People who do this know fuck all about All Black rugby and its heritage. All Black rugby was built on dour, pragmatic rugby. It was built on the All Blacks squeezing the life out of their more gifted, more adventurous, more error prone opponents. Even in the 80s when we first started running up cricket scores regularly we demonstrated this, with the first 50-60 minutes spent bludgeoning the opposition into submission with the last quarter spent using Blair's conditioning to run away with the game against spent opposition.

The game against the Waratahs demonstrated the Crusaders recycling of this old ethos perfectly: grind them down, give them nothing, bleed them gradually of their energy and composure and then take them down. It obviously would have been more effective if the bloody lummoxes had held onto the ball for more than 4 phases in the first 60, but it was enough to win at a canter without really getting out of second.

Under Deans everyone knows their place in the team/squad structure, everyone had faith in themselves and those inside and outside them to do the job required without panicking. Players are rested, rotated, come in and out through injury and the system doesn't breakdown. This is testament to Deans the coach and the manager. Yes there are superstars like Carter and McCaw, but they are playing in a framework that allows them to excel, to focus on what they need to do.

Some people complain that All Blacks need to be the most exceptional player in their position otherwise they don't deserve it, and they contradict that by saying that you need to select combinations and partnerships to justify their own biases. As a coach you can either select a plan/structure and select the players that can fit within it; or you can select your players and then try to find the system/structure that works best for them. Either way can work well, but the most important part is the right structure and that comes down to the man in charge.

Too often in the past 10 years we have seen too many overly endowed on the gifted front lose to less skillful, better organised, more committed teams.

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