Jerome Kaino and Richard Kahui, both played brilliantly in the opening in game last night (aside from Kahui’s dropped pass from Nonu with Dagg screaming up outside him) and deservedly won the plaudits.
But it’s easier to play well in a side that dominates most of the play.
For me, the Player of the Match (or of the 28 minutes that he was on the field) was shaven-headed prop, Alisona Taumalolo, whose commitment in the second half, reflected the uncompromising gutsiness of the Tongans.
When he came on the field in the 52nd minute, the Tongans had already repelled at least three movements that might have produced tries, mostly the consequence of thunderous defence (as well as two sloppy errors by Cowan and Kahui’s dropped ball).
The All Blacks were still potent, as they showed with Toeava’s disallowed try in the 54th minute and Kaino’s awarded try in the 58th. And when Piri Weepu went left, from a ruck in the 61st minute, it looked as though something might be on again.
But Weepu got caught in the ruck, and when the ball came out, Andrew Hore was playing halfback.
Lurking (slightly offside, but good on him for getting away with it) was Taumalolo, who exploded like a flanker at Carter, trying desperately to gather in Hore’s hospital pass.
Taumololo hit him perfectly, then picked up the ball on the run and set up the ruck, once he had been tackled.
For the next ten minutes, the All Blacks did not touch the ball, a very rare occurrence indeed, and tribute to the Tongans’ patience, strength and handling skills.
In the repeated scrums, Taumalolo and his partners held their own, and the prop carried the ball forward six times before finally getting under McCaw’s tackle for a deserved reward.
It was a team effort, of course, but he was crucial to its initiation and its completion.
The All Blacks, defending from the 62nd to the 72minute, managed to get a late try (but you can see Taumalolo making a nuisance of himself in the messy lead-up to the breakout that put Nonu over).
And when Dagg threatened a counterattack in the last movement of the game, he was run over and thumped by Taumalolo, who you knew, just wanted the game to gone on and on.
So all hail, Alisona Taumalolo, who played with the speed and energy of a Tongan Bullet Train!
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