aussies or Kiwis win the Cup for a THIRD time.

If it’s the Wallabies I think they’ll be counting on every ex-pat and tourists who have travelled for support as the crowds are still seething over Scotland’s supposed controversial exit and they simply couldn’t bring themselves to support anything wearing green and gold. There might be some support from the French?

If Australia earn the right to take on the All Blacks they will actually be in a far stronger position psychologically than the ABs for a few logical reasons:

(1) Nobody actually expected them to make the final.

(2) the crowd will probably be against them and they will start as genuine underdog – exactly where Cheika would want them.

(3) All the pressure is on the ABs to maintain their final’s form, be the first team to win three RWCs and be inaugural back to back winners – a record unlikely to be broken for a long, long time.

Whatever the outcome I hope it’s better than the last RWC final, but ultimately it won’t matter who wins because we in the south can still blow raspberries at the north.