2015 Six Nations Rugby All-Star Tournament Team

As a follow-up to my FIFA World Cup Team, here are my selections for the recently completed RBS 6-Nations Rugby Tournament. In my selections I try to spread the love and select from as many teams as possible. In this case only Italy missed out and they has two contenders in Luke McLean and Sergio Parisse their stalwart caption. Many positions were very difficult to choose an outright leader; for example fullback, where Scotland's Stuart Hogg eventually emerged as winner, as all six fullbacks were exceptional. The Player of the Tournament for me was Ireland's amazing captain Paul O'Connell. The last day of play produced some of the craziest and scintillating results ever, it was mesmerizing. So here they are... again no apologies... it's my team.

All Blacks the All-time Winningest Rugby Team in the World

The New Zealand All Blacks completed their autumn tour of Great Britain and Ireland today, by beating a gallant Wales 37-25, and rolled decisively to their third grand slam over all the home unions in the last five years. The All Blacks outscored the Welsh by five tries to one and in the process set two major world records. The world's best first five-eighth, Daniel Carter, broke Jonny Wilkinson's world record total of 1,178 points with his second kick of the match. The biggest difference between the two champion flyhalves is that Carter accumulated his total from a lot less games, and did so by scoring 4 times as many touchdowns as his English counterpart.

In defeating the Welsh, the All Blacks also raised their all-time, all-comer, winning record to over 75% of their games. This is a phenomenal feat, one that is almost unheard of in any football code. This is especially so when you consider that New Zealand has been playing international rugby for well over 100 years. Even more astonishing is the fact that New Zealand has such a small population, currently estimated at just under 4.4 million persons. Closest rivals Australia has 22 million, South Africa has 50 million, while England has 51 million and France has a whopping 65 million citizens. Not too shabby for such a little nation, New Zealand is currently ranked No. 1 of all the top rugby playing nations and has been at that position for most of the time that the International Rugby Board has ranked international teams. By comparison, the team with the greatest winning percentage in the National Football League in the United States is the Dallas Cowboys with 58%. In truth the All Blacks define international rugby and what it means to win.

Should football follow rugby’s lead?

Republished from The Globe and the Mail: On the football field, the uniform is a suit of armour that makes players feel invincible and has the NFL in a sudden scramble to make the game safe. On the rugby pitch, where the action is every bit as vicious, they've been playing for decades with little more than a paper-thin set of shoulder pads. These are two violent games, each of which produce more than their fair share of injuries. But if a rugby player is going to get “blown up” — as they like to say in the NFL — the sound will be that of bone-on-bone, not the loud, made-for-TV popping of a helmet onto a pair of shoulder pads. When you put those pads and helmets on, it does protect you, but only to an extent,” said Eddie O'Sullivan, a former rugby player in Ireland who now serves as head coach for the U.S. national team.

By eschewing pads and helmets, rugby players say they avoid the perils of the so-called “Superman effect,” a sensation that emboldens players to take bigger chances and make bigger hits because they feel safeguarded by equipment that essentially turns them into armour-plated projectiles. “A helmet would actually be seen as a form of protection, so that would massively change the way the game is played,” said Chris Jones, who has played for the Sale Sharks rugby union team in Britain for 10 years. “It wouldn't really suit rugby to wear helmets.” Indeed, helmets and thick shoulder pads would alter the fundamentals of rugby — especially the tackling part, which has less to do with knocking an opponent to the ground, more to do with wrapping him up and keeping him there. “It's a more precise skill, rather than just the car wreck effect that you see on the gridiron, and that's the thing that keeps the game pretty safe for us,” O'Sullivan said.

Rugby players are taught to never use their head in making the tackle, and without a helmet to protect them, the logic is pretty clear. Any player leading with the head is almost certain to get hurt as badly as the person he's trying to hit. Meanwhile, ballcarriers in rugby — a game with continuous play and no forward passes — are also taught that it's better to go down easily so they can more effectively work the ball back to a teammate and keep play moving. This is not the way of the NFL, and suddenly, the league finds itself in the midst of a safety crisis. On Sunday, a new era in the NFL will begin, one in which extra scrutiny will be given to hits made at shoulder level and above. Players who have been taught since childhood to hit hard, and often to lead with their helmet and shoulders, have become confused about what's allowable and what's not.

