The Saturday Review: The Good, The Great and The Phoenix

Well what a Saturday night!

Lets start with the good. The All Blacks hammering of Scotland was perhaps their best performance since those victories over South Africa at home in July. It was 60 minutes of Rugby that we haven't been able to put together since then. The naysayers will say it was just Scotland but you still have to be able to put the performance on the field. This All Black team has no peer, they should not have to worry about what other teams do because if they play as they can then no body will get close.

The big talking point will obviously be Sonny Bill, the potential this guy has is absolutely mindblowing. Whether it was the move to 2nd 5 or more confidence he got himself in the game this week much more than last. From memory he threw three passes that led directly to tries and was involved earlier on in the chain for others. Its a bit scary how good he could be in honesty. In the past I was never a Nonu fan but have changed my mind on him in the last 36 months, he is world class and in the Tri-Nations was the best 2nd 5 on show anywhere in the world. But he should be looking over his shoulder.

The other two guys I was looking for big performances from also stood up. Hosea again showed how damaging he can be, he has a combination of speed, strength and deception that we haven't seen in a while and used it to great effect. Liam Messam was great also, he showed that he could mix it up physically but showed at a couple of points the completely unique skill set that he has.

All in all a great performance, even Beaver looked alright when he came on late!

There are few better sights for a Kiwi than watching an Australian team lose, especially when losing in the big games is becoming  bit of a habit for the Kangaroos at the moment. The Kiwis last night were special, they showed the kind of spirit and character that only the Kiwis can show and played as a 'brotherhood'. They were poor at Eden Park the week before and they knew it but to bounce back the way they did was outstanding.

Benji Marshall is a freak, people have known that for some time but outside the 05 Grand Final you could almost argue he has never massively stood up in a big game. He did last night. That kick for Nightingale was perfection, the fact that is exactly what he was trying to do might be lost on some people but the ability to do that comes from years of messing around in a backyard or at training trying to figure out what you can make an oval ball do.

Smarter scribes than I will provide better analysis but the Kiwis in victory are  joy. Without wanting to sound racist there is something so primal about the way they win and celebrate it. If Richie is lifting a gold trophy at Eden Park next year can you imagine him asking his team to channel an American Reality TV show character in celebration (I am reliably informed the fist pump thing is a reference to the Jersey Shore) or can you imagine Ryan Nelsen punctuating a post match interviews with a big yuss and saying youze. Just great stuff.

Now to the Phoenix. Ive been supporting the Phoenix since day 1 and can categorically state I have never been as frustrated as I am right now. Sure in Season 1 and 2 we had some dark days but back then we probably didn't have the squad that should be challenging round the top of the table like this one should.

On defence god only knows what is going on. Jade North slipped over last night to give Rose time for his first, somehow Pasty tripped over himself to let the second go in and I had switched off mentally to know what was going on for the third.

Perhaps more worryingly though is the attack. We have scored two goals in our past 3 games, both of them being wonder strikes from outside the box. We have plain not looked like creating anything. We'e never had a creative midfielder, we buy people to fill the slot and they turn out to be garbage. Last season we got away with it because nobody could stop Paul Iffil. This year they can, where last year he would beat 3 men then shoot this year he crosses first time to a non-existent target man. Leo Bertos is playing quite well and Chris Greenacre continues to try but the goals aren't coming and its just painful.

I guess the only thing keeping us diehards going and giving us hope (perhaps false hope) is that we could quite comfortably do what we did last year and go on a run. But at the moment you just can't see where the spark is going to come from.



And last but not least a big thanks to Rich, Fletch, Rach and Jose for plying me with cocktails after the Phoenix game which eased my pain!