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Tuesday, August 17, 2004

All Blacks are back - in the bad books



What a disappointment. The good feeling created after the carisbrook test (or just the first half) has disappeared, and the NZ public is back in a familiar position - on the backs of the coach. The of the backline formation that put Carlos Spencer, the best player in space in the world in the middle of a traffic jam has to be questioned, and the forward power that promised so much has limply disappeared.

We were out-smarted in Sydney and out-muscled in Johannesburg, and we're calling from changes, but who is going to replace the men we have? There are one or two who may be past their used by date (it really does look like curtains for poor old Justin Marshall), but remember that we have McCaw and Robinson to return, to bolster the pack, and we still have largely the same backline that ran riot through last year's Tri Nations. The league style backline might have to go, and a long term option at first five found, but remember that now is the time to be experimenting - not in France in three year's time.
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