Luke Fitzgerald, Gordon D'Arcy and Jamie Heaslip in the Ireland commemorative kit to be worn against South Africa on November 6. Photo: Brendan Moran / Sportsfile

DAVID ASHDOWN

Mike Phillips believes being a farmer's son has served him well in rugby. 'It gives you a great start,' he says

Mike Phillips turned down the chance to go to the Ryder Cup and is kicking himself, or at least gently berating himself; a kick from Mike Phillips would hurt too much. But seriously, it was just up the M4 in Newport, and of course he and his Ospreys team-mates were glued to the television coverage of Monday's extraordinary denouement.

No doubt they also enjoyed the closing ceremony, which was introduced by Gareth Edwards, a Welsh scrum-half whose fame transcends rugby and Wales. The current occupant of the hallowed No 9 jersey – almost as hallowed as the Welsh No 10 jersey – is not quite there yet, but Edwards would be the first to admit that the boy is better-looking than he was. Moreover, Phillips has a celebrity girlfriend, the singer Duffy, and, even more significantly, enough talent, in the view of many observers, to become the finest scrum-half in the modern game. He's a marketing man's dream.

We meet on the terrace of a swanky hotel overlooking Cardiff Bay, just along from where he and Duffy live. Indeed, he has a speedboat, which he sometimes takes for a spin around the bay, although he hasn't "got the guts" to stick it in the pay-and-display boat park lest anyone mistake him for a proper nautical type.

By contrast with his on-field persona, and his off-field reputation too, because Phillips is not known as a quiet half-a-shandy merchant, the man across the table from me is softly spoken and seems almost humble. When I ask him to identify his favourite part of the game, he says: "There's no better feeling than making a break. But I also love putting a big tackle in. I put in a good hit on the hooker for New Zealand in the summer, Mooli or whatever his name was."

That would be Mealamu, and the hit was as if the 16-and-a-half stone forward had suddenly collided with a parked truck. A dazzling smile, the smile that won Duffy's heart. "Yeah, I enjoy tackling forwards. I suppose it's a bit of cockiness, saying to them 'you've just been smashed by a No 9'. But I've calmed down a lot. When I was younger I was quite excitable, but I don't tend to say too much now. I'd get too excited, then after the game think 'what an idiot I am'. It happened with the Lions a few times."

Phillips played in all three Tests for the Lions against the Springboks last year, and was one of the stars of the tour, even slotting in seamlessly at centre when Riki Flutey was injured. Ospreys fans were not surprised. They also know that they will need an injury-free Phillips, not a luxury they enjoyed last season, if Ospreys are to get through a formidably tough group and reach the Heineken Cup final, which happens to be at the Millennium Stadium, next May. The campaign starts tomorrow in Toulon.

"Last year we had such a good start at Leicester," Phillips recalls, "but we ended up drawing. Hopefully, this time we can start with victory. I've never played Toulon before. Obviously we're similar teams. They're known for buying all the star players, and some people think that of Ospreys as well." Toulon's star player nombre un, of course, is one Jonny Wilkinson. "Yeah, and he's playing really well for them. He can control any game."

One game Wilkinson signally failed to control, however, was that 2008 encounter at Twickenham, the first time for two decades that Wales had beaten the old enemy at HQ, and also Warren Gatland's first match as coach. For Phillips, the tough little Kiwi was a godsend. "He gave me the opportunity to start, and he believed in me. When I came into the Welsh squad I wasn't given any confidence. Some coaches wouldn't even bother saying my name in team meetings. But Gats told me after that game that I could become one of the best scrum-halves in the world. And Shaun, Shaun just loves the fact that I'm physical. To make Shaun happy you just have to make big hits."

His physicality, he thinks, stems from his childhood on a dairy farm near Carmarthen. He was the youngest of three brothers, and the middle brother Mark, seven years his senior, became Welsh amateur light-heavyweight boxing champion, so it's hardly surprising that he learnt early on how to stick up for himself. "My brothers were constantly winding me up," he says, chuckling. "But I was also taught by my father never to give up. And I learnt a lot just from his attitude to life, that hard-working ethos. I learnt to do the grafting as well as the fancy stuff, and that's what fans like to see."

