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The All Blacks and Wallabies fought out a tense and thrilling 12-all draw at ANZ Stadium in Sydney on Saturday night in terrible conditions, highlighted by tremendous defence from both teams.
Such a contest makes the glass half full for any fan.
The All Blacks and Wallabies produced a lacklustre, error ridden game and both teams were unable to adapt to the horrible conditions or referee’s whistle, with poor execution and options throughout the match.
On that assessment the glass is now half empty.
The Wallabies’ tremendous attitude and defensive pressure earned the rub of the green from Jaco Peyper, forcing the All Blacks to make numerous errors and concede penalties to keep them in the contest. The Wallabies will look to Eden Park with a lot of confidence knowing they can compete with this All Blacks team and break the Eden Park hoodoo.
Back to glass half full.
The Wallabies put in a solid display on Saturday night but despite earning the favour of Jaco Peyper and up against an out-of-sorts All Black team they were still unable to secure victory. Poor skill execution and option taking let them down at crucial moments and their best chance to secure victory over New Zealand has disappeared. They now face mission impossible at Eden Park next week.
Glass half empty.
The All Blacks will be disappointed not to secure the 18th straight win but can be very happy with the commitment and desperation to hold out against a committed and desperate Wallabies team away from home. In terrible conditions, and on the back of a pedantic refereeing display by Jaco Peyper, they will be relatively happy with the result knowing they will be much improved next week.
Glass half full.
The All Blacks were bitterly disappointing on Saturday night. Ill-discipline and unforced errors were costly and only an equally inept showing from the Wallabies kept them in the match. They were very fortunate to escape Sydney with a draw to their names after being out-muscled and out-enthused by an inexperienced Wallabies team who will head to Auckland with all the momentum.
Glass half empty.
There are various points of view one can take from a match that I found to be an incredibly frustrating but enthralling contest.
The Wallabies will be ruing their slow start to the match but as time wore on combinations started to click and confidence grew as the All Blacks, through a number of unforced errors, were unable to capitalise on their dominance in the opening minutes.
The Wallabies will be very happy with their defence, which was aggressive and forced a number of poor options and errors from the All Blacks. That is a very good sign of the positive mindset and attitude within this current squad.
I would give serious thought to starting Bernard Foley and Nick Phipps next week in Auckland. Their combination and understanding of each other would have been invaluable on Saturday night. At the very least, Phipps should be the starting halfback next week over Nic White, who had a less than memorable match.
The All Blacks will be disappointed knowing they had the ascendency early but allowed the Wallabies to wrest the initiative away from them. They were unable to bring themselves back into the contest but after losing men to the sin bin they were still able to hold on and fight out a draw in the end, an effort that they should be very proud of.
The All Blacks will know they are in for a real contest at Eden Park. Their skill execution and physicality at the breakdown was lacking at times and this will need to be improved.
Dane Coles’ substitution was inexplicable to me. He was having a fantastic match and his work rate and set piece work was top notch. I cannot understand why he was substituted and I cannot help but feel that this was a preordained move by the coaches.
When you saw the effort made by Nathan Charles, who was outstanding playing the full 80 on his starting debut, I thought it was a poor decision to sub Coles, who was easily one of the All Blacks’ best along with Richie McCaw.
Looking forward to next week, I believe that both teams have plenty to work on and both will be greatly improved to set up an exciting return match.
I still believe, however, that the All Blacks will win for one reason. Conrad Smith should be available.
Now I may be accused of bias here, but the All Blacks missed Conrad’s composure and decision making under pressure. His ability to organise the defence and identify opportunities are second to none and dare I say it, would have made a huge difference to the team on Saturday.
It is of no coincidence that the All Blacks have won more than 90 per cent of the games played with him in the team, and I expect him to be the key point of difference next week.
In saying that, there is no question this Wallabies squad is vastly improved from their 2013 team, and they are a very real chance of not only walking away from Eden Park with a victory but also giving this Rugby Championship a very real shake.
Eden Park shapes up as a classic match between these two Bledisloe rivals and it is going to be a long week waiting for kick off.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.