The Debate: Will the All Blacks win?
August 21, 2009
The All Blacks' season faces an acid-test tomorrow night when they face the Wallabies in Sydney with the Tri-Nations title a gonner if they fail to win.
In the Yahoo!Xtra office we, like all rugby fans out there, like to debate the merits of the team selection and try to work out whether the All Blacks will emerge victorious.
And if you think places for an All Blacks starting spot is competitive, it's nothing like the battles between the big-heads who look after your sports site!
On a regular basis Sports Editor Cameron McMillan and Rugby Editor Mike Kilpatrick will debate the merits of a sporting issue and invite you all to respond and take a side.
But there's nothing more important this week than the All Blacks, so we're launching our new feature with the question:
Will the All Blacks beat the Wallabies on Saturday night?
Cameron McMillan says yes:
Why will the All Blacks win? Daniel Carter is playing. That’s a good enough reason to pick the All Blacks to win any game, whoever the opposition is.
Replacing Stephen Donald with Carter is like upgrading from a Nissan to a Ferrari. Sure Carter may be a bit out of sync from being left in the garage for a while but he’s still a Ferrari.
There is some worry that Carter has a woefully out-of-form second-five outside him but McAlister will be a much better player with the reins out of his hands.
His added boot should also take some pressure off Carter which Nonu does not provide. If McAlister does fail to pick up his game then I have supreme confidence in Carter’s skip-pass.
It also helps that the return of New Zealand’s best player coincides with Australia losing their leader with Stirling Mortlock sidelined for the season.
The other reason the All Blacks will win is the mental advantage they have. Yes they have lost two straight but they were against South Africa.
Their record of late against the Australia is outstanding winning 10 of the past 12 tests. That alone should point out that betting on black is a safe option tomorrow night.
Mike Kilpatrick says no:
The All Blacks won't win tomorrow night but it won't be because of a Sydney 'hoodoo', the players failing to sing the national anthem loudly enough or any other bizarre pre-match ritual involving putting 'lucky' pieces of clothing on.
They're going to lose for a number of other reasons.
Firstly, the Wallabies attempts to scare the referee into believing the Australian scrum is any good and Al Baxter is a worthy opponent for Tony Woodcock will put doubts in the mind of referee Jonathan Kaplan.
When the acid test comes on, Kaplan - like virtually every other referee on the planet - will simply guess which side is infringing meaning there's every chance the All Blacks will be pinged for it.
A couple of penalties against a prop and the efficacy of the scrum is gone, evening up the contest.
Secondly Luke McAlister is playing at second five-eighth.
I like McAlister as a player, and apparently I'm one of the few who believes he deserved his spot over Aaron Mauger for the World Cup quarter-final in 2007. But he's badly out of form, kicking aside.
His running hasn't been good enough and his passing? Well, it rivals Sitiveni Sivivatu's in its terribleness. He's thrown numerous intercepts, both for the All Blacks and North Harbour, as well as blowing tries with shocking pill-passes with the line open.
And, of course, the last time Dan Carter and Luke McAlister played together was in that fateful quarter-final loss to France in Cardiff. Oh, the horror.
Not enough reasons? How about the perpetually blind Craig Joubert being one of the touchies? Joe Rokocoko on the wing instead of Cory Jane? Rocky Elsom back for the Wallabies? Stephen Donald not in the starting XV?
Wait, forget that last one...
So what do you think? Are the All Blacks going to beat the Wallabies tomorrow night? And why/why not?
We appreciate all your comments.
In the Yahoo!Xtra office we, like all rugby fans out there, like to debate the merits of the team selection and try to work out whether the All Blacks will emerge victorious.
And if you think places for an All Blacks starting spot is competitive, it's nothing like the battles between the big-heads who look after your sports site!
On a regular basis Sports Editor Cameron McMillan and Rugby Editor Mike Kilpatrick will debate the merits of a sporting issue and invite you all to respond and take a side.
But there's nothing more important this week than the All Blacks, so we're launching our new feature with the question:
Will the All Blacks beat the Wallabies on Saturday night?
Cameron McMillan says yes:
Why will the All Blacks win? Daniel Carter is playing. That’s a good enough reason to pick the All Blacks to win any game, whoever the opposition is.
Replacing Stephen Donald with Carter is like upgrading from a Nissan to a Ferrari. Sure Carter may be a bit out of sync from being left in the garage for a while but he’s still a Ferrari.
There is some worry that Carter has a woefully out-of-form second-five outside him but McAlister will be a much better player with the reins out of his hands.
His added boot should also take some pressure off Carter which Nonu does not provide. If McAlister does fail to pick up his game then I have supreme confidence in Carter’s skip-pass.
It also helps that the return of New Zealand’s best player coincides with Australia losing their leader with Stirling Mortlock sidelined for the season.
The other reason the All Blacks will win is the mental advantage they have. Yes they have lost two straight but they were against South Africa.
Their record of late against the Australia is outstanding winning 10 of the past 12 tests. That alone should point out that betting on black is a safe option tomorrow night.
Mike Kilpatrick says no:
The All Blacks won't win tomorrow night but it won't be because of a Sydney 'hoodoo', the players failing to sing the national anthem loudly enough or any other bizarre pre-match ritual involving putting 'lucky' pieces of clothing on.
They're going to lose for a number of other reasons.
Firstly, the Wallabies attempts to scare the referee into believing the Australian scrum is any good and Al Baxter is a worthy opponent for Tony Woodcock will put doubts in the mind of referee Jonathan Kaplan.
When the acid test comes on, Kaplan - like virtually every other referee on the planet - will simply guess which side is infringing meaning there's every chance the All Blacks will be pinged for it.
A couple of penalties against a prop and the efficacy of the scrum is gone, evening up the contest.
Secondly Luke McAlister is playing at second five-eighth.
I like McAlister as a player, and apparently I'm one of the few who believes he deserved his spot over Aaron Mauger for the World Cup quarter-final in 2007. But he's badly out of form, kicking aside.
His running hasn't been good enough and his passing? Well, it rivals Sitiveni Sivivatu's in its terribleness. He's thrown numerous intercepts, both for the All Blacks and North Harbour, as well as blowing tries with shocking pill-passes with the line open.
And, of course, the last time Dan Carter and Luke McAlister played together was in that fateful quarter-final loss to France in Cardiff. Oh, the horror.
Not enough reasons? How about the perpetually blind Craig Joubert being one of the touchies? Joe Rokocoko on the wing instead of Cory Jane? Rocky Elsom back for the Wallabies? Stephen Donald not in the starting XV?
Wait, forget that last one...
So what do you think? Are the All Blacks going to beat the Wallabies tomorrow night? And why/why not?
We appreciate all your comments.
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