The north-south rugby divide

This past Saturday saw the Wallabies taking on the Welsh Dragons in Cardiff, what a great prospect I felt in the offing. The Welsh most certainly one of the form teams of the Rugby World Cup (RWC) and the Wallabies proving to be the most inconsistent team in world rugby this year.

Bryce Lawrence, the New Zealand Rugby Union referee of the year (yes you read correctly), made very sure the Wallabies lived beyond their deserved time but that is water under the bridge.

Up until the 50th minute of the farewell Test match for the superb veteran winger Shane Williams it seemed that the form book for 2011 was going to play itself out and then it struck, like the lightning bolt that it is, the rugby divide and something I have been saying for many months this year — the difference between Northern and Southern Hemisphere rugby showed itself as far as I am concerned.

For me it is summed up as follows, Southern Hemisphere teams play to win every Test and Northern Hemisphere teams play at world cups. The inconsistency in-between is of concern. This is where world rugby and perhaps the International Rugby Board need to see the issue, it is great to see Canada, Russia, Georgia, Japan and Wales look phenomenal every four years but what about the time in-between, this is where the game must be grown and made more consistent.

Australia looked really good against the Barbarians and the Welsh. Their set-pieces were acceptable and their ruck structure was very sound, backed up by fantastic supporting lines and attacking penetration. Why is this? Well for one thing Will Genia dominated like he should and has been doing and this put the loose forwards at a minimum on the front foot. The Justin Bieber of rugby, James O’Connor, at 10 actually ran the game very well and I am not sure Quade Cooper should feel comfortable right now. Berrick Barnes at 12 really added stability and urgency.

Wales had the main boys back, skipper Sam Warburton and Rhys Priestland looked off the pace, almost like they had lost confidence by what happened at the RWC. At one point Warburton was summoned by SA referee Jonathan Kaplan and I almost would like to believe Kaplan felt some compassion for the player who was hard done by in the RWC semi-final. I liked Ryan Bevington at 8 for Wales. The man of the Welsh moment, Williams, played his usual game — a wonderfully spirited and gutsy player that ran most teams ragged at one or other time. He has brought excitement to the Welsh game and to the world stage, a good career. Well done sir!

But it comes down to the fact, in my humble opinion, that even with a late burst by the Welsh to come within 6 points, Australia took their foot off the pedal too early and allowed Wales to look better than they deserved to on this particular day, 24-18 a flattering final score for the men from Wales. Until Northern Hemisphere Test teams play consistent winning rugby this divide between the two hemispheres will be in play, sadly, I must admit. I am not running down the sensational transition of Welsh rugby or any rugby nation for that matter but for me it is glaringly obvious that RWC remains the absolute barometer for the Northern Hemisphere’s position in world rugby. This is not the case with the Southern Hemisphere teams which simply play each Test for what it is and try their absolute best to win, no matter when it is or who it is against. I am sure the passion for the Welsh was there but the will seemingly was not. It seems for me that this is localised to the Test arena as I believe the Heineken Cup can be spoken about in conjunction with the Super 15 whereas the Six Nations cannot when talking the poorly re-named Rugby Championship.

Can it change? Will it change? Not sure but I hope it does.