National teams – what do they really mean?

The Springbok’s Tri-Nations away leg to Australia and New Zealand again raised an issue that always bugs me. It was mentioned again this morning during the commentary on the England vs India cricket test from Trent Bridge, where Zaheer Khan is injured.

The issue that I’m referring to is this idea of a weakened national team, or the excuses that are made when the regulars are not available through injury or burnout. “Yes the team lost, but they were missing Frik, Jan and Hendrik.  That’s bollocks.

Your national team in any sport is not only supposed to be a reflection of the strength of a group of eleven or fifteen players at the top of the game. To me, it’s a representation of your country’s strength in that sport, at that time. The strength of the performance at the pinnacle of a game shows the health of the game. So when you say that New Zealand are the best rugby nation at the moment, it means that they’re going to be favourites whenever they put out a national team. In that example, I reckon it’s fair to say that.

If you look at the Springboks by comparison… for all the inevitable bull about ‘a chance for these guys to make history’ no-one really expected anything but damage control. What does that say about our claims to be one of the best in the world? The scoreboard is what counts, and the fact that the South African side was not able to put a decent side on the field even though the country has one of the largest pools of prefessional players in the world speaks volumes of the health of the game at the highest level.

I am not saying that the best players in the world are easily replaceable. Of course not. But when it comes to national level I think that we too often talk about the quality of a specific team, instead of the strength of the nation.

Being good at a sport doesn’t only relate to the skills on the field, but all the administration, development and structures that go along with it.

Looking back on the weekend

There was a spot of sport on over the weekend – some disappointing; some enthralling.

Petra Kvitova won her first Grand Slam singles final by defeating former champion and ridiculous grunter Maria Sharapova in straight sets. I didn’t watch the final (it was sunny and the beers were cold) but saw her semi final and she looked very strong. I think it was John McEncroe who tipped her to be a big star in the future.

England’s cricketers sputtered and spurted their way to two defeats. Sri Lanka won on Friday by 69 runs and then yesterday by 6 wickets to take the lead (2-1) in the best  of 5 match ODI series. A combination of new leadership, listless bowling and the fact that some of Sri Lanka’s world class batsmen are starting to make runs is going to make it tough for Alastair Cook’s men to win the remaining two matches and rescue the series.

David Haye got a lesson in big match boxing on Saturday evening. The trash talking was not enough to defeat the ice cool Wladimir Klitscho in Germany and Haye resorted to excuses. That’s the quickest way to lose respect in boxing, but with Haye’s lack of etiquette and the disrespect that he showed in the run-up to the fight you’d expect that he now had very little left. He had always said that he was going to retire at 31, but that inevitably looks not not being the case, and talk of a bout with elder brother Vitali has already started. After his conduct in the last month I think a lot of people will be rooting for Vitali to repeat the performance of his brother.

The Tour de France has got going. But I don’t care about that. So if you want to read about latex clag dudes who have virtually no credibility after all the drug taking scandals you’ll need to find another site.

Then there was the small matter of the Super Rugby semi finals. The Blues butchered the opportunities that they had against the Reds, and succumbed 30-10 in Brisbane. Kevin Mealamu’s men had loads of ball in the first half, but a shaky performance from flyhalf Stephen Brett, matched by Lachie Munro and Jared Payne meant that they could not put any real points on the board. The Reds were lead by talismanic twat Quade Cooper. The guys has to be the most gifted attacking player around at the moment and again made the Blues defence look amateur. The Reds took the few opportunities to run the ball that they had and a hat-trick from Rod Davies meant that the Aussie table toppers will host the final next week.

Their opponents will provide their toughest challenge yet. The travelling Crusaders made short work of a piss poor Stormers effort at Newlands. The Cape side led 3-0 and that was the last time that they were really in the game. The Stormers scrum crumbled and the loss of Duane Vermeulan was highlighted as the talented, but lighter, Nick Koster struggled to keep his head above water. The little attacking ball that the Stormers did have was sent out to a backline that was lying so deep that Jean de Villiers and Jaque Fourie were fighting just to get to the advantage line, never mind over it. This match was always going to be won or lost in the forwards and the home team’s pack simply never arrived. Reduced to praying in the scrums and tackling the rest of the time there was precious little attacking rugby on show. The Crusaders were class all around. Dan Carter had an off night kicking to posts, but his control of the game was immense. Coupled with a huge game from Kieran Reid and a comfortable platform from his tight five the Crusaders never looked like losing. If they can deal with the travel back east this week (which is tougher than going west apparently) the Reds are going to be in for a tough time.