Probleme » Abbott onto his stumps

History does not always repeat itself, but it can have resonant echoes. In 2011, Richie McCaw told a worldwide TV audience that he was completely shagged after New Zealands World Cup final victory over France.Consciously or not, McCaw -- a player deeply aware of All Blacks heritage -- channelled another black-clad back rower, speaking on the same ground, Eden Park, after another famous victory.It was 60 years ago to the day, on Sept. 1, 1956, that Peter Jones stood in front of broadcast microphones at Eden Park and confessed himself absolutely buggered. He was speaking to a very different New Zealand.It was a strait-laced society in which public use of the word bullsh-- could lead to criminal charges as late as the 1970s. This was the New Zealand of 6 oclock closing, its people the most isolated on the globe rather than being, as they would become once cheap air travel was available, the worlds great travellers.A sense of claustrophobia may have contributed to the febrile atmosphere which accompanied the Springboks through their 1956 tour of New Zealand. Sober chroniclers like New Zealands leading contemporary historian James Belich have likened it to war fever. Terry McLean, its leading rugby writer, wrote of the country having lost its sense of proportion.This was also a very different rugby world. International teams did not fly in and out as they now do, on annual quick-fire Test-only tours. They pitched up once a decade -- and the war meant the Boks had not been seen in New Zealand since 1937 -- and stayed for an entire season. The Boks had been in New Zealand for three months and the match at Eden Park, last of a four-Test series, was their 23rd.New Zealand had yet to beat South Africa in a series in four meetings dating back to 1921. The Boks had not lost a series to anyone since 1896. Bitter memories still rankled of the 4-0 whitewash inflicted on a highly-fancied All Blacks team on their last trip to South Africa in 1949. The All Blacks had scored more tries in three of the Tests, but fell victim to penalties kicked by Boks prop Okey Geffin from decisions by South African referees. More than half a century later, All Blacks prop Kevin Skinner remained convinced that they would have won with neutral referees.Rugby mattered even more to New Zealand in 1956 than it does now. Historian Jock Phillips, then an enthusiastic schoolboy rugby fan but as an adult a trenchantly critical chronicler of New Zealand society, reckons the 1950s the zenith of the masculine holy trinity of beer, betting and rugby.Warwick Roger, whose Old Heroes evocation of the tour remains one of the high-points of rugby literature, the nearest the game has got to baseball writer Roger Kahns Boys of Summer, recalls a rather flat mental and social landscape.Excitement mounted from the Boks first match, against Waikato in Hamilton. Thirty-one thousand fans crammed into a ground designed for 3,000 fewer and the fired-up Mooloos charged into a 14-0 lead before halftime. Reduced to 14 men by an injury early in the second half, they hung on for a famous victory by 14-10.A pattern of brutally, sometimes viciously, competitive contests in front of packed, frenzied crowds had been set and would last for the next three months. The first test was the 10th match, five weeks into the tour.New Zealand won 10-6 at Dunedin, in spite of losing debutant prop Mark Irwin with injured ribs. Tries from lock Richard Tiny White, one of the finest of the long All Blacks tradition of athletic ball-handling second rows, and wing Ron Jarden ensured the victory, but it was clear that the ferocious scrummaging of Bok props Chris Koch and Jaap Bekker, both veterans of 1949, was a major problem for the All Blacks.Worry became more like national panic three weeks later at Wellington. The Boks tied the series by winning 8-3, and again dominated the scrums. The All Black selectors had struggled to find their best team, making five changes to the pack after the first test.For the third they called up giant Waikato full-black Don Clarke, so launching one of the great All Blacks careers and recalled two veterans, prop Kevin Skinner and ball-handling number eight Peter Jones.Skinner was a former All Blacks captain, a veteran of 1949 and by general consent still the most formidable prop in New Zealand. But South African memories focus on his having formerly been New Zealands amateur heavyweight boxing champions and the havoc he wrought in the third test at Christchurch, brawling with Koch in the first half, then switching sides after halftime for a similarly brutal contest with Bekker.Skinner