Dropping the past

 

Stephen Jones recently put out his list of the best rugby union teams of all time. Like a lot of these 'best of' lists, it doesn't seem to be based on much more than Jones' impressions and memories. His list doesn't go back further than the 1970s. Can we do better?

To start with we'll need to think about what we mean by 'the best.' Does that mean the 'with the best record'? In that case we'll need to bear in mind how much teams played - winning 15 matches in a year is harder than winning 5. Do we mean 'the best relative to contemporary rivals?' If so we'll want to have a sense of how strong the teams of various different eras were. Or do we just mean 'the best at rugby'? The problem with that approach is that it's no fun, since the pro teams of today would clearly have destroyed the amateur sides of yesteryear. 

And anyway, rugby teams play against other teams around at the same time, not against teams from 50 years ago. Supremacy in the present is the name of the game. So let's go with 'best relative to their contemporary rivals.' Note that if we're really focused on who's the best - as in, most likely to win - we'll have to be disciplined and not care so much about who has the most iconic players, who won the most memorable series, who had the most positive cultural impact, etc. Those things might be more important in saying which teams were the greatest, but not so much which were the best.

The next thing to think about is what we mean by a 'team.' Teams change over time. There's probably some form of fancy analysis that could be done tracking the similarity of teams over time, but I don't know how to do it. And some teams are clearly more stable than others. Touring teams and tournament sides probably produce the most similar lineups, since they're drawn from a squad that's brought together for a particular period of time. 

So, for what it's worth, here's my list. 

1. New Zealand 2011-17. An 100% record in tests in 2013, 17 consecutive victories up to June 2014, 1st place in the Rugby Championship six times, plus a couple of World Cups. Thrashed the Springboks 57-0 in 2017.

2. South Africa 1949-52. Won test series against All Blacks 4-0, and then went on their own tour of the five nations, beating them all (including Scotland 44-0) and losing only 1 of their 31 matches overall. 

3. New Zealand 1905-6, the original All Blacks. Toured Britain, France, and North America winning 35 out of 36, scoring 976 points and conceding 59. 

4. England 2002-3. They didn't win the 2002 Six Nations, but won the Grand Slam in 2003. Beat the Springboks 53-3 at home and the Wallabies and All Blacks both home and away. Beat Australia again in the final to take the World Cup.

5. The 1924-25 All Blacks, dubbed The Invincibles' after winning all of their 32 matches (including one against each of the home nations). Points for: 838. Against: 116.

6. The 1937 Springboks, also dubbed 'The Invincibles,' slightly less deservingly, after suffering only two losses on a 29-match tour of Australia and New Zealand. 

7. New Zealand in the late 60s. A series victory against the Springboks in 1965 kickstarted a 17-match winning streak that was ended only in 1969 by Wales. 

8. South Africa 1995-1998. After the World Cup victory they lost a test series at home to the All Blacks for the first time in 1996, but they then swept the Tri-Nations in 1998, winning 17 consecutive matches. 
 
9. Australia 1999-2001. Two Tri-Nations victories following on from the 1999 World Cup. 

10. Wales in the 70s. Won 7 Five Nations championships including 3 Grand Slams. Lost both tests against NZ in 1969, and could only draw against South Africa the following year. Lost to NZ again in 1978. Formed the core of the British Lion team that won the test series in NZ in 1971.

Stairway walks in Wellington #1: Oriental Parade to Mount Vic Lookout (and back again)

This post is a tribute to Ada Bakalinsky and her classic Stairway Walks in San Francisco, which was once gifted to me by a fellow Hellenist. Anyone who's lived in both cities (as I've had the good fortune to do) or has even been to both immediately notices the similarity - both are compact, hilly cities build around a bay (with all the weather that that brings). And, though SF's obviously a lot larger, I'd wager that windy Welly can more than hold its own in terms of unexpected shortcuts from one vertical plane to another, and in terms of stairways in particular. So I thought I'd write up a Bakalinskian 'stairway walk' in Wellington here, partly just because it's an enjoyable thing to do. It may be the first of many, or the last of one. We'll see.

But for now, here's a walk that'll take you from down by the harbour on Oriental Bay up to the commanding heights of Mount Victoria Lookout and back again, with an embarrassment of prospects along the way. It think it took me about an hour and a half, but I could imagine it filling out up to two hours if you lingered a bit longer at the top to luxuriate in the panoramic views. (The Google Maps estimate doesn't seem to account for the incline, and it's pretty much all inclines).

The Freyberg Pool is a good place to start - it's within striking distance from Courtenay Place, the city's entertainment hub, and is easy to find (it's a massive sports complex jutting out into the habour). Walk back down the road toward the city with the harbour on your right until you get to the cafe Lola Stays. Just to the left of that is a long steep row of steps. Go up those and turn right up another little stairway. Go down the road with the Copthorne Hotel on your right, then turn left then left again onto McFarlane (trust me, it's the only way). Keep going up McFarlane as it dips down and then soars up until the boats below start looking like toys.

On your right you'll start to see a old (well, early 20th century) brick monastery looming above you - that's St. Gerard's. There's a stairway just to the right of it. Go up that with the monastery now looming above you to the left.

Then just continue upwards along the road till you come to the start of the town belt on Mount Victoria. Once you've entered into the forrested realm (where the Dark Riders once roamed), things can get a bit confusing. There are so many little paths! Try to stick to the main one, and if you stray off it (as you probably will), just keep going up and to the right, way from the water sparkling away to your left through the trees.

Near the top at least you should be able to re-join the main walk-way, and start getting a sense of how things are about to open up into light and sky.

At this point you'll see Mt. Vic lookout itself, with its monuments, artifacts, and 360 views of Wellington Harbour (as well as its glimpse of the Cook Straight).

And somewhere down there you'll see St. Gerrard's again, this time with you looming above it.

At this point (if you want to follow this walk) look out for the Lookout Road (with the radio tower on the right of it), and walk along that, looking out along the way for look-outs, e.g. one onto the Westpac Stadium (a.k.a. 'The Cake Tin').

At the end of this there's a little lookout nook with a statue of the city's eponymos. And more views (e.g., if you look the other way from the last picture, it's like you're not really in a city at all).

From here there's another little stairway to the right. If you go down this you'll walk through or past a little green area/lawn/park. Here's the view back up the hill once you've done that.

As the sign suggests, you're now on Thane Road. Follow this on its winding downhill trip (with more views on the right over Evans Bay) until you turn a sharpish right corner with another green area to your right. (And a sign for the Southern Walkway). Get on this. It's not a stairway but it probably should be. Instead it's a virtually vertical concrete path that'll takes you like a glass elevator down as you face the harbour.

There are a couple of turns off here. You can basically turn left and even more sharply downhill whenever you feel like getting back to Oriental Parade. I think this one turns off onto Hay Street, but I kept going onto Glass. Here's the NuZild-shabby little park marking the turnoff onto Glass.

Just down the road from here there's also a secret meditation spot where, the day I was there, someone had left their passport - and then returned to get it just as I was wondering what to do. Anyway, once you've had your moment of reflection in the face of the harbour you can turn down to your final staircase, at which point Oriental Bay will be there to welcome you back.

And then? Get an ice-cream, lay on the beach, go for a swim - whatever you want. As with Bakalinsky's bountiful book, there are plenty of possible add-ons and variations, as well as completely different routes in the same area. This was just to get you started in case you needed an idea. Oh, and here's that last area on a slightly better map. If you want you can not turn down Glass but instead keep going to the end of the Southern Walkway, which would probably add 15 minutes or so.