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The New Zealand All Blacks' Jerome Kaino, right, charges into a group of Australian defnders during their Tri-Nations rugby union match at the Olympic Stadium in Sydney, Australia, Saturday, Sept. 11, 2010. New Zealand won the match 23-22. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
Let’s be honest here, the Wallabies did not lose Saturday night’s Test 23 – 22. The All Blacks won it. They came back from 22 – 6 points down into the second half to pile on 17 points.
Towards the end of the Test the rampaging All Blacks could have scored a couple of more tries.
This comeback by the All Blacks was the rugby equivalent of Kiwi’s famous victory in the Melbourne Cup when the New Zealand-bred horse came from well back and last in the field to mow down the front runners in the straight.
On the train coming back from the ground a very pleasant Maori came up to me. ‘Spiro,’ he said, ‘tell your readers that whatever the NZRU pays Richie McCaw they should double it.’
The message behind this in undoubtedly correct.
McCaw has captained New Zealand 52 times for six losses. He is far more valuable to the All Blacks than Dan Carter, great match-winning player the Crusaders genius may be.
Talk about the power of one.
McCaw scored a try and had the presence of mind to improve where he planted the ball to ensure an easier conversion. He made a linebreak, some eight runs which gained him 49 hard-grunt metres in all, and he made five tackle-busts.
There are no turnovers in these statistics. The point here is that Mark Lawrence the South African referee indicated with the first ruck of the match, where David Pocock was penalised for having his hands in the ruck, that he was going to be strict on allowing the tackled player to release the ball. ‘I want daylight after the tackle,’ he told the players.
McCaw caught on very quickly to this approach where Pocock was penalised quite often for digging the ball after the ruck had been formed. McCaw widened his game to running, passing and making tackles all over the field, and once catching a long lineout throw and belting the ball 30m into touch.
This is the game that Pocock should try to emulate, not the digging for the ball game. For Pocock is quick and tough and could be as useful a runner with the ball for the Wallabies as McCaw is for the All Blacks.
Rocky Elsom could learn, too, from McCaw on how to get on with the referee.
It was noticeable that McCaw did not grumble to Lawrence the way Elsom did. The point here is that the South African referees do not like to be queried. And they dislike most being constantly chirped or grumbled at.
At one point an exasperated Lawrence told Elsom: ‘You concentrate on doing your job, and let me get on with my job.’
Interviewed after the game, Elsom hinted that he believed the All Blacks got away with too many illegalities.
But this is a nonsense approach. It also antagonises the referee. The All Blacks could just as easily complain about a forward pass (which wasn’t) that was ruled against Corey Janes from which the Wallabies scored a try from the ensuing scrum. Or Ma’a Nonu being ruled for a high tackle that wasn’t on Kurtley Beale.
Robbie Deans won’t do this but I think there are enough serious issues with Elsom’s captaincy for thought to be given for someone else (Will Genia, perhaps) to be given the job.
Elsom does not read the referees. He is overly grumpy when players respond best to positive messages from the captain in the manner of John Smit, John Eales and now McCaw. He does not seem to be able to control the end of Tests either, at least against the All Blacks.
The All Blacks have won 10 in a row against the Wallabies. In five of them, the Wallabies were leading at half-time only to be run down in the second half.
On Saturday night the Wallabies started kicking for position in the second half. This was the right thing to do. But there did not seem to be a strategy of, say, setting up for a field goal when a turnover was forced.
I’ve always believed that field goals are most easily kicked earlier rather than later in a Test.
This brings us to Matt Giteau’s kicking.
There seems to be technical faults in his technique. He missed two penalties and two conversions, all of them from sharpish angles but kicks you’d expect to knock over in Tests.
The Wallabies might have to consider Kurtley Beale as the front line kicker, although Beale doesn’t kick for the Waratahs. Another possibility may be bringing in Berrick Barnes into Giteau’s position and as the front line kicker.
Was it a coincidence that the All Blacks started to get on top in the forwards when Mark Chisolm was replaced by Dean Mumm? This change, anyway, was matched with the All Blacks bringing on Jerome Kaino and Colin Slade to replace the two youngsters Victor Vito (disappointing) and Aaaron Cruden (poor with the restarts).
It was an excellent hanging kick-off by Slade that gave possession back to the All Blacks with the scoreline 22 – 6. The All Blacks virtually kept the ball for most of the rest of the twenty minutes in the Test.
Kaino was most impressive in stiffening up the All Blacks’ drives through the middle of the field as the Wallaby pack began to wilt under the continual smashing they were being subjected to.
So at the end of the Tri Nations tournament we have the All Blacks winning all their Tests, the first time this has been done under the current system of three Tests against each side.
This is a tremendous achievement. It confirms the All Blacks as the side that has to be caught next year and for the next few years, presumably.
And the Wallabies?
This season they lost to England, with Giteau missing an easy kick at goal to win the Test. They have defeated the Springboks at home and in Australia, with the win at Blomfontein being their first Test victory at altitude in 47 years.
Most importantly, the Wallabies are establishing a distinctive pattern of play that is capable of ripping sides to shreds, even those as good as the Springboks and All Blacks.
This pattern is based on long, quick passing to the edges of the field with runners like the blind side winger and the fullback Kurtley Beale coming into the line to make the break.
Quade Cooper and Giteau (or Barnes if he moves into the inside centre position) balance the wide game with slick inside passes to runners on the burst.
The scrum is still a weakness but it stabilised long enough in the first half to give Ben McCalman (one of the finds of the season) to burst through Vito to set up James O’Connor for a terrific try.
The Wallabies lineout upset the All Blacks throws, three times in a row early on in the second half.
All this is positive and good news.
The fact is though that this side and its predecessors haven’t beaten the All Blacks in ten Tests.
The law of averages suggests that the Wallabies are nearer to a win than they were ten Tests ago. But as a Roarer has pointed out, Tests are not like tossing coins in a sequence. Each Test is a discrete match. It stands alone. It does not really have a statistical link with the previous Test.
Right now the Wallabies have the record that gives them the confidence they can beat any side in the world, except the All Blacks.
So the honest assessment of where they stand right now is that they are the number two team in the world, with a lot of ground right now between them and the All Blacks.
Can this ground be made up in 2011? Time will tell.