KeithQuinnRugby
Thinking and talking about rugby every day for 50+ years
You are here: Home » News Comment » A Momentum Shift for New Zealand Rugby?
10 August 2014
Gee I hope not! New Zealand rugby's trophy cabinet used to bulge with silver and gold cups, with other assorted medals and golden glories scattered about randomly, to the point where no one at the NZ Rugby Union offices had the time or inclination to collate or sort out the stuff - there was so much of it!
But here we are in 2014 and the cabinet doors have been thrown open and under our noses (and perhaps while we were all in the dark) other countries are sneaking in to plunder some of our best goodies.
Consider the list; In just a few months gone is the Commonwealth Games sevens glory - snatched was the Under 20s proud record - pinched is the Super 15 title - and now our Black Ferns in France are out of the Women's Rugby World Cup! That's four biggies in a very short space of time.
Check the locks Mr Tew - call Security and check that sure the trophies that remain are locked up tight - or else more might go. Like that cumbersome Bledisloe Cup. Are those Aussies ready next weekend to hatch a plan to go all smash and grab with that one too!
Someone say out loud - it ain't gonna happen!
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20 year old Richie McCaw was the new kid in the team as NZ beat Ireland in Dublin by 40-29
HACKING
Once allowed in the game of rugby union, hacking was the practice of bringing a running player down by kicking him in the shins. After several players were severely injured, and one was even killed, measures were taken to have the practice banned in 1871. Many were the protests in Letters to the Editor columns of London newspapers at the time, centred mostly on a ‘softening’ of the game! A number of clubs wanted to maintain hacking as it endorsed the ‘manliness’ of the sport.
In fact hacking played a significant part in the formation of the sport of rugby. When the Football Association (soccer) was formed in 1863, its rules banned handling, running with the ball and hacking. The Blackheath Football Club in London refused to accept that type of game and helped to confirm the new game based on the running, handling rules of Rugby School, which allowed hacking and tripping of a ball-carrying player. Ironically, Blackheath and Richmond later led the drive to have hacking banned after the toll of injuries became too high.The practice was even banned at Rugby School.
Since then hacking has (thankfully) been lost to the game of rugby.
What made Namibia's Rudi van Vuuren unique in Rugby World Cup history?
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