Treble-Wish Fulfilment

With three world cups on the horizon, our columnist checks his wish list for the last time this happened.

- Paul Thomas

Columnists should probably adhere to the rule “never look back”. Revisiting old columns can be chastening: bold predictions that were way off the mark, trenchant observations that turned out to be wrong-headed; riffs that provided self-satisfaction at the time but in hindsight seem self-indulgent. Alternatively, and perhaps worse, the columnist may be forced to the conclusion that their old stuff was several notches above their recent output. Wishlists may be the exception to this rule, since at worst one is exposed as either having absurdly high expectations, or being a “nattering nabob of negativism”, as Richard Nixon’s vice president Spiro Agnew labelled critics of the administration. (Both Agnew and Nixon resigned in disgrace.) Besides, revisiting my 2015 wishlist seemed pertinent given that, like 2019, it was a year of rugby, cricket and netball World Cups.

In January 2015, I wished that the All Blacks’ six veterans – Dan Carter, Richie McCaw, Keven Mealamu, Ma‘a Nonu, Conrad Smith and Tony Woodcock – who’d served New Zealand rugby for so long and with such distinction, could disprove the sporting dictum that “there are no happy endings”. They duly did, particularly Carter. Having struggled with injuries and form, he ended his glittering international career in a blaze of glory, playing a starring role in the World Cup final in which the All Blacks defeated the Wallabies and being named World Rugby player of the year.

Turning to Super Rugby, I wished that:

The Crusaders would either win the Super 15 or fail to make the playoffs, thereby avoiding yet another agonising close-but-no-cigar season. They opted for the latter.