News
Somerville a fan of the good old game
August 12 2008
When the All Blacks arrived in Cape Town one could sense the excitement levels cranking up, not to mention the security at their first official press conference of their short tour.
Entering the team hotel it's clear to see why extra security measures are taken with New Zealand, after all this is no ordinary rugby team. Fans mill around the entrance, cameras at the ready as they hope to catch a passing glimpse of their heroes - most are there to see one man, Dan Carter.
Security escort the gathered press through to the inner sanctum, the All Blacks' wing of the hotel, which is manned constantly to prevent any unwanted visitors gaining access. Orders are barked to shut the doors to the team room as I catch a brief look inside - motivational posters adorn the walls as various squad members go through video analysis sessions.
In the media room there are no chairs or tables, just empty space. If it wasn't for the All Blacks media manager you would think you were in the wrong place, but as Greg Somerville ambled in fresh from training the frenzy began. Clearly the All Blacks have this down to a tee, the absence of tables and chairs becomes obvious - if people sit down they will talk for longer and that is not an option. Rather it will be short and sweet.
With 62 caps to his name Somerville is an integral member of the All Black pack, making his departure to Gloucester at the end of the Tri-Nations all the more painful. Despite a stern briefing of what questions to expect, and what not to say, away from the media manager Somerville was soon opening up as he relaxed into yet another interview.
At the start of the week South African coach Peter de Villiers had branded the All Blacks pack as cheats, highlighting their use of 'illegal' tactics at the set-piece as his main concern. This was the key area Somerville had been told not to talk about, yet he was lucid in giving his thoughts on the matter.
"We get called cheats nearly every week, so you get a bit sick of it in the end," Somerville said with a smile breaking out on his face.
"You just try and play within the laws, and you want to be competitive at scrum time. They are going to want to attack us on our ball, angle in on me and do whatever they can to disrupt us. That said the same happens for us when it is there ball, and lets not kid people don't want to see scrums become nothing do they?
"People still want to see a bit of the good old stuff as two teams go at each other. So I wouldn't call it cheating rather two teams having a go at each other. It's not cheating, but just two teams having a dig at each other, and I guess it comes down to who is interpreting it, but I don't see it as cheating."
New Zealand, who have had the good fortune of a two-week break before Saturday's showdown at Newlands, know that a win is essential if they are to continue their Tri-Nations defence. Yet after a 34-19 defeat at the hands of the Wallabies, their second tournament defeat in a row, it could all have been so different for them.
One week on from that disastrous night in Sydney and the All Blacks had announced themselves once again with a near-perfect display of rugby. A forty-four point turnaround in the space of a week had most scratching their heads as to how a team could be so bad one week, and then look like the All Blacks of old the following week. The answer, according to Somerville, was pretty simple.
"It was really just an attitude thing, and we changed a few tactics that the boys played pretty well but most of it was upstairs in the mind," Somerville said.
"A lot of stuff we did against the Aussies in the first Test was just simple mistakes so it didn't take a lot of changing around. We still like to back our ability and try and play some entertaining rugby, but we need to realise you can't always do that without setting a solid platform first."
The Crusaders prop, who is preparing to play in his sixteenth Test against South Africa, also admitted that the All Blacks had been a little naive with regards to the ELVs. Hardly surprising, given that the All Black coaches have openly confessed to struggling with the adjustments in the laws, although those problems seem to have been eradicated now.
"In that first Test against the Wallabies we played a little too much helter-skelter rugby by running every free-kick and getting ahead of ourselves a little," admitted Somerville.
"In the second Test we just went back to the basics of the scrum and line-out to settle ourselves down. So with the ELVs you can open the game up if you want with plenty of quick stuff, but you can also go back to the set-piece and control it a little more. With the scrum and line-out it gives us a lot more structure to work from."
Turning his attention to the coming Test, Somerville was quick to heap praise on the Springboks scrum. Either an age-old ploy of softening up the opposition, or more likely in this case an honest prop admiring the standard of opposition.
"They scrummed really well against Argentina from what I saw," he said.
"We're expecting the usual really. It is always a pretty tough encounter against the Springboks. 'Beast' has been going pretty well and has taken his chance with both hands, so we are expecting it to be tough there. Then you have CJ (van der Linde) who is going well at tighthead and played well against Argentina so they will have a lot of confidence going into this game."
As the media manager circled Somerville, we knew it was time to wrap things up, and did so by stressing the importance of a win on South African soil - a small amount of revenge for the 30-28 defeat in Dunedin earlier this year.
"Just getting a win in South Africa would be nice really," he concluded.
"They are not going to be making it easy for us so just a win would be good, and we can let bonus points take care of themselves."
By Marcus Leach in Cape Town