Hostile atmosphere, desperate opponents at altitude with a
captain celebrating his 100th cap - and the All Blacks'
13-match test rugby winning streak in jeopardy.
No one could begrudge Israel Dagg for celebrating his
last-minute match-winning try against the Springboks in
exuberant fashion at Soweto last month.
Although his support play when Ma'a Nonu burst through a John
Smit tackle was first rate and his hands safe, the execution
still wasn't quite perfect in the eyes of his joyous
teammates.
Dagg got a little ahead of himself, raising an arm in
celebration before he reached the tryline. He also caused
some unnecessary anxiety in the coaches' box by forcing the
ball just centimetres inside a shorter than standard dead
ball area at FNB Stadium.
Not that those misdemeanours were held against the talented
fullback-cum-wing. On the strength of tryscoring cameos
against South Africa in Wellington and Johannesburg, he can
now look forward to his first start in a Tri-Nations and
Bledisloe Cup international against Australia here on
Saturday night.
Dagg displaces Joe Rokocoko from the left wing, meaning the
All Blacks back three features three specialist fullbacks in
Mils Muliaina, Cory Jane and the rookie.
Understandably, it was Muliaina, the 88-test veteran, who had
a quiet word with Dagg in the dressing room at Soweto.
"Mils told me 'Don't celebrate before you get a try'. I was
thinking what are you on about?
"I can't remember doing that then I checked the replay and
saw I was this far from the dead ball line," he said, holding
thumb and finger barely apart.
"I got a bit of stick for it and won't do that again. If I'd
went dead I'd probably have jumped of a 20-storey building."
Those tries against the Springboks, the remarkable individual
effort in Wellington and then the theatrics in Soweto, have
given Dagg plenty of confidence as he trades a reserves bench
spot for a starting role against the Wallabies.
"To get out there in the first place gives you a lot of
confidence, and to get a try and to do something for the
team, obviously it builds even more," he said.
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