Three's A Crowd

Next weekend sees the last of the Bledisloe matches played in Dunedin. NZ cannot lose the match regardless of the result. I refuse to bring up the term dead rubber because to me that brings to mind a used condom. Or indeed sex wearing a condom. It has no place in rugby. Every game has meaning. For example, Australia gained a lot of confidence in Argentina. Add a Wallaby win in Dunedin and suddenly the horror season seems a lot more palatable and they approach November with renewed confidence.

There is always meaning to extract from games. If you can't aim to win every game it means you're not good enough to do so. However, motivation differs a lot between games. The way I see it Australia and NZ face each other twice in the RC. Let us call those games RC games. One of those RC games has to be played in Sydney. My suggestion is to call the game that occurs after the RC the Bledisloe Cup game. Lay it all on the line and the match alternates between Oz and Nz.

I have the impression that this game is difficult to market when one side goes 2 0 up. The third match doesn't lose its meaning but it does lose a lot of the motivation for the team who already has retained the trophy. Put it on the line and I think that match will generate a lot of interest. If the game is drawn like last year it goes to extra time.

NZ fans might say this is giving up too much of an advantage. It's difficult to argue with that but therein lies a good reason to change. Having an annual match where the pressure to win is very much present is a good thing. You have that in the 6N and to me having that do or die mentality about a game is very useful preparation for knockout games in the RWC.

Keep the RC games as they are. Let's market the current 3rd Bledisloe as the Bledisloe Cup match. Lose it and you have to come back next year to win it back. That'd go a long way to bringing back some life into this trophy that has lost its way a little in recent years. What do you think?

Kia, your turn of phrase is a crack up

So you're saying reduce the Bledisloe Cup from 3 to 1 match? Or more along the lines of the Ranfurly Shield where it's on the line in all 3 games?

Actually, I think the status quo is the fairest although a one off match could be good also with alternating home-away matches. Thing is, we shouldn't have to tweak it because Oz are not strong this year. Enjoy the dominance we have over them while it lasts.

Just one game mate. Let's not blur the RC and the Bledisloe. 3 individual games a year would be too much.

Should NZ play 2 RC games against each of SA and AUS and then a Bledisloe cup series, pop up north to put the poms back in their box once a year and suspend all other matches until the respective teams prove they're worthy to challenge us again?

Bored at work again GE?

Seriously. Just what is the point in playing Ireland, Scotland, Wales so regularly when they haven't so much as drawn a game with us since the ball was a pigs bladder? I find these games tedious processions and all the prematch pandering with this "they're a real threat" patronising rubbish just tedious.

I wonder if the prize for winning the 6N should be a chance to play the All Blacks.

GE royal families and incest come to mind with your proposal. A shuddering image...

Steady on there old chum, you'll offend the Brits putting those two concepts together (royal families and incest)

Ummmm

Ok, actually a one off game would be a good idea, get a bit of practice in for psyching up for knockout tournaments

The real excuse for this game was to spread the game to places like Japan and Hong Kong.
Now it has become another home /away fixture dump it the only reason is/was cash DUMP
It.There is too many test matches a year all ready will there be a 6 match 4Ns in 2015 again
finishing 2 weeks before RWC kick off.Will see yet another shadow show of "C" sides playing
in the name of winning the Sacred Cow of the RWC.Dump the November tour and make it
mini tour.A 3 match series and 2/3 match provincial style mid week matches in just one NH Country.GE UNTIL ALL the SH sides have clean sweeps EVERY year in the NH show respect
ANY side can win on there day.

The real excuse is money.

Alan wrote:GE UNTIL ALL the SH sides have clean sweeps EVERY year in the NH show respect

Yeah, like SA did last year.  

And about time to:)

I too prefer the 2 RC matches, then a one off alternate home/away for the Bledisloe. They're 2 seperate comps and should stay that way, no on eles other than us and the kiwis give a toss about the Bledisloe.

And yes for me the Dunedin game means a lot. (for me anyway) Firing, even sporadicly as we did in Argentina, means nothing if we can't atone for the thrashings we've had in the RC from the other 2 sides and the last Lions game. A recovery has to start somewhere, the last game may be the start of it, but we need to win the next one too, and the ones after, to take heart and really start being a force to be respected again in the rugby world.

I'm talking about yonder years GE and not just the British royal family.

If the NH can come for 3 matches I think they should also have a provincial warm up or midweek game. A tour in November would be better than the grab for cash of one off games in the biggest stadiums we get at the moment. Plus a one off game for the Bledisloe would add bite to that game as opposed to the tag on feeling we have at the moment.

The corporate move into Asia was poorly executed. Ensure the game is a sellout by adding maximum appeal and interest to the occasion. We already have the 2 RC games. Make the game stand out more in the calendar rather than the go on I'll give the missus another hump tonight but my heart's not in it and I'd rather fall asleep style game we have all too frequently at the moment.

Biltong wrote:The real excuse is money.

BT you are a little behind the game here mate. 

It's a well rehearsed occurrence that when the Bledisloe cup is held by NZ the Aussies suggest a best of there series. When they hold it, then they immediately switch it to a two game series where the holder retains the cup if they win either match.  This is how they managed to hold it for a few years a decade ago, or whenever they last had it, I forget now it was so long ago.

Their latest trick is to try to wield an early advantage by hosting the first game of the series in Sydney every year with the excuse being coincidence with some kind if festival that john O'neill just made up.

"no one else other than us and the kiwis give a toss about the Bledisloe"

I think that sums it up