It's okay to lay the opposition to waste.  It’s okay to put them to the sword, to run through them like General George S Patton used to say (slightly altered for decency), to run through them like poop through a goose. Â
This is what will happen tomorrow morning. The All Blacks, the relatively inexperienced All Blacks, will hunt the Eagles down.  Pluck ‘em, truss ‘em and stick them on the rotisserie. This is partially due to the strength of the men in black and the weakness of an American team, hamstrung through a lack of their first-string players due to the fixture falling outside of an international window. The ABs will of course be carrying the grief of the passing of Sean Wainui and the annoyance of having been beaten by the Springboks a few of weeks back. That defeat would have been riding their shoulders like an angry chimp, hooting and shrieking the whole time.  The release valve will be struck and the Americans will be burnt by the overpowering steam release.
So is it good for international rugby? Does that even matter? Is it NZRs responsibility to grow the game? Is okay to take the money and run? Put the plimsoll on the other flipper.  Take American football.  If the Patriots were to turn up and take on our national side the Steelblacks, would we drop to our knees and sob in unison as 50,000 of us watched a massacre at Eden Park. No. We’d take it for what it is, an exhibition. An advert for the game which is a mere curiosity in our land. It may well encourage some participation; it’ll demand some interest fleetingly and then we’ll go back to watching rugby. Â
Granted, that’s not the most accurate parallel, but it's close enough. It’s not up to NZ to spread the gospel, to foster growth of the game, hell we can’t even get it together enough to help our Pacifica cousins. That’s the job of World Rugby, the impotent stain attempting to run the game globally, whose most proactive step of recent times is to allow pantyhose into the game. Â
The ABs don’t have to pay lip service to anyone here, with talk of giving the yanks a leg up. They’ll use the match as a conduit for their trans-hemispherical jaunt, take the money, satisfy the sponsors, cook the Eagles and carry on. Â
Nothing wrong with that right? As they say, it is what it is. Â
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