A Cullen My kingdom for a Cullen

Christen Cullen, that great All Black fullback, who ran the ball from everywhere, it wasn't so much that he couldn't kick it was just that he didn't have to.

Any player that would be graced with his sidewinder style of running coupled with shrugging off tackles like a slippery eel would run it at every opportunity and might not even stop at the end of the field, but would keep on running like something out of Forrest Gump.

The experts would always talk of his low centre of gravity, that he could bench press more than anybody on his team and that he could probably run the 100m in ten flat, however it was something else that made him such a rugby great and that being his vision for the game and the ability to make that vision a reality.

Sadly his illustrious career hit a speed bump during that very dark patch in All black history, the year of 1998 wherein a fair amount of legendary All Blacks were sent out to pasture after losing all their tri-nations matches.

There were very many things not quite right in the All Black camp and the fact that the Springboks were finding their feet for the first time in the professional era did not help.

Cullen was adversely affected by being played out of position amongst other things during their unsuccessful world cup campaign in 1999 and was being taken for granted by John Hart, also being spoilt for choice with Tana Umaga and Jeff Wilson on the wings put additional pressure on Cullen which eventually resulted in him being moved to centre.

This would have amounted to career suicide for any mere mortal but for the Hermesian fullback.

It didn't bother him and he bounced back in 2000 silencing his critics with 10 tries from 11 games for the Hurricanes and a record 7 tries in 4 tri-nations games.

Following a severe knee injury in 2001, Cullen never regained a permanent position in the All Black squad, this can be strongly attributed to disagreements with the coach John Hart and his replacement John Mitchell.

Cullen's omission from the 2003 world cup squad was an insult and a travesty to New Zealanders and world rugby fans alike but none more so than to the man himself.

In the Cullen era, opposition teams were very wary in their kick and chase game plans, as should their kick not be accurate enough, then they would most certainly be severly punished for it.

This was to happen time and time again, resulting in teams either overcooking their kicks out on the full or trying to run the ball from precarious positions while passing it along like a hot potato.

Since the Cullen's days I have not seen that sense of panic in a team facing the All Blacks.

It is now recognised among the experts that Cullen didn't nearly get enough credit for the good fortunes of the All Blacks as he was so unassuming while the team was so heavily loaded with other, more visually explosive players

Today, the All Blacks find themselves in a serious predicament, they have played their traditional blend of hard forward play with smooth backline play that is not unlike flowing water and have run dry, not once but 4 times this year, the Boks and the French have been able to disturb their gameplan in a horrid fashion.

The players seem to be looking to the sky for answers after every demoralising loss and the New Zealand faithful have thought it has fallen on their heads.

The scoreboards have indicated that the games have been close however this is not a true reflection of the game for various reasons, i.e. the weak Springbok bench and their very harsh tour schedule this year made it a certainty for the Boks to fade in the last 30 of every match. It is no surprise that the South African are the first team to win 3 games on the trot in the Tri-nations. All these factors contributed to a scoreboard that was as close as it was after 80 minutes.

The Springboks have a side full of established stars and upcoming ones, the media punits openly claim that they would fill an international fifteen with Springboks and not the once Mighty All Blacks and that, is exactly my point.

Look at young Franscois Steyn this lad has everybody talking.

He has found a way to win a game in a way that no one else is capable of, basically kicking drop goals and penalties from anywhere.

Pierre Spies, is a giant number 8 that has the running power and acceleration of a super wing let alone a normal one. It is no wonder So'oialo describes him as " built like a madman"

The list goes on and on.

Yes, the Blacks have Dan Carter and Ricci McCaw but where are the fleetfooted players that can make something from nothing, the "magic" as I call it. Don't get me wrong Sitivini Sivivatu and Mils Muliaina are brilliant athletes but at this level I have not seen them tear the world apart at a whim.

I mean someone that can perform miracles that should be beyond their physical and mental ability.

Who was capable of such feats you ask?

You guessed it

Cullen!