For the Wallabies to know how to win tonight, they have to look at how they lost last week in Sydney and, similar to war, to win a game of rugby a team must win on as many battlefronts as possible.
The All Blacks clearly won the game with some dominance but where were they more dominant and where have the Wallabies have held their own?
Scrums
The first couple of scrums were awkward to say the least, but as the game wore on this became less of an issue as the teams got into their rhythm and found their timing.
The Wallabies found the initial scrums to be to their liking and clearly won them, with James Slipper in particular doing some good work against Owen Franks.
However, as the All Blacks found their timing, they managed to start cranking up the pressure and won the overall scrum battle.
Something interesting was that it was easier to see which front row was collapsing the scrum and this can only be a good thing.
Match stats – Australia had six scrums, won two and lost four. New Zealand had six scrums, won three and lost three.
Ewen McKenzie – “The scrum was a bit of a lottery for both teams, so a bit of a mixed bag there.”
Steve Hansen – “I thought the scrums were great … we’ve just created another wee issue, haven’t we? Once we get that sorted out and the halfbacks put the ball in straight, we’ll be fine.
“Obviously, at the moment, they are being very, very vigilant on it. You had two sets of halfbacks out there who, every time there was a scrum, were very reluctant to put the ball in because they didn’t want to be yellow-carded.
“But I think it’s like anything: we said there would be some teething problems, but the great thing about it, I thought, was we didn’t have too many collapses so, once we iron out the whole thing and get used to it, I think it will be great for the game.”
Lineouts
The Wallabies selected four jumpers and it paid off in style. They clearly dominated the lineouts, with Ben Mowen providing some good calls (Sam Whitelock could not read the lineouts to compete Wallaby ball) and Rob Simmons impressing in the air.
It was surprising the Wallabies did not take more advantage by not kicking the ball out more in the second half and mauling more than the two times they did.
The All Blacks will be disappointed with their lineout work and will look for some dramatic improvement for the next Test.
They lost ball in almost every way possible – opposition steals, not straight throws, and overthrows, with Kevin Mealamu being responsible for these failures.
Match stats – Australia had nine lineouts, won nine. New Zealand had 12 lineouts, won eight, lost four.
Restarts
Neither side had a great day at the restart. Both lost three restarts by my count and failed to disrupt opposition ball (other than the steal each).
Breakdown
The first half was fairly even, with the All Blacks perhaps edging it.
The second half was a different story however, with the All Blacks hitting the rucks with some real venom.
This was where the Wallabies lost the game for me and they will need to make some personnel changes because the current guys lack the mongrel to clean out rucks consistently.
Brodie Retallick, Whitelock and Franks were superb and completely outplayed their counterparts in this area.
The Wallabies were also far too individual when approaching the rucks too as opposed to the All Blacks who were more coordinated.
The result was quicker ball for the All Blacks and they were able to slow the Wallaby ball down almost at will.
Match stats – Australia won 94 from 100 rucks, New Zealand won 54 from 59 rucks.
Kicking
The ABs kicked the ball more often than the Wallabies did and edged the kicking battle by being more effective with their kicks and kick chases.
The Wallabies must look to return the ball with more purpose to put doubts in to the minds of the All Black kickers.
None of the Wallaby back three really returned the ball with any great deal of effectiveness and Mackenzie has already suggested moving Israel Folau to fullback to bring the big fella more into the game and perhaps return All Black kicks better.
How that will affect their kicking game remains to be seen.
Match stats – Kick/pass/run – Australia – 20/180/121, New Zealand – 29/76/82.
Kicks at goal – Australia – seven from eight, New Zealand – seven from nine.
General play and gameplan
McKenzie promised and delivered a more expansive gameplan. The Wallabies basic attack consisted of passing the ball two out from Toomua and taking the hit, which partly resulted in Conrad Smith making the most tackles of any All Black back (10).
They then either recycled the ball and continued down the blindside or switched the play quickly. It worked to a certain degree, with the Wallabies looking more penetrative than they have in the recent past.
Their failure to capitalise on the line breaks they did make will be of concern and they will look to improve their support running lines. The All Blacks contained the Wallaby attacks with some ease though and this will worry the Wallabies.
The All Blacks targeted the right side of the field by flooding James O’Connor’s wing and starving Folau. This paid off spectacularly, with Ben Smith running in a hat-trick on the right wing.
Aaron Cruden ran the ball far more than Toomua did, which helped in creating space outside him when he did shift the ball on.
As always though, the All Black forwards looked for general dominance and there were plenty of pick and gos and one out runs.
Soft fringe defence resulted in plenty of gain line advances.
All stats courtesy of ESPNscrum.com
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