All Backs bestride world game as World Cup looms


This rugby year ended the same way as the last with New Zealand adding an all-conquering European tour to their Tri-Nations title as 12 wins from 13 tests underlined their total dominance of the international game.

Captain Richie McCaw inherited the International Rugby Board ( IRB ) player of the year title from team mate Dan Carter, Graham Henry was again coach of the year and the rest of rugby wondered how to stop a team who have lost only twice in two seasons.

However, such is the all-encompassing importance of the World Cup on the modern game that even all this success is considered a mere build-up to next year's tournament in France.


Since winning the first tournament on home soil in 1987, New Zealand have so often travelled as favourites, and failed, that nobody is counting chickens just yet.

"It's not about being the best team in the world, it's about being the best team in the tournament,"

warned Australia's double World Cup-winner John Eales, in a comment that will be desperately seized upon by the other contenders.


Henry, however, has long given up apologising for winning matches.
Two years ago he identified this November's two-test series against France as the key measure of his team's development but even he must have been taken aback by the way his side tore through the 2007 World Cup hosts.

The 47-3 humiliation they dished out in Lyon was France's worst home defeat and they followed up with a similarly one-sided 23-11 win in Paris.

Follow up:

RECORD WIN


Having opened their tour with a 41-20 win over England at Twickenham, also a record, and closed it by swamping Wales it was an achievement to surpass their grand slam of 12 months earlier.
With the Tri-Nations already in the bag, New Zealand's only defeat this year came in the unlikely surroundings of Rustenburg as South Africa squeezed home 21-20.

The expanded format whereby each team played six games instead of the previous four just meant more wins for the All Blacks but might have been too much for the fans, whose appetite for watching the same teams play each other ad nauseam is beginning to wane.


Despite Rustenburg hosting a test for the first time since the 1995 World Cup, the 26,000 crowd was 14,000 short of capacity for what was the 29th meeting of the two rivals in 11 years.
Australia, under new coach John Connolly, showed a marked improvement from 2005 but finished the year with an experimental European tour that merely underlined that they possess talented, versatile backs but need to stiffen up in the pack.


South Africa claimed the unique honour of the All Blacks' scalp for the second successive season but it was a injury-plagued year for coach Jake White, who just about held on to his job.

They eventually ended a year without an away win in their last game, a 25-14 Twickenham success that spelt the end of the road for England coach Andy Robinson, who paid the price for the side's three-year slide from World Cup winners to the sport's seventh-ranked team.


England lost eight of their 11 games in 2005, leading to a second successive fourth-placed finish in the Six Nations.


SHOCK DEFEAT


France took the Six Nations honours but only after suffering a shock defeat in Scotland and only on points difference from Ireland.


They thrashed England 31-6 in Paris in one of the most one-sided duels between the great rivals for years and clinched the title with an impressive 21-16 win in Wales as the injury-ravaged grand slam champions of 2004 finished fifth.


Ireland continued to grow in confidence and stature, following up an impressive tournament with back-to-back home wins over South Africa and Australia in November as they ended the year as Europe's top team.


Scotland enjoyed their best run for years, also claiming a rare win over England, as coach Frank Hadden restored joy and pride to the dark blue jersey.


Italy secured their first away point since joining in 2000, from an 18-18 draw with Wales. But having also led in the second half against France, England and Ireland they will consider it a tournament of missed opportunities.


Between the two tournaments float Argentina. Their remarkable run of wins over France ended at four with a single-point Paris defeat but a first win over England at Twickenham added weight to their campaign for inclusion somewhere.


Rugby's most emotional story came in the Heineken Cup where Munster, who have suffered a decade of heartache in the competition, eventually took the title.


The Irishmen, twice losing finalists, beat Biarritz 23-19 on a wonderful day in Cardiff.


The southern hemisphere equivalent expanded to become the Super 14 but it was still a New Zealand story as the Crusaders beat the Hurricanes 19-12 to retain the title.


In South Africa the Currie Cup was shared after the Cheetahs and the Blue Bulls, meeting in the final for the third successive time, drew 29-all after extra time.


Source: Reuters