all blacks Vs France. AAP Images
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.
Grandpabhaile
Guest
Well they scored a try today. And not much else. Back to the drawing board, Mr Henry.
Lazlo
Guest
O.J - Going into the Durban game the ABs have two lapses to fix - offensive as well as defensive. The Boks don't have this problem to such a degree. They have offensive weapons at halfback and both wings, plus the Steyns who are long range threats. In the pigs the AB's best player has, surprisingly, been given a hard time by De Villiers' second choice. But the Blacks still have the better back row what with Rodney at last making an impact. The Boks might be able to achieve parity here if it wasn't for D.V.'s mysterious penchant for playing Spies. Bottom line is the Boks currently have the best front five in the biz and that makes them tough to towell up. The Blacks will be happy to get home, get back to full strength, and think about sticking it to the Ws in Sydney. AB FAN - it beats the hell out of many of us why different refs display pet peeves. In the NFL an official either gets it wrong or maybe he's got a bet down, but he doesn't throw a flag just because he hasn't stopped the game in the last two minutes like an IRB-sanctioned ref. In MLB a pitcher quickly knows if the ump is giving him the corners or not and adjusts accordingly. But it's hard to adjust to a rugby ref because last Saturday's ref didn't have a problem with whatever this Saturday's ref regards as a sin.
ohtani's jacket,
Guest
Lazlo, The 1995 side was the beginning of one of the better sides in modern times. In 1994, the All Blacks scored 6 tries in six Tests. This side is a lot closer to the '94 side than the '95 side. I do think it's a problem, but they're not likely to fix it during this Tri-Nations. I'm more worried about some of the defensive lapses we've seen.
allblackfan
Guest
For this weekend, it's all about attitude, I reckon. The ABs need to lift their intensity and stop making mistakes. They're off the pace but not that far off. It may mean more kicking will be needed but to get the win, so be it!! ABs can play as ugly as anyone else if it means winning the vital games. And if anyone complains about a lack of style, simply point out that the rugby world has spoken (a la the ELVs) -- substance above style! (No bad thing)
Derm
Roar Guru
So if you had better refs and England and Australia stopped using blockers, then the ABs would improve. Hmmm.... I'd say Henry is giving that a lot of thought for this week's match.
allblackfan
Guest
I seee two factors standing out more than most. First are the refs (all of them, I have no favourites!!). Just months before the 2007 World Cup, a NRL acquaintance of mine asked me if anything could stop the All Blacks from an inevitable World Cup win (who at that stage he reckoned looked invincible and he knew nothing about rugby). ``Sure,'' I said. ``The ref.'' I then had to explain to him how the man in the middle could influence a game of rugby beyond anything that refs in the NRL could. Let's look at what the refs are doing to the game -- they're stamping out rucking, they've got their sights set on the clean-up and now (apparently) it's perfectly legal to chase a bomb and tackle while ahead of the kicker. This has led to the defence living in a offside position. The onside -- whether from a kick or at the breakdown -- is simply not being policed enough. People are fond (and I've said this before) of saying that they don't mind if a ref is bad as long as he is consistently bad (ie to both sides). My counter to that is this: this sport is professional. If a ref is that consistently bad then he's incompetent and should NOT be controlling a game at that level. We expect our players to be professional given the money they earn. We have every right to expect the match officials to be equally professional. If you don't perform, you're out is a mantra the refs should adopt. Point number 2 (and I blame the English and the Aussies for this) has been the introduction of the NFL-style ``blocker'', who basically runs interference for the ball carrier. I really noticed this during England's last visit to NZ when the ball carrier who went to run the ball back had a big lumbering forward ahead of him running FORWARD; this ``support'' player made no effort to get onside. It's no longer enough for the average fan to simply watch the ball carrier today. You have to watch what everybody else is doing around him. And pray the ref doesn't make another howler!!