Testing Times for Rugby
The weekend highlighted an issue which has been bubbling along for some time.
On the one hand, we had the All Whites “one shot for glory”.
On the other, a rugby “test”.
Clearly, it’s not comparing apples with other operating systems (;)) – the All Whites game was the culmination of a 4 year cycle and followed a handful of other qualifying games.
The fact that the first leg against Bahrain ended in a 0-0 draw simply helped the one shot for glory spin.
The point is that football … oops, I mean soccer clearly differentiates between games that matter and friendlies. The World Cup game is simply a game that matters.
Compare that with rugby who try to convince us that the game against Italy was a test. Yes, it was an international. Yes, there were bragging rights at stake, along with honour and pride.
But there was nothing of import at stake. No Tri Nations. No Four Nations. No Six Nations. And certainly no World Cup.
That doesn’t stop some rugby tragics from talking about games still being “tests”.
For all the spin, they are no more than friendlies played by 80 minute enemies. Shit, even the Taffies couldn’t get all thier players released.
So, there you go.
The ABs are currently playing a number of friendlies which they are keen to win.
See, it didn’t hurt did it?