CAPE TOWN - Nothing that has happened on the southern fields this weekend should have rivalled the interest in Saturday night’s massive final Six Nations match in Dublin.
The England/Ireland showdown was always going to be a big event and it was trumpeted as such by the English media at the start of the Six Nations. England were playing not only to complete their second Six Nations triumph in style by beating the next best team, but also to break the record for successive international victories.
It is true that they were fortunate to win their games against France and Wales, so I’m not sure England are quite as good as they think they are, but it is undeniable that they are emerging as a major force. They’ve played good rugby since Eddie Jones took over as coach and the close wins they’ve scored, often against the odds, could be seen as an indication of growing confidence.
But what was missing from the England CV in the 18 months that they had been sweeping all before them was a win over the world’s top team. The All Blacks beat all comers in the time that they notched up their winning run which ended with defeat to Ireland in an exhibition match in Chicago last November.
That England haven’t done that is not their fault. You play what is in front of you. They never drew up the fixture list that bizarrely keeps them away from New Zealand until 2018. Had they met the All Blacks before now, there is a good chance the Scotland captain would not have been able to say after last week’s game at Twickenham that his opponents were “arguably the world’s best team”.
Perhaps I am wrong though. In the southern hemisphere we’ve become so used to the Kiwi hegemony on all things related to the 15-man game that we just take the superiority of the New Zealand teams for granted, but it does appear a point has been reached where the main competition to the All Blacks comes from north of the equator. It is what makes the coming Lions series being played in New Zealand so appetising.
There is talk of a game between the All Blacks and England being organised for Twickenham on November 4. However, even if it does come off, there will be something cosmetic about a game organised in such hasty fashion.
The anomaly of having England challenge for a record held by an All Black team they haven’t pitted themselves against really does underline just another reason why rugby needs to move towards a global season.
Even if England did get to play New Zealand this November, it might not be a fair contest. England will be at the beginning of their international season in the first week of November, and with the British and Irish Lions series being played in June, it would mean that the first choice England team would not have played together since March.
What could balance out the contest would be the fact that the All Blacks would be coming to the end of their own long season. That’s why the June series' in the south often deliver the wrong message - the southern teams are fresh whereas the northern teams are fatigued and often weakened by injury. And the converse is true in November when the southern teams head to Europe.
The bottom line is that there is too much room for excuses. When the All Blacks were thrashed by England at Twickenham in 2012, the Kiwi media weren’t alone in claiming their team were caught out on a day when they’d just run out of energy after an inordinately long season.
Although there is a perception that because the nations get time to organise themselves through camps and proper player management, the one time we really get a fair match-up between north and south is at the World Cup every fourth year, I’m not convinced that even then the separate seasons help make for an authentic contest.
Partly because of a reduction in the other international commitments in the build-up, the last World Cup in England saw southern hemisphere domination, but at the previous global showpiece event in New Zealand in 2011 the wear and tear on southern teams was clearly evident.
Australia, who had won the Tri-Nations that year, were decimated by injury by the time the World Cup arrived. They weren’t nearly the force in October that they’d been earlier. And while the All Blacks did win the tournament, the hosts struggled through several major injury crises that saw them down to their third or fourth best flyhalf and hanging on for dear life in the final against a vastly inferior French team.
The World Cup shouldn’t be a survival course and the international matches played in the other years should provide a more accurate reflection of where each nation stands. The way to get around that is to introduce a global season, something which will have several other positive spin-offs, including possibly a halt to the player drain from the south to north.
I can relate to the northern hemisphere concern at playing rugby in their summer months, but the time to prioritise the health of the sport globally is long overdue.