for the rest of his life denied that his boxing skills were a relevant factor, in 2002 telling me: I dont think what I did had a big bearing on the match, but certain people in the news media made it out that way. My theory is that the South Africans had been kicking the black man around since 1658 and were used to the idea that nobody would hit them back. After wed sorted a few things out in the front row, they got on with playing a bit better.Less remembered is the spectacular start made by Don Clarke, who began an international career which would see him score 200 point before anyone else managed to attain even 100 in matches between the established rugby nations. His two penalties and the wide-angled conversion of Canterbury wing Morrie Dixons try gave the All Blacks an 11 point lead -- a huge margin at a time when double figures was more often than not a winning score -- in the first 15 minutes.The Boks fought back brilliantly after halftime. Tries by back row Butch Lochner and wing Wilf Rosenberg, both converted by full-back Basie Vivier, cut the margin to 11-10 during a third quarter which also saw referee Bill Fright issue a general warning to the two captains, Vivier and Bob Duff. It took late tries from Jarden and White to seal the issue for the All Blacks 17-10.New Zealand could not now lose the series, but excitement diminished little, if at all, in the fortnight which remained before the final test in Auckland. Two of the matches played in the interim also echo to this day -- New Zealand Universities 22-15 defeat of the tourists at Wellington for a 70 yard solo try by former All Blacks centre John Tanner and the Boks 37-0 defeat of the Maoris because of allegations, still debated, that the home team was hopelessly hamstrung by official demands that they tone down their physicality.The Boks were by this time an unhappy, divided squad. Manager Danie Craven was lumbered with an unpopular deputy whose real role was to be a political commissar from the Broederbond, the hugely influential Afrikaaner secret society. Vivier, an unexpected captain, was too fallible a player to command respect. And three months of New Zealand rugby fever had worn them down.But they still had to be beaten. The overnight queue at Eden Park was estimated at 15,000 and 61,240 packed into the ground for what All Blacks hooker Ron Hemi would recall as the hardest game I ever played in.The All Blacks led 3-0, a Don Clarke penalty, before the pivotal moment early in the second half. Hemi, a famed dribbler at a time when this was still a significant rugby skill, broke with the ball at his feet, then kicked infield to where Jones kicked on. Vivier looked likely to reach the loose ball first but Jones, displaying an extraordinary turn of speed, beat him to it and charged untouched to the line amid crowd bedlam. Clarkes conversion and another penalty made a late Bok try academic.The final minutes were perhaps the low point of a tour in which violence was never very far away. White was kicked so viciously in the spine by a Bok boot that the watching Warwick Roger feared we were seeing the making of a paraplegic before our eyes. It took more than 40 years for Bekker, a few weeks before his death in 1999, to own up as the perpetrator.It was the end of 60 years of Springbok invincibility, arguably the greatest moment in New Zealand rugby history to that point. Yet relief, rather than joy, seems to have been the predominant emotion. New Zealand journalist Fred Boshier reported that the players only seemed interested in getting off the pitch. All Blacks five-eighth Ross Brown reckoned that he slept badly for three months after the series ended while back row Bill Clark, a rare All Black who became an opponent of contact with apartheid-era South Africa, in 2002 recalled to me the genuine dislike between the teams.Jones radio interview appears to have been the sole moment of cheer. A famous photograph shows Dr. Craven speaking to the crowd post-match and Warwick Roger, with characteristic perception, points to its most remarkable feature: The All Blacks had won, the Springboks had been crushed, but everybody looks drained. One man has his hand to his chin and appears to be in deep thought. There isnt one happy face among the whole crowd. Joe Blanton Jersey . Lack made 20 saves for his third shutout of the season as the Canucks blanked the St. Louis Blues 1-0 in the first post-Olympic game for both teams night. Brandon Kintzler Jersey . After slipping from the summit during the week, the Gunners overcame struggling Crystal Palace 2-0 on Sunday thanks to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlains second-half brace. http://www.officialnationalsgearshop.com/Nationals-Anthony-Rendon-Kids-Jersey/ . The Croatian served 21 aces and hit 42 winners against Sijsling, who double-faulted to give Cilic a 4-3 lead in the deciding set. 