All Blacks suffer Carter blow
Source: Agencies |
October 3, 2011, Monday
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ON any normal day, Ireland beating Italy to top a World Cup group containing Australia would spark celebrations across New Zealand.
As soon as All Blacks flyhalf Dan Carter was ruled out of the Rugby World Cup with a tournament-ending groin injury, though, yesterday was always going to be gloomy in the host nation.
The last three quarterfinal spots were decided across the last four pool matches, with a 36-6 win over Italy setting the Irish on course for a knockout clash against Wales, which thrashed Fiji 66-0.
Argentina fended off a plucky Georgia 25-7 to set up a quarterfinal against New Zealand in the opening match of the day.
Given it was only hours after the Carter announcement, the main domestic interest in New Zealand's 12-try, 79-15 thrashing of Canada was on how Colin Slade performed at flyhalf.
Carter has scored an international-record 1,250 test points and is the best No. 10 in world rugby. The lack of an understudy for the 29-year-old pivot has long been seen as the Achilles heel of the All Blacks' World Cup campaign, so the worst fears of a New Zealand public desperate to end a World Cup drought have been realized.
All Blacks fans may not yet be convinced of Slade's credentials for the high-pressure knockout rounds but coach Graham Henry expressed full confidence.
"Going forward ... well, Colin Slade's the boy. He played pretty well for a large part of the game today. He just needs more football, so the more times we can get him out there the better he's going to be."
Slade said after the match that "it's been a tough 24 hours."
But Ireland's win in Pool C about 40 minutes later at least gave the hosts a slight boost, if only because it means arch-rival Australia has a tougher road to the final.
The Irish finished on top of a pool for the first time ever at the World Cup, forcing second-place Australia - the reigning Tri-Nations champion - into a knockout against Pool D winner and defending World Cup champion South Africa. The winner of that will likely have to play New Zealand in the semifinals.
In an evenly balanced knockout round, all the northern hemisphere teams are on side and all the southern hemisphere teams on the other.
England, the 2003 champion and runner-up in '07, overcame Scotland on Saturday night and will next meet a French team in disarray after a disastrous loss to Tonga.
Cup curses
While the French no doubt had the blues, a long dark cloud descended over New Zealand and talk of Cup curses started immediately after Henry told a mid-morning news conference that Carter was sidelined from the injury sustained during kicking practice late on Saturday.
The 23-year-old Slade started for only the fourth time in his nine-test career and had a reasonable game directing the backline for the first 50 minutes against Canada but was off-target with the boot. Piri Weepu had a more constructive game when he went on as No. 10.
New Zealand was already assured of a quarterfinal spot ahead of its last match, and had no real difficulty against the Canadians despite the absence of Carter. The injury occurred only hours after Carter had been asked to captain New Zealand for the first time in his 84-test career in the absence of Richie McCaw, who was ruled out of the Canada match with the recurrence of a foot injury.
As soon as All Blacks flyhalf Dan Carter was ruled out of the Rugby World Cup with a tournament-ending groin injury, though, yesterday was always going to be gloomy in the host nation.
The last three quarterfinal spots were decided across the last four pool matches, with a 36-6 win over Italy setting the Irish on course for a knockout clash against Wales, which thrashed Fiji 66-0.
Argentina fended off a plucky Georgia 25-7 to set up a quarterfinal against New Zealand in the opening match of the day.
Given it was only hours after the Carter announcement, the main domestic interest in New Zealand's 12-try, 79-15 thrashing of Canada was on how Colin Slade performed at flyhalf.
Carter has scored an international-record 1,250 test points and is the best No. 10 in world rugby. The lack of an understudy for the 29-year-old pivot has long been seen as the Achilles heel of the All Blacks' World Cup campaign, so the worst fears of a New Zealand public desperate to end a World Cup drought have been realized.
All Blacks fans may not yet be convinced of Slade's credentials for the high-pressure knockout rounds but coach Graham Henry expressed full confidence.
"Going forward ... well, Colin Slade's the boy. He played pretty well for a large part of the game today. He just needs more football, so the more times we can get him out there the better he's going to be."
Slade said after the match that "it's been a tough 24 hours."
But Ireland's win in Pool C about 40 minutes later at least gave the hosts a slight boost, if only because it means arch-rival Australia has a tougher road to the final.
The Irish finished on top of a pool for the first time ever at the World Cup, forcing second-place Australia - the reigning Tri-Nations champion - into a knockout against Pool D winner and defending World Cup champion South Africa. The winner of that will likely have to play New Zealand in the semifinals.
In an evenly balanced knockout round, all the northern hemisphere teams are on side and all the southern hemisphere teams on the other.
England, the 2003 champion and runner-up in '07, overcame Scotland on Saturday night and will next meet a French team in disarray after a disastrous loss to Tonga.
Cup curses
While the French no doubt had the blues, a long dark cloud descended over New Zealand and talk of Cup curses started immediately after Henry told a mid-morning news conference that Carter was sidelined from the injury sustained during kicking practice late on Saturday.
The 23-year-old Slade started for only the fourth time in his nine-test career and had a reasonable game directing the backline for the first 50 minutes against Canada but was off-target with the boot. Piri Weepu had a more constructive game when he went on as No. 10.
New Zealand was already assured of a quarterfinal spot ahead of its last match, and had no real difficulty against the Canadians despite the absence of Carter. The injury occurred only hours after Carter had been asked to captain New Zealand for the first time in his 84-test career in the absence of Richie McCaw, who was ruled out of the Canada match with the recurrence of a foot injury.
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