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SEAN FITZPATRICK IS a former All Black captain. He is New Zealand born and bred, widely regarded as one of the finest players ever to wear the famous jersey. A legend, in every sense of the word.
Sean Fitzpatrick is also a proud holder of an Irish passport. His roots can be traced back generations to his grandfather, Jimmy, who left Tipperary for Opotiki, a small town in the Bay of Plenty.
It’s only in retirement has Fitzpatrick begun to look into his Irish heritage and he is currently in the process of putting together a family tree; but his connection with Ireland isn’t just in the past.
One of his daughters has just graduated from Trinity College with an Economics and Politics degree, and another has been accepted into first year. Fitzpatrick and his wife visit these shores around six times a year.
“There is a special bond for me with Ireland,” he explains to The42. “I’ve got an Irish passport and I’m only one generation removed — although being a Fitzpatrick, it’s like a Smith.
“I remember being over here with the All Blacks in 1989 and after a training session there was a queue of Fitzpatricks looking for a ticket for the game at Lansdowne Road. They said they were related and I’d always say ‘I have no relatives here.’
“But I was with a guy yesterday who is doing a family tree for me and there are loads of Fitzpatricks from Clonmore. With my daughter living in Dublin for college, that nice history has continued.”
So Fitzpatrick has more than a vested interest in Irish rugby, always keeping a particularly close eye on Joe Schmidt’s side and how the provinces are faring.
“The two countries like each other whether that’s in sport or general life,” he continued.
“There’s that connection there which goes a long way back to the Munster game in 1978 and we’ve never lost to Ireland which is quite nice.
“As a player I’ve never played against an Irish team and it’s been easy. They’re always an incredibly physical team that’ll take the All Blacks on. It’s a great honour for them to play us as it for us to play them.”
The long-standing rivalry between the two countries will be renewed in Chicago at the start of next month for the first of two November Test matches.
Joe Schmidt’s side will be hoping to make history in America by becoming the first Irish team to topple the All Blacks, although the task has never been as great with New Zealand recently notching a record-equalling 17th consecutive victory.
With that in mind, Fitzpatrick finds it hard to see Ireland doing the unthinkable at Solider Field on 5 November.
“Of course they’ve got a chance, they’ve always got a chance,” the Sky Sports pundit says of Ireland’s hopes. “I’ve played against Ireland many times and you go into games thinking they’ve got no chance and they give you a scare.
“The All Blacks are always very respectful of Ireland and the thing that will give the Irish a bit of hope is that they always take the game to the All Blacks and the teams that are going to beat them are the teams that are going to take them on physically and the Irish are capable of doing that.
“It’s just a bit of belief really. If you look back to 2013, 19-0 after 20 mins and then 75 minutes Sexton has a kick at goal to finish the game out, takes longer than he should and misses it.
“But at the moment, for me, the All Blacks are as powerful as they’ve ever been. I think they’ve taken it to the next level even since last year. They’re at a different level.”
After lifting the Webb Ellis Cup in 2015, this New Zealand side has continued to evolve under Steve Hansen and the gulf in class between them and the rest has widened; sealing this year’s Rugby Championship with two games to spare underlines that.
Their enduring level of dominance is not only down to the conveyor belt of talent being produced but also the structures put in place domestically by New Zealand Rugby.
Players are centrally contracted to the national team, which allows the NZRU to control and govern player conditioning and welfare. The Irish Rugby Football Union have a similar structure in place and Fitzpatrick believes it’s an important part of the All Blacks’ all-conquering model.
“The IRFU need to make sure they’re investing in the right players, centrally contracted is the exact same model as in New Zealand so they can look after their players,” he says.
They’ll be disappointed with the last few years with European performances. The Munsters of the world aren’t what they used to be and it’s a bit of a changing of the guard in Irish rugby and it’s going to take a little time to get there I’d imagine but there’s no reason why they shouldn’t.”
So, does Fitzpatrick think Ireland can match the level of performance they produced in that agonising defeat in 2013 and avenge that loss in either the 29th or 30th meetings of the two nations?
“No, to be honest, not really,” he offers. “At the moment the All Blacks are just phenomenal, they’re just taking the game to a new level. It’s good to watch, they’re not just doing anything extraordinary, they just like winning.”