It is surely no coincidence that a disproportionate number of rugby players, particularly if you consider the southern hemisphere nations, come from farming backgrounds. "That's probably true. It gives you a great start, working the muscles without you even realising it, getting up early in the morning, mucking in." A pause. "I hated it all, really," he adds, with perfect comic timing, and explodes with laughter. "At 13 or 14 I just wanted to be cool, and I didn't think farming was cool. But I don't want to come across like a proper farmer. I'm pleased now that I grew up with those values, but my brothers would say that I spent more time in the house than helping out. I wasn't passionate about it, which you need to be. You can't be half-hearted about farming. Like rugby, really."

Rugby has loomed large in his life for as long as he can remember. "I love my cricket too. I played a lot as a kid. I loved it at 14 or 15, playing village cricket with the men. You have a beer with them and you think that's great. But rugby was the main thing. My older brother played, so I used to go and watch him. And international days were a big deal, putting the Wales kit on to watch it on TV."

He joined his brother's club, Whitland RFC, and played as a scrum-half, driven to succeed by all the people who said, week after week, that he was too tall to play at No 9. Before his time, Terry Holmes had blazed a trail for big Welsh scrum-halves, but for Phillips, the main inspiration was the tall South African, Joost van der Westhuizen. "He was a big hero of mine. I remember watching him in the 1995 World Cup, tackling Jonah Lomu. He was everything I wanted to be."

Does it irk him, having become no less than Van der Westhuizen the embodiment of the new breed of No 9, that it is No 10s who are most idolised in Wales, the fly-half factory and all that? "No, because the greatest player of all time was a scrum-half – Gareth Edwards. There have been some tremendous scrum-halves in Wales, and there's good competition right now. It's a great position. Maybe 10 or 15 years ago there was only one role, to pass the ball out, but now you have to be able to multitask. You can influence the game as much as a 10 sometimes."

A good example is Justin Marshall, an All-Black for a decade, and the first-choice scrum-half at Ospreys when Phillips moved there in 2007, having earlier gone from Whitland to Llanelli and then to Cardiff Blues. Did Marshall take him under his wing? Hardly.

"It's a funny one, really. It's fair to say that he wouldn't pass too many words of wisdom my way, but then I learnt from him that he hadn't got 80-odd caps for New Zealand by giving young bucks a helping hand."

He can laugh about it now, now that he's master of his domain. But let's finally explore another area of that domain. I have been asked by his agent to sidestep "Gavin and Charlotte" but my sidestep never was any good. Does the example of Charlotte Church and his (erstwhile?) Wales and Ospreys team-mate Gavin Henson, a marriage of rugby and showbiz that soured, represent a salutary lesson to him?

"Ermmmm," he says, suddenly inarticulate. "Yeah, maybe. You've got to be careful how you put yourself out there. You can put yourself as much as you want in the public eye but the main thing for me is rugby."

In other words, albeit my other words, he's not about to sign up for Strictly Come Dancing, like Henson did? "No, that's not my ticket. My goals are all on the rugby field." Nevertheless, good looks, abundant talent and a famous girlfriend surely add up to huge commercial opportunities. "I dunno. Maybe. It's a bit strange, really. You can't help who you fall in love with. But I've never been as happy as this, ever. I feel very lucky to have the dream job, and the dream girl as well."

What was his response to the Welsh Rugby Union's facile decision to use the self-exiled Henson to promote the new kit? "I just sort of laughed. That's the first thing I did. I didn't think any more about it than that. That's Gav, isn't it? It didn't bother me. That's just him. I like Gav. I wouldn't say a bad word about the boy. He's an immense rugby talent, he's made his choices, and hopefully one day he'll come back."

And that's that, almost. We shake hands, then talk about his speedboat, then shake hands again. And then, just before we part, he suddenly looks anxious. "Are you going to mention much about the Gav thing?" he asks. He's not the only rugby man in Wales to want "the Gav thing" to go away.

