A quick Bledisloe review and some thoughts on Adidas

The most anticipated clash of the rugby season so far fizzled out as the Mighty Mighty All Blacks made canon fodder out of the Dirty Filthy Cheating Australians by 27-14 (droppies don’t count). The MMABs were clearly on top from the start and James O’Connor’s Cooperesque penalty kicking stats saw the DFC Wallabies scoreless (or should I say pointless?) in the first half.

Yours truly was looking forward to seeing the Cooper v Carter battle in the 10 jerseys and I was particularly upset that it failed to materialise. Mighty Mighty Dan Carter (no relation to Dirty Filthy Cheating Dan Carter who plays for Canterbury) was at his sensational best, defending All Black turf like a Tottenham shop owner and directing the backline with ease. In stark contrast, Cooper appeared too scared to take the ball to the line himself, electing to pass before drawing his man and at one point throwing a hospital backflick behind his own goal line. Cooper choked in a manner not seen since last time Stephen Donald took the field for the Mighty Mighty ABs.

Aussie fans will point to a short portion of the second half in which the D.F.C. Wallabies seemed to have a little bit of backline dominance – and they’d be right. I’m a huge fan of Lord Sir Ayatollah Graham Henry but his decision to put Slade into the backline just to show off how bloody good the MMABs are was perhaps just a bit too smug. Slade is good but he’s a number 10 only.

I could wax lyrical for much longer but we’ve got a long road ahead and I can’t afford to run out of clichés this early in such an important season.

On a (kinda) serious note

The only other news worth a comment has been the PR train wreck surrounding the price of the Mighty Mighty All Blacks jerseys. Admittedly Adidas have not handled themselves at all well throughout, but I find myself a little torn over the whole issue.

In a free market companies can set their price at any level they want to and it’s left to the consumer to decide whether they’d rather have the money or the jersey. In the same free market Sky TV and Adidas deal with the NZRU to negotiate a price for sponsorship – the very money that almost certainly kept Carter and McCaw in New Zealand for a few more years. The best way to show that the MMAB jersey is overpriced is not to purchase it, but I fear the possibility of biting the hand that feeds. The talkback, print, TV and social media have been, for mine, a little over the top. I’m a fairly simple person (not rugby league simple – but you know what I mean) and I can’t help but wonder if I can’t simplify the whole thing into 8 words.

No Adidas – No Carter – No McCaw – Your Choice.

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