Sadly, as Chris Rattue noted in good old Granny, the ABs reached their nadir in Hamilton instead of nirvana.

Smit will go down as a colossus of world rugby, in the pantheon with the likes of Martin Johnson and John Eales, but the All Blacks are simply going down.

Ouch.

It gets worse – perhaps the mad Yarpie coach was right after all??

Referee Nigel Owens and touch judge Wayne Barnes combined to bolster the New Zealand scoreline with two and perhaps three crazy penalty rulings, from which Carter goaled, and a wonky decision which helped turn what should have been an attacking Springbok lineout into a Sitiveni Sivivatu try.

This handicapping of the Springboks started from their opening kickoff reception when Owens awarded the All Blacks a ridiculous penalty. He was at it again with a bizarre kick-chase offside call, and probably got a ruck penalty wrong as well although that is par for the course in rugby.

The result leaves more questions than answers.

Like why did we reappoint Henry and his partners in crime?

The always faulty, disingenuous theory that losing World Cup coaches, men who ruined their own team in 2007, would somehow be better for the experience was given humiliating last rites in Hamilton on Saturday night. So much for the NZRU’s claim that this trio is the dream team.

Mind you, if he thinks the coaches are bad, wait till you see what he has to say about Donald and Nonu:

Donald runs at the defensive line in the manner of a startled horse, and his presence has the effect of sending panic throughout the stables. He should never wear the black jersey again, because he simply isn’t good enough.

Outside him, Ma’a Nonu dropped the ball four times in a display that should also end his test days.

Don’t hold back Chris!

Mind you, as Rattue points out, for once the ABs looked better when Isaia Toeava came onto the pitch.

Still, he was just warming up for a grandstand finish, just like the ABs:

The wanton selection theory which led to an inevitably useless midfield pairing should send alarm bells ringing at rugby HQ, because it is just this sort of miscalculation which brought the All Blacks down at the last World Cup.

If losing World Cup coaches really do learn their lessons, how come poor, over-matched and out-of-position Donald and blunderkind Nonu were sent out together against the best team in the world?

Looks like it’s not going to matter how much tickets to the RWC final will be in 2011!

Those Cheating Aussies are accusing the All Blacks of cheating at scrums.

Former Wallabies prop Andrew Blades has accused New Zealand of employing dubious tactics to disrupt the opposition’s scrum in the Tri Nations tournament.

Yep, it’s got nothing to do with the fact that Wallabies have got a crap scrum.

Asked how he thought the inexperienced Alexander would go against wily New Zealand loosehead prop Tony Woodcock, Blades said: “It’s hard to know. It depends on the refereeing.

“If the referee polices Woodcock, Alexander will be fine.

“If not, it will be an issue no matter who is playing against him.

“Woodcock is very disruptive. It’s his bread and butter. But he gets away with a lot. It will be important how the scrum is refereed.

Great.  So your crap scrum is because the refs don’t police the All Blacks.

There’s a certain irony that the Boks and Aussies are blaming the refs and in the Boks case still winning.  They never had Wayne the Pain in the quarter finals did they

On the sporting front, what could be better than the Boks fronting up to the Maori challenge at Soweto* in a 120,000 seater stadium.

The original problem was that the South African teams were not allowed to play against  teams selected on racial grounds.

The solution is admirably simple yet sensible:

The instruction came after SARU’s council accepted a recommendation from the management committee that the union should “accept matches against any teams sanctioned by the national governing body of that team”.

There is of course a certain irony.

As recently as 1970, New Zealand was prepared to accept sending a whites only All Black team.

Yet here we are nearly 40 years later aching to send a Maori-only team to South Africa.

The last word:  for a long time, I thought that Soweto must have had some  cultural meaning or significance … it had to be native word of some standing.

Imagine my disappointment when I found out that Soweto was actually short for South Western Township.  Not a Zulu word as far as I can tell.

And good on him too.

Too much of the New Zealand sporting public acts like they’re been at the bottom of too many rucks or gone too many rounds with Mike Tyson.  Without head protection.  And without ear muffs.

Over recent weeks, there’s been a couple of issues that are inter-related.

First, the acknowledgement of property rights for “the” haka (Te Rauparaha’s Ka Mate haka).

Second, the possibility that South Africa may not allow the NZ Maori team to tour.

The property rights for the haka is so obvious – particularly given the way in which the NZRFU protects its own rights. As Boock has pointed out, try selling a black t shirt with a silver fern on it and see how long before the NZRFU sends in its legal bovver boys.

A few years back, I seem to recall the AB’s using the Rolling Stones “Paint It Black” as the basis for an advertising campaign. Rights were negotiated with the Stones (from memory it involved beer, tickets and signed jerseys). Point is – you have property rights, you protect them.

That does NOT mean you stop everyone from signing Paint It Black – you simply protect its exploitation. Same with the haka.

The second issue is interesting because those who’ve spent too much time at the bottom of the ruck will say that the NZ Maori team is discriminatory. So is the NZ Women’s team, the NZ University team, and the NZ Under 19’s. Each has different criteria for representation.

As noted by a former race relations conciliator, the NZ Maori team is NOT the NZ team. The team does not claim to be representative of ALL NZ, just Maori. I’d also argue that the Maori would argue it’s normally not representative of all Maori either as the AB selectors (plus the pillaging Northern Clubs) take care of that.

Sadly, as Boock points out, these episodes have brought out the worst of the NZ sporting mindset (if that isn’t an oxymoron).

Funny thing is, if the Maori were to play the Boks next weekend, the same meatheads would be pissed in the cheap seats supporting the Maori.

So big ups to the team at NZsport – now, do I get any prizes for the most gratuitous plug for another site??

While I’m at it, it was also great to come across a decent NZ rugby site (from the same above source) that provided some decent grass-roots analysis of rugby issues – the Silver Fern.

Bartman recently wrote about the NZRU decision to can the Maori AB’s in 2009.

Frankly, the NZRU seems to have got away with the proverbial by planning to put the Maori AB’s into cotton wool this year.

As Bartman notes:

watching the Junior All Blacks is like watching the second XV at school – only mums, dads and girlfriends turn up.

Mind you, over the professional era, the Maori have consistently struggled to get access to their number one team.

One of the main criticisms of NZ rugby over recent years has been the willingness to sacrifice rugby’s heritage over dollars.  To be francis, in the main, I tend to accept the need for change but this is one of those occasions where common sense should have been applied.

Beyond the playing field, The Maori team has a pivotal part to play in the politics of rugby.

The sad and embarassing willingness of NZ’s acceptance of white rugby teams touring SA has to be balanced with the frankly bizarre tradition of NZ Maori playing SA, including the infamous 1981 Tour.

The inaugural tour by the Springboks in 1921 featured a game against the NZ Maori (ironically in Napier where the 1981 team also played) leading to a South African journalist to send a cable back home:

BAD ENOUGH HAVING TO PLAY OFFICIALLY DESIGNATED NEW ZEALAND NATIVES, BUT SPECTACLE THOUSANDS EUROPEANS FRANTICALLY CHEERING ON BAND OF COLOURED MEN TO DEFEAT MEMBERS OF OWN RACE WAS TOO MUCH FOR SPRINGBOKS WHO FRANKLY DISGUSTED.

OK, so that was almost 90 years ago.

Things are definitely going to be a lot tougher in terms of economic measurements.  Gee, some of the AB’s won’t be drive new Fords!

But to risk throwing away the legacy of the NZ Maori in the name of short term cost saving doesn’t make cents or sense.