Irish party watch rugby from another planet

APPROPRIATELY in a sporting land all consumed by rugby, even on a day of respite, for the Irish in New Zealand there was no respite, The timely proximity of Saturday's Super 12 semi-final at Eden Park made it compulsory viewing for the entire party but at least this time the Irish could sit back and enjoy the proceedings for a change.

It was another eye-opener, confirmation that this is rugby not from the other side of the planet but from another planet altogether.

It was also everything we expected and more. These things are not mere rugby matches, but occasions. The pre-match pageantry was of the modern-day, Skysports style, complete with cheer-leaders and pounding music.

Upon their gladiatorial entrance a minute or so before kick-off amid deafening firecrackers, the players immediately assumed their kick-off positions. Watching games from prime seats above the halfway line - as we in this business do - can spoil you. The Irish party's vantage point, adjacent to one of the corner flags, made you appreciative of the video replay screen and the giant scoreboard which also relayed the latest scorers and match statistics.

Home arrogance in expectation of next week's final at Eden Park and a hike in prices prevented a full house. But the 30,000-plus crowd were really into" the game. Despite a torrential 24-hour downpour up until about midday, as befits the home of New Zealand cricket as well as rugby, the soft pitch was pure green and like a billiard top. And despite a slippery ball, there was no deviation from the running game.

In a repeat of what was termed last year's "inaugural" final after a redefinition of provincial boundaries and an extension of the Super 10 to the Super 12, last year's runners-up, Natal enjoyed a 60-40 split in possession and plugged away till the end and ran in six tries. Yet they had been beaten almost out of sight by the half-hour mat.

Natal began by creating an over-lap out wide for one of five tries by their three used wingers inside two minutes. Mistake number one. It was akin to a cheeky up-start running up to the schoolyard toughie and kicking him in the ankles, merely stinging the Blues into a breathtakingly clinical response.

From the first available opportunity, the gifted and cocky Carlos Spencer orchestrated a double miss-move across the back-line despite the Sharks moving up almost into their faces, freeing JoeIi Vidiri to score from inside half-bay. Cue to a fitting blast of It's Alright Now (different tunes for different scores) and the cheer-leaders.

Six minutes later, Auckland's support play and pressure yielded a penalty close to the posts. Many things typified the different mind-set between the two rugby hemispheres, but probably none more than what happened next. Where most Irish or British sides would probably dutifully kick for goal, that wasn't on the agenda of captain Zinzan Brooke (who hardly joined a ruck all day). Sizing up the situation, he tapped the ball to himself and swivelled through a gap to score.

This is endemic of the general southern hemisphere approach and certainly Auckland's. Of their 490 points en route to the final. their tries have outnumbered penalties by 64 to 28 - with one drop goal.

Both sides hardly kicked to touch all day (there were 21 line-outs in all) but the value of attacking kicks was shown when the second five-eighth Lee Stensness - emerging into a brilliant Test centre of the future - kicked ahead for Vidiri to plunder his second try.

Events later proved that Vidiri doesn't defend particularly well, but the Blues tend to accentuate the attacking positives rather than defensive negatives. The intricate slight of hand and double scissors off a ruck which resulted in Mark Carter's try would have been a credit to French back play, yet all three involved were the Blues' back-row.

Deep into injury time, Natal were pressing hard when conceding a drop-out to the Blues. Racing out from the in-goal area, Spencer dropped out short (with not a support player in sight) to Andre Jouhert, dispossessing him on the ground and augmenting this impudence with a foot rush upfield which ended with him scoring. Some Irish out-halves would probably be reprimanded by their club coaches for attempting it.

A post-interval double by the awesome Eroni Clarke completely killed the contest before the Blues took their foot off the pedal. Two of the three Natal players to have played club rugby in Ireland, Pieter Muller and Gary Jeiehmann, were outstanding. The visitors' five tries restored some pride for their travelling support and sandwiched a break-away try by Adrian Cashmore when Stensness sent him down the narrowest of corridors on the blind side from their own 22.

Queen's We Will Rock You reverberated around the ground and the party atmosphere was maintained when the players returned to salute their fans alter wards. Auckland will now enjoy home advantage in next week's final with the ACT Brumbies.

Curiously, despite their first-half opportunism, the Blues spent much of the game inside their own 22, where their approach was such that they were every bit as threatening as in Natal's 22.

Traditionalists back home might baulk at scorelines which are edging ever closer to basketball proportions, but this is the way the game has gone - probably for good.

The Irish players were left in awed admiration, for this is not only more fun to watch but more fun to play in. The management team of coach Brian Ashton and Pat Whelan were even more convinced that starting from scratch to emulate this approach (even to a degree) is the only way forward.

Slightly contrary to television viewing, the pace of the game did not always seem that frightening, though the ball is in play far more often. The ever-improving physical conditioning was apparent in some of the ground-shuddering collisions, and the demarcation lines between backs and forwards were often blurred to the point of non-existence. At one point, the lock Robin Brooke matched Sharks' winger Joos Joubert in tackling him into touch.

That was one of the few ankle-enveloping tackles of the game - for another page of the textbook has been shredded with the ball-enveloping waist-to-chest tackles now de rigeur to prevent the ball carrier off-loading. There are few sacred cows left.

All in all, this is, in effect, a new tier of rugby, created out of commercial and television demands for the new era and lying somewhere above interprovincial rugby down under and below international rugby - though above even some Five Nations' rugby.