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The opener clubbed fifty in his sides victory in the first ODI in Bloemfontein on Wednesday and carried on that form with a responsible 124-ball knock as the tourists chased down the Proteas 262-7 with 22 balls to spare.Jos Buttler (48no from 28) and Moeen Ali (21no from 15) guided England home after Hales was dismissed - the former on the day he pocketed a bumper IPL contract with Mumbai Indians - with a thrilling stand of 61 in just five overs.Hales, Buttler and Moeen backed up some excellent work with the ball from Reece Topley (4-50), whose career-best figures ensured South Africas innings lost its spark following the departure of skipper AB de Villiers (73). Reece Topleys four wickets restricted South Africa to 262-7 Topley bowled Hashim Amla (4) off his pads in the third over, leaving Quinton de Kock (22), who made an unbeaten 138 from 96 balls in Bloemfontein, and Faf du Plessis (46) to rebuild for the hosts with a second-wicket stand of 49.De Kock perished lbw to Ben Stokes in the 11th over, with Du Plessis next to go in the 20th, caught by Chris Jordan at slip off a gorgeous in-drifter from Adil Rashid (1-43), having added 45 with De Villiers. Watch this brilliant catch from Chris Jordan to dismiss AB de Villiers during the second ODI between South Africa and England. Rashids fellow spinner Moeen Ali (0-41) was equally tight in the middle period as he and Rashid ensured the 106-run partnership between De Villiers and JP Duminy (47) hinged on well-worked singles rather than boundaries, De Villiers notching his 48th ODI fifty from a sedate 72 deliveries with a flick into the on-side.The South Africa skipper tried to accelerate as the final 10 overs approached but, after mowing Jordan for six over midwicket, departed to an outstanding, swirling catch from the Sussex seamer off Stokes, the man who pouched him superbly in Bloemfontein a few days ago. Stokes celebrates dismissing de Villiers in Port Elizabeth Duminy, dropped down the leg-side by Buttler on 35, was dismissed three balls later, though the left-hander was unfortunate to go with Topleys delivery sliding down leg side.South Africa stumbled at that point, scoring just 46 from the last eight overs, with Topley having Rilee Rossouw (11) caught behind by Buttler on review - thiird umpire Chris Gaffaney deciding the batsman had hit ball as well as ground - and Kagiso Rabada (12) snared by Eoin Morgan.dddddddddddd Chris Jordan chats to Nick Knight Nasser Hussain about his superb catch during the second ODI Jason Roy (14) entertained briefly for England as they began their reply, striking three boundaries off the fit-again Kyle Abbott (3-58) before the seamer, who shelled a sharp caught and bowled chance to remove the opener for a duck, bowled him through the gate with a superb in-swinger.Joe Root had a scare, too, when he was given out lbw to the returning Rabada on three but his review proved successful, with Hawk-Eye suggesting the ball would have bypassed leg stump.The Yorkshireman went on to play a dogged knock while partnering the slightly more expansive Hales, hitting just two boundaries in the pairs 97-run stand for the second wicket before chopping Abbott onto his stumps. Alex Hales hit a vital 99 in Englands victory Hales started pretty placidly himself but sped up as he approached fifty, a milestone he reached from 68 balls, before flicking Abbott into De Kocks gloves down the leg-side as he eyed a second ODI ton, his only one to date coming against Pakistan in November.Buttler and Moeen finished proceedings with aplomb, though - Buttler cracking three sixes in a row off Imran Tahir and Moeen sealing the win with successive fours off Morne Morkel. We hear from AB de Villiers, Eoin Morgan and Alex Hales after Englands win over South Africa in the second ODI. Morgans partnership of 52 with Hales proved valuable, with the skippers 29 seeing him become the ninth batsman to pass 4,000 ODI runs for England, after Ian Bell, Paul Collingwood, Alec Stewart, Kevin Pietersen, Marcus Trescothick, Graham Gooch, Andrew Strauss and Allan Lamb.Stokes had a day to forget with the bat, though, chopping Morkel on for a six-ball duck during which time his penchant for sweeping spinner Tahir almost saw him fall twice lbw.Will England secure the series in Centurion on Tuesday? Find out from 11am on Sky Sports 2. ' ' '