There will be no haka brouhaha at next year's Rugby World Cup – and that comes straight from the top.

The International Rugby Board has a strict rule regarding opposition behaviour when a haka is being performed – and they have shown they are prepared to make teams pay if they cross the line.

A Sydney newspaper report this week revealed that the Australian women's rugby team had copped a fine of over $2000 at the recent World Cup in London because they encroached too closely while the New Zealand team were performing their haka.

The New Zealanders went on to thump the Aussies 32-5 in their pool encounter.

It's understood the ARU paid the fine after discovering the fine print in IRB tournament rules that dictate teams facing the haka, or other similar pre-game cultural performances, must remain at least 10 metres on their own side of the halfway line.

Senior IRB officials in Sydney this week confirmed that the regulation had been in place for some time, but that from memory the fine instituted by the women's tournament boss had been the first occasion action had been taken.

The rule was put in place to prevent potential incendiary incidents between players caught up in the high emotion of the haka.

In the past opposing teams have reacted in a variety of ways to the All Black haka, including some instances of players standing nose to nose with their opposites at the end of it.

On other occasions players have gesticulated at the opponent during it and even formed a huddle and tried to ignore it.
Standard practice now, encouraged by the IRB, is for teams to stand at the agreed distance and face the challenge in the spirit with which it is intended.

The IRB confirmed that the New Zealand haka and the various challenges performed by the Pacific Island nations would be embraced as a key aspect of next year's World Cup.

While there have been calls from some quarters for the haka to be banned, the IRB believes fans regard the haka as a key feature of any match involving the All Blacks.

And for now they're doing everything they can to ensure that the haka retains its traditional place in the pre-game buildup when the All Blacks play.

The All Blacks have the potential to set three remarkable records as they pass the halfway point of their 2010 test season, and less than 12 months ago to suggest even one of them would be breached would have been madness.

The All Blacks will not have Dan Carter available for that match, and potentially the team could feature changes as players who have featured for most of the season could make way to develop the second tier.

However the Wallabies, while match hardened, will play the All Blacks after two consecutive matches at altitude, and will be challenging for Robbie Deans and his men, who have not beaten New Zealand since their thumping 34-19 victory in Sydney in the ex-Crusaders coach first match against his countrymen.

The nine game losing streak set between 1936 and 1947 is a record, although in 1967 and 1978 the All Blacks did go 11 straight without defeat to the Wallabies, but there was a drawn match.

The Wallabies best hope is that five of their last six wins against the All Blacks have occurred at ANZ Stadium.

There is also the potential to go through the calendar year unbeaten.

Ireland did achieve this last year, but were blemished with their draw against the Wallabies. It was the closest a side has come to the achievement in the professional era.

In 1997 the All Blacks won 11 straight to kick off a magical year, before being held to a 26-26 draw by England at Twickenham to deny John Hart’s team a clean sweep.

A year later the Springboks nearly did the same, but lost their final match of their season, while in 2003 England went close, winning all and sundry that year, but lost to France in Marseille in a warm up match to give them a 16-1 record.

Finally there is the talk of the world record unbeaten streak.

The current record is 18, set over a five year period by Lithuania until May this year, losing to Georgia to break their dream run.

Of the major test nations, both the All Blacks of the sixties and the Springboks of the late nineties hold the joint record of 17.

From 1987 to 1990 the All Blacks did go 23 tests unbeaten, but drew to Australia 19-19 to interrupt the sequence, while from 2003 to 2008 the All Blacks achieved the world record unbeaten streak at home, winning 30 test matches.

Last updated 05:01 22/08/2010

This morning's come back from the dead 29-22 win over South Africa in Soweto highlighted just how good this All Blacks team is and that even when star playmaker Dan Carter is below par they can still come through with the goods.

With three minutes to go the All Blacks were down 22-17 and it looked as if the bonus point to win the Tri-Nations would be the only thing they'd be able to take from the game.

But Richie McCaw scored in the corner after spending three minutes lurking out on one flank, then straight from the restart, following Carter's missed conversion, Nonu made a break and set up Israel Dagg for the match winner.

