The Star: March 04, 2021

The Star Thursday March 4 2021
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SPORT
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
Sorry darling no tennis: You have a wedding
• By Chris Barclay
ELMWOOD NO.1 Elliot
Darling understandably has
another match as his priority
when the club strives to make
the Tennis Canterbury men’s
premier interclub final.
Darling’s prior commitment,
his marriage to Holly Silk on
Saturday afternoon, means both
line-ups at Wilding Park have
been jilted, in a way.
Elmwood lose Darling and his
best man, and brother, Lawrence,
while Country Ashburton must
also contend without their top
player, Jack Tiller.
Covid-19 restrictions means
the wedding is limited to 100
people, with Darling admitting
there was no way Tiller, a former
clubmate at Elmwood, was missing
the cut.
“He’s still there. If I cut him
he’d be playing tennis this weekend,”
Darling laughed.
“I had to make a few awkward
phone calls but everyone has been
pretty understanding about it.”
Tennis Canterbury schedule
was not available when the
date for the nuptials was set 18
months ago, though Elmwood
and Country Ashburton at least
had plenty of notice that personnel
changes were necessary in
Holly Silk &
Elliot Darling
the playoffs.
The other semifinal
between
defending champion
Waimairi
and Cashmere
has also been
impacted with
Matt Meredith’s
invite weakening last season’s
runner-ups.
The semi-finals were confirmed
last weekend when Te
Kura Hagley’s hopes were dashed
in spite of a 5-1 over bottomplaced
Shirley.
Waimairi nabbed the final spot
in spite of a 4-2 loss to Country
Ashburton; Elmwood achieved
the same margin over tabletopping
Cashmere.
Tiller’s absence harms the
squad’s hopes of capping their
return to the competition this
season with a spot in the decider,
but regardless of the outcome he
was rapt with their campaign.
“Going we could have been
seen as a team to make up the
numbers but we had a goal from
the start of the season to really
push for a semi-final spot so
(qualifying) third is awesome,”
he said.
“Our players have really
stepped up to the task. Sam
(Bubb) and Ben (Smith) have won
a lot of matches that on paper
they probably shouldn’t have.”
Meanwhile, Waimairi captain
Matt Woolman was delighted
with his team’s strong finish to
the regular season ahead of a
semi-final against a keen rival
they beat in the previous two
finals.
“It’s been an interesting season
for us. We’ve had a slow start
with a few players leaving or
unavailable but it’s been amazing
to have some of the younger guys
step up. They’ve been crucial in
the second half of the season,”
he said.
England should consider Robertson
New Zealand Herald
sports writer Gregor
Paul ponders over
what could be Scott
Robertson’s next
move
ONE JUGGERNAUT rolled on
this week, while another rolled
over. We also had the draw for
the 2023 world cup confirmed
and three seemingly disparate
events are potentially all connected
and potentially destined
to converge in a dramatic outcome.
The juggernaut that rolled on
was the Crusaders. The one that
rolled over was England and the
draw reminded everyone that
more than ever, the game needs
a landmark occasion and the
world cup in 2023 is destined to
carry extra significance given
the disruption which has been
experienced since last year.
Where these three points possibly
converge is Scott Robertson
being head-hunted to shift from
Christchurch to London to grab
hold of an under-performing and
unimaginative England team
later this year and reposition
them as unpredictable and creative
by the time they go to France
in 2023.
That thought must be starting
to form in the minds of a few key
English executives.
The Rugby Football Union
has made a long-term
commitment to Eddie
Jones but the irascible
Australian is
taking
England
backwards.
Three games into their Six
Nations campaign and England
have lost to Scotland and Wales.
That’s enough by itself to put
Jones’ neck in the metaphoric
noose.
But the results are only half
the problem. England have the
habits of the schoolyard bully,
but none of the mentality.
They have played with a stunningly
narrow vision that makes
everyone wonder whether Jones,
a brilliant and innovative thinker,
is suffering from the coaching
equivalent of writer’s block.
England at the moment can’t
win big games and they certainly
can’t win the hearts of the casual
rugby fan, meekly asking for
lunch money and then lacking
the conviction or ability to
actually forcefully take
it when the opposition
say no.
At the moment,
observing paint dry
comes first, looking
at grass grow second
and watching
England play
rugby a distant
third. This at a
time when coffers
are empty and
rugby is in desperate
fight for the
entertainment
dollar.
Jones survived a similar
episode of under-performance
before – when there was discontent
at England HQ after a
catastrophically bad Six Nations
in 2018 where they finished fifth
and then lost a series to South
Africa.
Jones survived that as he had
pre-empted that there may be a
slump in his third-year – warned
his employer it was inevitable
after such an initially strong two
years – and did indeed bounce
England back into top form later
that year.
But Jones is in year six with
England and that makes it
imperative to ask whether he’s
simply hit the wall this time –
lost his ability to poke about inside
his players’ heads and
bring them towards
his vision.
It might be that
he no longer has
a vision and
his employer
has
a massive
decision to
make whether
they back him
through another
two years
or decide it’s
time for a fresh
start.
England coach Eddie Jones
Former All Blacks coach
Steve Hansen long argued that
international teams should make
coaching changes in the middle
of world cup cycles. He reckoned
that the impact would be greater
doing that – and England surely
must be wondering what would
happen if they ousted Jones after
the Six Nations and brought in
Robertson?
If nothing else, England would
at least have a more defined
sense of purpose and a gameplan
that made sense as well
as exciting the players
and fans.
Razor, on the basis
of the Crusaders’
first performance
in Super Rugby
Aotearoa 2021,
has a magical
means of invigorating players,
reimagining gameplans and hitting
on a higher purpose vision
that keeps everyone chasing the
impossible.
The Crusaders didn’t flow
quite how they wanted against
the Highlanders but the unmissable
key to their victory was the
commitment of their defence.
They threw themselves about in
such a way that it was impossible
not to be impressed and
while there was some forgettable
execution on attack, so too were
there deadly clinical strikes in
the first half.
The speed and skill at the
heart of their first two tries was
extraordinary – the second one
in particular coming directly
off a scrum was testament to the
belief, confidence and skill-sets
of a team that has a depth of
understanding about what their
coach wants them to do.
And on that basis, imagine
what Razor could do with England.
He could leave one juggernaut,
get behind the wheel of another
and drive them to France 2023 as
a nearly unstoppable force.
– NZ Herald