Looking back, it has been almost 23 years since the people of New Zealand experienced the joy of watching the Web Ellis Cup being raised by David Kirk at Eden Park in Auckland. At that point most people believed that the All Black victory in the inaugural
world cup of 1987 will be the first in the long series of victories that would subsequently follow.
However what actually happened was that every year the All Blacks would give astounding performances in the years between the rugby world cups only to lose in the actual cup itself. They faced a series of crushing defeats in this manner. They faced the excruciating
humiliation of watching Australia raise the trophy in 1991 as well as 1999, South Africa in 1995 and in 2007, and England in 2003. Their defeat at the hands of Australia in 2003 was particularly painful since at the end of the match, they had no retort to
the bitter jibe from the Australian Captain George Gregan “four more years”. Their tendency to suffer on-event suffering humiliation continued in 2007 when they were thrown out of the world cup by France at the quarter final stage.
And once again it seems that history is about to repeat itself. Although in 2009, the Springboks seemed much better favored to take away the World cup after having defeated the All Blacks thrice and won the Tri-Nations, their fortunes have changed since.
What with the issues with their coach De Villiers, the substance abuse issues faced by key players as well as a string of losses this season, the Springboks seem to be bombarded with calamities. The All Blacks in contrast have had a pretty good year and have
emerged as everybody’s favorites. They have played in a fast paced and aggressive manner resulting in a tremendous increase in fan’s hopes and expectations regarding their performance in 2011. However, fans after keeping their past shifty performances in mind
would be best advised to refrain from expressing excessive optimism.
Grant Fox, who was the leading points scorer when New Zealand won the World Cup in 1987 also advises caution:
“We appear to be in good shape, but we know from bitter experience that the time between the World Cup and the results between World Cups don’t necessarily translate into success at the World Cup,” he said. “We were in good shape in 2006, and in the
2007 tournament we didn’t get past the quarterfinal stage.”
His ominous words regarding the string of victories that the All Blacks have won this year seem to drown much of the fans enthusiasm in a single blow:
“I don’t think we want to read too much into it because history tells us we shouldn’t.”
Fox expressed his concerns that the victory of All Blacks in 1987 should not be the only victory that New Zealand wins and that a different set of All Black players should bring the same glory to New Zealand. It is therefore pretty clear that the pressure
on Richie McCaw as well as the rest of the team members to bring home the trophy next year will be immense. This could become the year in which New Zealand decides to fight all the way till the end in contrast to their ominous historical tendencies.
Tags: