Photo / PhotosportOPINION:What’s become undeniable on the eve of Super Rugby Pacific 2023 kicking off is that rugby in this part of the world has never looked so obviously to be the poor relation. Given the All Blacks’ results of the last few years and the collection of unwanted records they have accumulated, this hardly constitutes a shock-horror revelation. Something clicked in the North about then and while it has been apparent for a few years that the best sides up there are better than the best sides down here, maybe no one realised by how much until last weekend. The pace of the game was frenetic and relentless and so the All Blacks have lost what used to be their trump card — superior conditioning. This is World Cup year and standard practice is to label the All Blacks favourites, or one of.

Source: The Herald February 14, 2023 17:34 UTC