In the middle of this debate, a couple of the sport's icons, Penn State coach Joe Paterno and former Bears coach and tight end Mike Ditka, have suggested helmets either be scaled back or completely eliminated from football — an almost certainly unworkable prospect that would make football look the way it did in the 1940s and 1950s ... and more similar to what rugby still looks like today. “I don't think people would strike with the head as much,” Ditka said during the week. “You would learn to strike with the shoulder pads if you didn't have a helmet on your head. ”While they're far from helmets, rugby does make “scrum caps” — soft, padded head guards — available, though they are mainly used to protect players from getting their ears bents and tweaked during scrums. The caps, more recently, have fallen out of favour because players think they feel awkward and don't want to appear “soft” by wearing them. Instead, many favour tying a simple cloth or elastic band around their heads to protect their ears.

If you would like to read the entire article by Eddie Pells, please click on the highlighted title link, "Should football follow rugby's lead?".

The Ruck of the Irish

There is no tougher, grittier or bruising rugby match in Europe than when fierce Irish rivals, Munster play Leinster. This is especially so when the game is the first being played at their new Hall of Heroes, the Aviva Stadium in Dublin. As you might expect, the match between the two heavyweights was a very tight one throughout most of the game. It was basically a straight shootout between the place-kickers, until captain Brian O'Driscoll shunted Leinster ahead with a try in the 70th minute.

In typically Gaelic color the Irish Times described the game was "hardly a classic, though wincingly compelling viewing, a demolition derby bristled with naked intent." But almost nothing is more mesmerizing than a good old-fashioned slug fest, featuring old enemies in a local derby. With the win, Leinster moves to safety in the table and Munster, who had been undefeated until the weekend, retain first place, with a much reduced advantage. Nothing less than you expect in the Republic.

The All Blacks: Time for the Surge

With the 2011 Rugby World Cup just around the corner, the complete focus of the legions of Kiwi rugby fans is concentrated on the national rugby team, the All Blacks. Nothing but total dominance and bringing home the Webb-Ellis trophy will be good enough. New Zealanders have the best rugby team on the planet, as testified by the current International Rugby Board world rankings; in fact daylight is in second place, not South Africa. But the last couple of World Cups have been dismal by All Black standards and winning at home is the only way to sweeten the bitter taste that still lingers in Kiwi mouths.

The All Blacks have been labeled by some as chokers on the world's biggest stage, most often from rivals trying to play the psychological game. I wonder if this is a result of being the favourites for every single tournament they play in. Too much expectation can lead to playing in a straightjacket, not with joyful freedom to express. That said, they simply should have done better in Australia and France, but, did not. However, the All Blacks have been clearly the best side for the last decade, their record is envious. They have won so many more games than the next best team it is laughable… or wonderful if you bleed black.

All that remains now is for the current crop of players to stamp themselves on the rugby psyche of their opponents like the great All Blacks sides of yesteryear. Richie McCaw must make his team feared, absolutely feared, every time they take the field, like those teams led by Colin Meads and Wilson Whineray. As Irishman Edmund Burke said a long time ago, "No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear." When a team can combine their own strength and self-belief with fear in opposing ranks, the power to win is borne.

The All Blacks have a great chance to up-the-ante by going through the Tri-Nations undefeated in 2010; a feat only thus far accomplished by another All Black team in 2003. They only have Australia to beat, a team that is very much under the gun but coming off a morale boosting victory over South Africa. The Wallabies might have their backs to the wall, but an enraged and wounded animal has a fearsome bite. Victory on 9/11 in Sydney will set the foundation for bringing home the cup next year. Kia Kaha, Kia Toa. Black Magic!