Razor's pursuit of 'hard bastard' Sam Whitelock reveals the ugly truth about the modern All Blacks
Talk of Sam Whitelock returning home tells us a few things. First, we lack genuinely hard men in New Zealand rugby. We have locks,…
Disregarding the one-way game against Japan, the All Blacks scored 24 tries in five games in 1995. This year, if you leave out the win against an unimpressive Italy, the All Blacks have scored 19 tries less in five games.
Sure, the game has changed in the last fourteen years, with solid walls of players to get by and the field made narrower by drift defenses, not to mention getting rid of the ball as quickly as possible via the boring box kick.
But could it be the All Black backs are, shall we say, under-performing?
The halfback position is in a state of flux, Donald’s doing a good job but he’s no Carter, Nonu looks a little bemused, Joe and Sivi have shown little penetration, Mils is off his feed, which leaves just Conrad Smith looking good.
One out of seven is not a pass mark.
It gets better in the forwards, but the scrum is still light of one prop and one hooker, and without Williams there’s not much spine in the second-row scrummage or lineout. The bench strength was also bad last week.
So what’s an All Blacks fan to do?
Hope for lots of penalties and for Donald to be on target? Or hope that the try drought was just an aberration and the backs will fly in Durban?
You tell me.
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.
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