Muscle

Something I touched on when writing about the opening game of the tournament, was how physical Argentina were, and this has beem a recurring theme throughout the opening round. One of the many areas that New Zealand have dominated over the last 3-4 years is fitness and strength. Witness the sheer power with which they have been hitting rucks since the start of the 2005 Lions tour. The other Tri-nations sides followed suit, and it seems that whilst the Six nations sides have been dawdling, the less illustrious sides have been taking note. The Canadians' first half performance agasinst Wales owed a lot to a direct, physical approach, as did that of the Namibians against Ireland. These smaller nations will be blown away by the southern sides (Namibia shipped a hundred points against SA a few months back), but against the less powerful northern sides, they are able to put up a solid barrier, and make hard yards with a simple pick and drive approach. If a six nations side is going to win in 2011, some serious leaps forward need to be made in terms of conditioning. There is no excuse for professional outfits being off the pace like that. At the very least it would negate the somewhat tedious (though not in the right context) picking and driving on the line that has been the tactic of the tournament so far.