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I think much more misdirection can be gained from a flat or end over end pass, especially when the pass is in to space rather than directly to the man. Playing touch rugby in Auckland over summer and all the space is opened up by league style passing, out in front, easy to take at full tilt and using the ball to do the work. I remember Keith Wood saying he could have ran any number of lines when He scored off Axel Foleys sympathetic pass from a Lineout V England in 01 I think it was. Foley popped the ball up in space and Wood came on to the ball and went of the line. In the end he took the hardest route and went over the top of the defender, but he maintained several times that the pass made the try, not his bump off.
I suppose none of the great passing at Bath has anything to do with the influence of one P Stringer??
Really!!!!!
A Great player. Never got the same recognition as O’Gara(equally great player).
Just about to comment that John but you got there before me!
very interesting read the skill of a good simple pass in front of the player is some thing the all blacks do best ,The more league type pass is very like the passing you see when watching older games like classic lions and babas games .
Murray, whether you spin the ball or not, depends on whether you are going right to left or vice-versa.
A right handed player will use a spin pass if he/she is passing the ball from right to left because it is natural.
You can get a spin pass off as quick as a flat pass and if you are running straight lines, without letting your eyes give away your next move, then it is equally deceptive.
How is an end over end pass easier to catch?
How is slower, better? It gives the opposition more time to ping you. An end over end pass can wobble in the air.
We use to call end over end passes, bog passes, the Rugby equivalent of the bog toe(toe poke in England)
“The rush defence favoured by so many top-level teams in union has its roots in rugby league; there is more we can learn.”
The rush defence is countered by dinks over the top(not a cross filed kick). Even if a player cannot get the ball, the threat is in the back of the mind of the defending team, so they don’t ‘rush’ up as fast. See Christophe Lamaison’s masterclass in dismantling of the rush defence masters, New Zealand in the ’99 WC. It would be perfect for England’s Linear defence tactics. Big guys, don’t like to turn! It frees up midfield and allows our smaller backs, space.
This can’t be done in league until final tackle.
Nothing to do with the person being right or left handed. Maybe in junior rugby. In professional rugby It’s the distance of the pass that would determine whether a spin pass is needed.
Nothing to do with distance. You cannot use a weighted(end over end pass) over a long distance.The issue which the article addresses is about selecting spin or weighted over a distance in which both can be used excluding close quarter, pop passes.
Murray is arguing for the non spin when non spin can be used.
“Both Ford and Eastmond are sympathetic in their passing; when a teammate is close enough, they don’t spin the ball.”
Over greater distances the issue is redundant.
Your first two sentences contradict eachother.
No, they don’t Gareth. Have another go.
As MK pointed out, league uses the screen to attack and counter the rush D. The use of a end over end is key to this. A spin pass is easy to read and you can watch the player not the ball. With a traditional pass, the ball dictates where the defender is, allowing an attacker to counter a fast D with angles of running. It has nothing to do with left or right handed players, and when practiced, the end over end is just as quick for short and medium passes. I agree over long distances a spin is required,but the article says this also. In addition, an end over end can be passed using the wrist, with minimal arm movement, whereas the spin uses wrist and cross body arm movement to generate the spin and power, especially in amateur rugby. How league and rugby differs is in the propensity of rugby 1st receivers to lie flatter than in league, benefiting the rush D. In league, the 1st receiver lies deeper on 4th tackle to allow him to run the option, similar to a passing down in NFL.
Also, in league you can kick on any tackle, but because possession is everything in that game the kick is used for territory or where a try is unlikely to be scored by passing, so they use a kick to force a goaline restart or a speculative bomb for the wingers to challenge for close to the line. The dink through in the middle of the park is not common as if it doesn’t work you give up field position, it’s a low percentage play. I don’t know if you have ever tried to take a hard spin at full pace, but I can tell you from many years experience playing and watching rugby, it’s harder than trying to take an end over end or a traditional pass.
Shaggy criticised Madigan for his spin-passing being unsympathetic in the Wolfhounds v Saxons match. One such pass led to the Saxons’ intercept try.
Reddan is a disaster for lashing out rapid spin passes to players on the burst no more thanks 5 yards away, gives the oncoming attacker no chance of holding it