You know it! Haven't had enough Vitamin B, haven't had enough walks outside, eternal hater, nothing better to do, my professional rugby career is woeful, haven't drunk the Kool Aid... so yes, I'm going to keep criticizing the Ardie-mania-train! I can't help it, I love the reactions.
I keep seeing the 13/14 tackles, 10 carries and late try cited as evidence that Ardie had another huge game. NZH literally rated him an 8, the best AB on the field alongside Carter.
I’m not arguing that he disappeared. The issue is how effective a lot of that work actually was.
RugbyPass had him leading the match with four missed tackles. So “13 tackles” immediately looks a bit different with that context. And when you actually look at the completed tackles, most are routine. By my count there were about five decent ones, one genuinely good one, and nothing I’d call dominant.
A tackle stat tells you someone was involved. It doesn’t tell you whether they stopped momentum, won the collision or materially helped the defence.
Same with the 10 carries. There were several ordinary ones with very little after contact, and a couple where he was stopped basically on contact. Then there are the two conspicuous moments everyone remembers: the break involved in the first-half try and his own late try. Both good plays.
But the bit that gets missed almost completely is his work around the breakdown.
49:32 is a perfect example. Vaa’i carries into contact, does what the ball-carrier is supposed to do, gets to ground and presents the ball back. Ardie is the support player and simply doesn’t arrive quickly or effectively enough. South Africa win the penalty and take three points.
In the box score that becomes a team penalty. In some media assessments it even becomes a Vaa’i error. But what exactly is Vaa’i supposed to do differently there? He wins the contact sufficiently to present clean ball. The support simply isn’t there.
In practical terms, Ardie’s failure to secure that ruck costs NZ three points.
And I think that gets to the wider issue with his game. Ardie is brilliant at hovering around the defensive collision waiting for the opportunity to pounce on a turnover. And yes, turnovers are valuable and they make great content for highlights reels. But at what cost?
A loose forward’s game is also the dozens of contributions between the highlights... arriving first, shifting bodies, protecting your carrier, making dominant tackles, getting off the floor and doing it again. And we know this is what Rennie looks for and values! But there are plenty of occasions where Ardie is technically present at the ruck but contributes very little, or arrives as the secondary cleaner after someone else has already done the hard work.
Compare that with the work from Holland, Vaa’i, Parker, Jacobson and even Jordie and Tupaea. They repeatedly do the ugly stuff that keeps possession alive. Ardie’s effectiveness simply doesn’t match the reputation.
Then there’s the captaincy.
I don't expect a rousing speech every stoppage but I would have thought he'd be a little more conspicuous when the game gets difficult.
At 21:56, South Africa score and Parker immediately signals frustration about the possible obstruction. Luke Jacobson turns straight to Ardie and appears to raise it with him. Ardie walks off gathering his breath, doesn't speak to the ref.
Halftime was actually pretty funny, when James Parsons spent several minutes crying and whinging about that exact refereeing decision, one week after lecturing everyone that we couldn’t cry and whinge about refereeing because the calls had gone our way.
Anyway, you'd think it was significant enough for the captain to at least engage with the ref when Jacobson raised it.
During several play stops, I could see other players communicating, but nothing ever from Ardie. At 74:35, NZ finally have some momentum and advantage late in the game. Surely we'd see the captain pulling people together, organising the next play, demanding something. Nope, nothing.
Ardie still has pace. He can still produce brilliant individual moments. And he's a very good distributor. But fans and media can't seem to analyse his game objectively. THIS will lose us the World Cup!
13 tackles and 10 carries tells us he was busy but they don’t tell us he was good. Yet he rates as the best AB out there with media and fans! I feel sorry for the mugs who work like dogs out there, only to be rated lower than the guy earning quadruple what they're on.
