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Daylight separates sparkling south and gloomy north
John Connolly | December 7, 2008
The significant thing to come out of the November tours for the three southern hemisphere countries is they are dominating world rugby like never before. The balance of power definitely lies with the southern hemisphere.
The world rankings, as of the end of November, place New Zealand on top, South Africa second, Australia third and daylight fourth. The French are incredibly inconsistent after years of stability when Bernard Laporte was in charge. English rugby is going through a real transition period and has a hell of a long way to go.
While Ireland and Wales can be competitive, they are not up to the big three.
Hopefully the northern hemisphere countries will learn a lot from the recent tours, particularly their issues on the domestic scene.
The southern hemisphere sides are dominating for a number of reasons. They are so much more competitive at the breakdown, which halts the momentum of the opposition.
The three countries played a very pragmatic game based on strong field position. They back their defences, even if it means playing little rugby. This was never more evident than when England had to make just 50 tackles against Australia, who made more than 110. Yet the Wallabies never looked like losing.
Australia, New Zealand and South Africa also have the three best No.10s in the game. Ruan Pienaar is emerging from Butch James's shadow to nail the Springboks No.10 jersey.
It will be very surprising if James is selected ahead of him again.
The three No.10s also produced outstanding goalkicking performances. The temperament of France's David Skrela was exposed when he recently kicked just two from seven, while England are struggling to find a consistent No.10.
There's no doubt that under the revised ELVs, with penalties at the breakdown instead of short-arms, it's a much tighter game and the three southern hemisphere teams have adapted well. They have held their discipline and shown a lot of patience.
New Zealand coach Graham Henry made a very good point when he was critical of the northern hemisphere for allowing a huge number of southern hemisphere recruits to play in their competition.
There's no doubt this tour has brought the issue to a head. There's a lack of development in France and England. Private owners of clubs are looking at short-term results and there's not enough done to foster local talent in France's top 14 or the English premiership.
This tour has rammed home these problems because of the dominance of the southern hemisphere.
The International Rugby Board has made an interesting ruling regarding scheduling, limiting annual Tests for northern hemisphere countries to 11 and 12 in the south.
This year, Australia played 14 Tests. That means if there is going to be a game played in the United States next year, it will have to be one of the Bledisloe Cup Tests in the Tri Nations.
Speaking of the northern hemisphere, that's exactly where Matt Giteau would be heading if he wasn't contracted to the ARU until 2011. The Wallabies are professionals and love playing for their country but when you're a marquee player like Giteau, there's no doubt the dollar amounts reportedly being offered to him are available. If the southern hemisphere had its best talent taken away, it would leave a massive hole. Australia and New Zealand have handled things well with the motto "take who you want, we'll just develop more".
I believe there is a lot more to play out in this story yet.
http://www.rugbyheaven.com.au/news/n...257383678.html
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