The 94,033 spectators in the crowd that created a deafening atmosphere for 79 minutes were stunned into silence. So too was their captain John Smit, who looked shattered that the Springboks had lost again, their third defeat of the year to the All Blacks.

This loss will hurt South African rugby and Boks coach Peter de Villiers. The Springboks had put everything into this game and played every emotional card they could during the week. The stakes could hardly have been higher for them and their may be some casualties from this loss.

Richie McCaw said at the captain's run on Friday that the key to this game was scoring early to silence the crowd, but they weren't able to do it.

South Africa started strongly and got the 16th man they were looking for.

The All Blacks had a sluggish start to their set pieces, they were almost pushed off the ball with their first scrum and a lineout just after almost went wrong when the Springboks read a throw to the front.

But the All Blacks kept their cool under the early pressure and took the lead through a Carter penalty.

The Springboks' ferocity at the tackle was something the visitors found hard to handle, especially when Schalk Burger came crashing in, using his strength to force turnovers.

And it was also on attack where Burger made a big impact, smashing over Ma'a Nonu and Keven Mealamu for the opening try of the game.

Down 13-9 it was Jimmy Cowan's defensive blunder that left a great big gap in the defence for Francois Hougaard to run through, but it was a tough call to penalise Joe Rokocoko for running into the Springboks halfback after he put up a kick.

The All Blacks' first try came from a great break by Brad Thorn down the left flank, the ball was recycled quickly and spread wide, Nonu straightened the line of attack and when they went wide again there was plenty of space for Tony Woodcock to stroll in.

The sun had set by the start of the second half and two minutes into it Cowan, whose selection in the run-on team may have been down to loyalty from the coaches as much as anything else, paid the price for an inconsistent half and was substituted two minutes into the second period.

His replacement, Piri Weepu, was much more effective, utilising his skills at taking the ball to the line.

Steyn's penalties took the score to 22-14 with 13 minutes to go, but another Carter penalty brought the All Blacks back to within a try.

But after that kick Carter had a meltdown, he knocked the ball on when trying to catch a kick that was going straight down his throat, then missed a simple penalty with six minutes to go.

But cometh the hour, cometh McCaw, who did enough to make the scores level and Dagg who did the job for the win.

New Zealand now have 23 points and have won the Tri-Nations for the 10th time in 15 years with a game to spare.

Springbok captain John Smit could not conceal his disappointment after his 100th Test match ended in a 29-22 defeat to New Zealand in Soweto.

Smit's side led until the dying minutes of the match, when Richie McCaw and Israel Dagg pounced for tries to seal the All Blacks' reclamation of the Tri-Nations title.

"I thought we controlled the first half well and played accurately and on our terms. In the second half we conceded a few penalties and missed touch kicks, which cost us," Smit said. "At 22-all we wanted to get into a good field position so that Morné Steyn can have a go at a drop-goal, but we turned over possession, I missed a crucial tackle and it was game over.

"I can't think of anything worse than losing your 100th Test by missing a tackle at the death. I'll be disappointed for a very long time."

Springbok coach Peter De Villiers made a number of changes to his side and was quick to praise the younger members of his team despite the result.

"The youngsters stepped up today and we can draw a lot of confidence from how they played," he said. "If we dictate territory and possession, we can beat any team. We lost some structure in the second half and were playing less direct and more defensive.

"Those two kicks that went long were probably the turning points, as it brought us back into our half and we had to defend, where we could've been on the attack. It's very painful, but we can take some heart from how we performed today. You need luck too, and today it went their way, as it did in the rest of the Tri-Nations. Winning becomes a habit, but so can losing and we're aware of that."

All Blacks coach Graham Henry was predicatably thrilled with his side's comeback and toasted a wonderful oaccasion.

"They don't get any bigger than that - a huge Test match, played in front of that crowd in that stadium," he said. "I'm sure it will be pretty significant for the people who were there today.

"I just felt so proud of what they've achieved. The character, backed by their guts and togetherness was superb. So I think it was a very special win by the All Blacks today, an outstanding result and something we will never forget as far as we're concerned."