As I write this England is but to play the Netherlands, within the semifinals of the Euro 2024 soccer competitors.
I’ve been fascinated with that workforce in relation to the best way we speak about and deal with the All Blacks.
England’s Euros marketing campaign hasn’t been an excellent one, which has created two conflicting narratives.
One, is that they’re still in the tournament and should be praised for that. No, the quality of their football hasn’t reached the heights anticipated, but it’s only winning that counts.
The other is that they’re rubbish. An embarrassment.
Manager Gareth Southgate is incompetent and the players a shadow of their club-football-selves.
That’s a theme that’s been taken up by former players, pundits, media and fans.
They all expect, or expected, better and have been very forthright in saying so.
One or two players have also bitten back at that criticism, during the pool and now knockout phase of the tournament.
Personally, I like that.
I applaud the fact that people have been unafraid to voice their displeasure and that players have responded, rather than default to the usual lie about disregarding or being entirely ignorant of opinions from beyond their bubble.
I think All Blacks rugby would be enhanced by similar critiques from all and sundry.
Putting players and teams on pedestals is pathetic, quite frankly.
But that’s a side issue.
What’s really struck me here – as I seek to compare England’s footballers with our All Blacks – is the wild levels of expectation.
As I sit here, I think the All Blacks should beat England’s rugby team by 20 points, in Auckland on Saturday night. Just as I thought they would’ve beaten them by plenty in Dunedin last week.
That’s made me wonder if, like those associated with English football, we entirely over rate our players and are chronically ignorant and dismissive of opponents.
I’d wager most of us are not aficionados of English Premiership Rugby.
We watch Super Rugby Pacific and see our better players run rings around, often token, opposition and assume they should do the same against every team they meet.
We look at what works at a franchise level and presume it’ll be sufficient to pummel test opponents as well.
I’ve always worked on the principle that excellence is the benchmark for All Black teams.
That not only should the team aspire to that, they should reach it on a regular basis.
Any less and we descend forever into the mire of mediocrity.
But as I watched the All Blacks make incredibly hard work of beating England 16-15 last week, I couldn’t escape the feeling that some of these players just aren’t that good.
Or at least not as good as we imagine they are or hope them to be.
Does the continued adherence to a game plan many of us feel doesn’t work indicate a failing of successive coaching staffs? Or is it simply the best they can do with what they’ve got?
I was appalled at how the All Blacks attempted to play in Dunedin, but is that because my expectations are entirely out of whack?
I genuinely don’t know.
Hopefully we’ll get an answer as Scott Robertson’s coaching tenure continues.
In the meantime, there’s nothing wrong with us voicing our displeasure at performances. If that motivates players to jam those words down our throats – as appears to have happened with England’s football team – then we’ll all be better for it.