On the 27th November, 2004, Graham Henry would take his first year All Blacks to the Stade de France in Paris and begin a remarkable period of dominance with a 45-6 win over Les Bleus.
Not just any Les Bleus, but the Six Nation’s Grand Slamming Tri Colours.
It would be the birth of a fearsome All Blacks team, that would carry all before them right through to the World Cup in France, losing just four matches from the end of 2004 through to the end of 2007.
In 2005, after the Crusaders had just won the final season of the Super 12 – before it was expanded to the Super 14 – two men would emerge as pillars on which the All Black team would be built and, if anything, would become almost too valuable to the New Zealand rugby setup.
Richard Hugh McCaw and Daniel William Carter.
The All Blacks would open their 2005 international campaign by inflicting the heaviest test defeat on Fiji 91-0.
It would appear to be an almost unsuitable warm-up for Clive Woodward’s comprehensively prepared British and Irish Lions squad, arriving with enough support team and management to run a national union.
It would count for little.
The All Blacks would whitewash the fabled touring side 3-0 with an aggregate score line of 107-40, the worst series defeat ever suffered in over a century of the celebrated team’s history.
They would then go on to win the Tri Nations. From this year to 2008, New Zealand would win all of the Southern Hemispheres premier titles, winning 15 matches and losing just five.
They would also win the Bledisloe Cup for the third straight year; and embark on the second longest Tran-Tasman reign in the Cup’s 78 year history.
Over this time the All Blacks would win 12 matches against the Wallabies and lose only three.
Grand Slams, a world record 26 match home winning streak, and a 15 match undefeated run against the Northern Hemisphere would cap what would be a remarkable run for the All Blacks, whose only blemish would be a loss in Cardiff against France on the 6th October 2007.
There are key differences between this current All Blacks team and the all powerful side that swept all before them in a golden period in 2005, 2006, 2008 and, for the most part, 2007.
Let’s look at the discrepancies from the front.
In the front row Carl Hayman was an immense rock in which the All Blacks built so much in their first phase possession.
The reality is that the tighthead was the best in the world at his craft, and New Zealand has struggled to replace him.
Also, stalwarts Greg Somerville and Anton Oliver, the former an All Black captain, are no longer part of the national setup.
In the locks, Chris Jack, Norm Maxwell, James Ryan and Keith Robinson have moved on.
While the former currently plays for Western Province and will return to New Zealand, in the second row, the All Blacks have struggled to unearth test quality locks; despite the emergence of Isaac Ross.
In the flanks, both McCaw and So’oialo remain, but the man who was counted as arguably the most intimidating player in world rugby has since moved to France.
Jerry Collins was the perfect foil for his fellow loose forwards, who captained the test team and was at his peak the best blindside in world rugby.
The All Blacks have not had such a hard man in the loose or on defence since.
In the halves, Byron Kelleher was, before moving to Toulon, considered one of the premier classic “ninth forward scrumhalves” and constantly had competition from players such as Piri Weepu and, more recently, Brendan Leonard.
This was the key of this era.
No player (perhaps with the exception of McCaw and Carter) was safe. There was constant competition between players and the All Blacks could – and did – in theory rotate their entire starting XV without weakening their test side.
But there was another tactical difference between the current hybrid and the All Black teams of recent years past.
At second five eighth.
Ma’a Nonu is an explosive player, an intimidating ball carrier and strong line breaker – no doubt at his best an automatic inclusion.
However, he is more of an inside centre, rather than an archetypal second five eighth that has been a hallmark of the New Zealand game.
Aaron Mauger and Luke McAlister served this role, and while Nonu certainly has traits that are desirable to a rugby team, have the All Blacks lost a strategic aspect of their play without the backup playmaker position at second receiver?
Finally, there was one last variance between the team of yesteryear and now.
That team was young, hungry, and keen to impart themselves on both the world stage and the history books – which they did.
The World Cup aside, this current team is playing second fiddle to a Springbok team that sees more opportunity to make their mark on the annals of our great game.
Can this team rediscover that yearning? Or are the All Blacks trapped in a transitional phase that may only be broken in 2011?
Sam Taulelei
Guest
James Nonu is more the archetypal NZ second five eighth than Mauger or McAlister were. NZ historically had their midfield combination built upon a strong running and defending no.12 who could get over the advantage line and set a target for the loose forwards to win quick ruck ball. The NZ center was more the ball player and creator. It's only been since the late 1980's when Joe Stanley played center that the midfield roles switched with the more physical player wearing 13 eg. Stanley, Innes, Bunce and Umaga. If anything the current midfield of Nonu and Smith represents the traditional NZ combination. Regarding Jerry Collins he was very much a one dimensional player under John Mitchell who wanted him to play a certain way. Henry wanted Collins to add more skills to his game, particularly his passing skills in contact and before contact. Adding more versatility made Collins a much more effective player under Henry than just his strength and toughness and complemented the skills of McCaw and So'oialo. Previously I had argued with OJ the merits of playing your best team each test and not blooding as many players on the Grand Slam tour but in light of what has happened this year I have to agree with OJ that we are a year behind where we should be. It's rare that Super 14 franchises will work together with the national coach with regards to selection. Super 14 coaches have their own back to look after and have to do what's best and right for their team and not necessarily the All Blacks. They have to deliver titles to keep their position which often puts them at odds with the wishes of the All Blacks coach. They also may lack depth in certain positions and are forced to make positional changes when suffering injuries. Henry is no stranger to this and as coach of the Auckland team in the 1990's would often defy the wishes of coach Laurie Mains about resting players or selecting them in other positions so they could assess their ability.
ohtani's jacket,
Guest
James, You talk about this like it's regrettable, but the days of decade long dominance are gone. Sporting teams simply don't stay together like they did in the past. The same thing happened to the '87-89 All Blacks and the '95-97 All Blacks. There's no guarantee that if those players had stayed in NZ that they'd have the form to play for the All Blacks. Occasionally, you hear about how well they're doing overseas, but it's a different phase of their careers. What's really hurting NZ rugby is the fact that our younger players don't have the opportunity to test themselves against ex-All Blacks like they did in the past. Hell, they rarely have the opportunity to test themselves against the current All Blacks. We've moved too far away from what made the All Blacks great, which was club rugby. Henry was lauded last year for winning the Tri-Nations and a GS with a depleted squad. Now we have injuries and a lack of form and suddenly we're crying over split milk? Henry is paying the price for relying on his senior All Blacks and not blooding players on the end of year tour last year. The NZRU is paying the price for organising a ridiculous GS tour and agreeing to all this ridiculous over-expansion. When Henry blew the All Blacks up in 2004, he choose the end of year squad based on NPC performances. Now we have this expanded Tri-Nations and an EYT that begins in late Oct, we can't release the All Blacks to the NPC in mass and thus we'll have to wait until next year's Super 14 competition for new players to emerge. That puts us a year behind where we should be. The All Blacks and the Super 14 franchises need to work together to prepare for the Rugby World Cup. I mean, what's Kaino doing playing no.8 or Thompson blindside if that's not what the national selectors are after? Why is Henry looking at guys who can't get starting time like Franks or Bryn? We need to get our sh-t together.