The four pillars of society and rugby.

Government is the first pillar of society. Government exists to fight evil with force. In government, we bestow the right to kill, imprison, write laws, and enforce them. Without government, it is a simple matter for evil men to band together and overpower the good. Government is simply good men banding together to keep evil men from doing so.

Or in the case of rugby Union the Manager, Coach and his staff are the first pillar. They make the selections, decide upon the training regime and game plan. They decide how opponents will be approached and how individuals will be negated or countered.

New Zealand has the vastly experienced Graham Henry, in charge of the all Blacks for near on 8 years and a win record of 86/101. In my opinion a vastly superior record than any other coach the world of rugby has ever seen. Sure there has been coaches that managed a higher win record, but with much fewer tests. In Wayne Smith and Steve Hansen, Graham Henry has been able to lay the foundation for the most succesful and effective game plan in Rugby Union.

Marc Lievremont was appointed after the 2007 Rugby World Cup and by all accounts has not been a highly respected or very successful coach with France. His win record of 26/43 is decidedly average for a coach of a “Big Five” team and during the 2011 Rugby world cup displeasure from fans and players alike has shown discord in the camp. Add to that a very poor performance against New Zealand and an upsetting loss to brave Tonga has only helped to highlight his selection debacles at 9 and 10.

Warren Gatland took up his appointment of head coach of Wales on 1 December 2007 after a disastrous World Cup campaign for Wales in 2007 where they failed to reach the quarter finals. His tenure as coach of Wales was not without controversy after he lead Wales to a Grandslam in 2008, and many of his players making up the bulk of the British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa in 2009. After a disappointing Six Nations in 2009 and 2010 faith in him seemed to have wavered and even after a better showing in the 2011 Six Nations few would have expected Warren Gatland to have the ability of bringing the Welsh team to the brink of a semi final clash in the 2011 Rugby World Cup. His current win record for Wales is standing at 25/48.

With Robbie Deans being appointed as the first non Australian to coach the Wallabies and a very successful career with the super Franchise Crusaders, expectations were high that he would be able to bring Australian rugby back from the wilderness. On 14 December 2007 Robbie Deans was appointed as Wallaby coach and prior to 2011 has had a decidedly poor record for a country renowned for their successes on the sporting fields of the world. His current win record stands at 31/53. It needs to be said though, that Deans made some very brave decisions in retiring a number of highly respected stars from the Australian squad and non as controversial as introducing a new captain just prior to the Rugby World Cup.

So looking at the government structures of these four nations it would appear that France is ready for a revolution, Australia and Wales have revitalised their citizens with a new belief and New Zealand has persisted with the Liberal party for two terms.

The second pillar of society is business. We need to be economically prosperous, and our amoral corporations are the way we do this. This allows people to come together to seek the economic benefit of themselves, and thus each other. Without business, it is impossible to grow and move food around society, and impossible to secure the physical blessings of liberty.

The captain can be seen as the second pillar. He is the inspirational leader, the chap that must lead from the front. He also needs not only to be the inspiration of his team but also be seen as the inspiration of a nation, especially in rugby mad countries such as Wales and New Zealand. He is often the moral compass of his team and pulls his team together in times of controversy or when the chips are down.

Thierry Dusautoir has represented France in 47 tests, having captained France on 24 occasions, which in a sense is surprising that such an inspirational player has not been able to pull his team together in a more harmonious unit.

Richie McCaw needs no introduction as either player or inspirational captain. Three time player of the year and Captain Cheat as he is perhaps not so affectionately known by opposing nation’s fans.

Sam Warburton has represented Wales in 22 test matches, and captained them on 8 occasions being appointed just prior to the barbarian clash in June of 2011. A young man, but by all accounts a cool head on some very broad shoulders and has undoubtedly been on of the stars for Wales during their campaign in the Rugby world cup thus far.

James Horwill has represented Australia in 32 test matches and was almost surprisingly appointed as captain just prior to the Rugby world cup. Not much can be assessed from his captaincy yet, apart from the try he scored against South Africa in the quarter final.
As with the management of these teams the same can most likely be said of their captains.

The third pillar is the family. The family is where our newest members are welcomed. They are raised by two loving parents (in the ideal), and are taught how to function in society. The corruption of the family means we have no way of ensuring the continuation of our society.

This pillar in my opinion can be related to the team members, how easily do the new guys fit in, will they die for the cause? Will they put their bodies on the line for each other?

This is perhaps the most difficult area to assess. From what we have heard and seen the French team seemed to be in total disarray and discord with Management, but then as in 2007 with England could this be the deciding factor that pulls these men together in a tight knit group? Wales seems to be motivated and a vibrancy is shining from this mostly youthful bunch of players, Australia doesn’t seem phased with anything and New Zealand, well their players are doing it for Dan Ccarter.

The fourth pillar is religion. While government can only govern men’s actions, religion governs men’s beliefs. Religion sets an ideal, something to aspire to. It encourages men to aspire for it, and lays down the road they must follow to obtain it. In some ways, it can be argued that religion is the pillar that bears all other pillars up.

In this case I think belief is the pillar. Belief in the coach, the plan, yourself and your team members, but I think it is also about trust in each other, trusting that your team mate will do the right thing at the most opportune time and not wavering from that belief.

So in summary, these four pillars I believe will be the main deciding factors in which team will lift the trophy at the end of this tournament. There is merit in each of these aspects for all four teams, but ultimately if any of these pillars fall short, you can bet your bottom dollar they will not be lifting the trophy.

Biltong.

I thought you weren’t a fan of metaphor/ creative rugby writing.

Blimey.

Well, that's a bit "epic" Biltong, it covers the ideology aspect very well indeed, but the one thing it doesn't explain to me is how SA - the only team to be better in the QF's and lose - are out of the World Cup.

Based on the principles of the pillars, I would infer that you think it will be a NZ v Wales final?

Gutted for your team boss, but sometimes you have to accept that regardless of the logic, sport will always have an element of unpredictability that makes bookmakers the only consistent winners.

Maybe there should be a fifth pillar, one that deals with fate, fortune and random events?

Maybe a pillar of salt?

Hi PJ, I am not ready to comment on the SA loss, I need to analyse what happened and why we lost, if I just jump into it I may not be objective enough.

biltongbek wrote:Hi PJ, I am not ready to comment on the SA loss, I need to analyse what happened and why we lost, if I just jump into it I may not be objective enough.

I'm hearing that brother, I'm still sleeping on England's exit, I probably wont have made my mind up about what I think should be done about it until the end of the week.

Gutted for you though, SA should have won where as England weren't good enough.