All Black forwards live up to the hype and more

When referee Romain Poite reached into his pocket to bin Richie McCaw, I can’t have been the only one thinking ‘here we go again.’

During the week I had penned an article titled Time for the All Black forwards to live up to their billing where I focused on New Zealand’s discipline problems.

Personally, I think the refs have gone too far with yellow cards when they’re sin-binning people for stupid penalties instead of professional fouls or dangerous play, but McCaw’s penalty was so dumb he deserved ten minutes for the sheer stupidity of it.

After everything that happened in Sydney, and everything that was spoken about during the week, for McCaw to get himself sin-binned should have been a death knell for this All Black side.

We had made such a good start with the ball in hand that there was absolutely no reason for McCaw to try to make that play. We weren’t under any sort of pressure and were looking sharp.

If I’d known while McCaw was sitting on the chair that we’d drop fifty on them and the captain would score twice, I wouldn’t have felt quite so bad, but that sinking feeling was soon replaced by awe and amazement at the absolute master class the All Blacks put on at playing with a man down.

For me, the Test was won right there. In those ten minutes, the All Blacks not only did an expert job at winding down the clock, they managed to maintain their poise and counter attack as though they had their full complement.

They simply did not let the fact they were a man down interfere with the good start they’d made.

The forward pack was outstanding. There wasn’t a single area of their performance that wasn’t an improvement over Sydney.

They counter rucked and contested the breakdown. The tackled the Australians around the fringes of the ruck and cut down on their easy metres. They scrimmaged powerfully and drove home their dominance with the maul.

Big Bad Brody Retallick led the way with a barnstorming performance in both the tight and the loose, and that dominance in both the tackle area and in broken play was the key to the All Blacks’ success.

The Wallabies couldn’t match the All Blacks’ physicality nor could they handle the pace the game was played at.

Israel Folau lamented his side’s lack of urgency after the game. It was a strangely flat performance from the Wallabies. They looked like bystanders at times, as though they were having an out-of-body experience witnessing the carnage.

In basketball, they talk about hustle plays a lot where plays dive on the floor to try to secure possession. During the game, there was a replay of Julian Savea chasing a kick and trying two or three times to get back up and win possession. It was that level of commitment that seemed to separate the two sides.

The maligned All Black props from last week got stuck in around the park and Wyatt Crockett managed to keep his nose out of trouble.

Richie McCaw played well when he came back on and Dane Coles has officially arrived. It has to be said that he hasn’t let the All Blacks down yet in his 20-odd Tests, but he’s starting to look like a real All Black now and a play who commands his place.

Sam Whitelock was busy, but outshone by Brodie Retallick.

And Kieran Read. What can be said about Kieran Read? I will actually admit that Read’s performance in Auckland highlighted what was missing from the All Blacks’ play in Sydney.

He tackled hard and got involved in the rucks, but he also ran hard, made valuable metres and was outstanding in support.

Recently, McCaw has had a high workrate in defence but has been notable for his lack of impact with the ball in hand and it appeared both he and Read set out to rectify that at Eden Park.

The only disappointment in the pack was Liam Messam.

We heard during the week how primed Messam was for a big performance, but either he’d been out for too long or was trying too hard as his handling let him down and he couldn’t inject himself like he would’ve liked.

Steven Luatua showed considerable more energy when he came on, though garbage time had already begun by then and both sides were guilty of chucking the ball around.

It wasn’t one of the all-time great performances by an All Black side largely because of the soft final quarter where they let Australia score two tries instead of being merciless, but it was the best the All Blacks have played since their Ellis Park victory.

It would be nice if they could play this way every match as they look like a champion side when they do, but it’s unlikely they’ll have too many Test match weeks with that sort of build up.

They should have a fair idea how to make their attack work after that performance as the backs did an excellent job of choosing when to kick and when to run, and both Aaron Smith and Aaron Cruden did a superb job of creating and exploiting space.

Cruden deserves special mention as plenty of people have had their doubts about him lately myself included. The All Blacks were on the front foot the entire game, but Cruden had the ball on a string and put in his best performance for the All Blacks since his 25 minute cameo against Ireland two years ago.

Ryan Crotty also deserves a mention despite this being an article about the forwards. For a journeyman who supposedly posed no threat to the Australian line, he was an absolute handful.

It’s wonderful to see a guy get an opportunity in the All Black jersey and take it with both hands.

Malakai Fekitoa, on the other hand, seems to be searching for that one break out moment that announces his arrival on the international scene, similar to that scintillating try Israel Dagg scored against South Africa where he bust through Schalk Burger and Pierre Spies.

What he needs to realise is that if he knew when to pass we would already be impressed.

As for the Wallabies, I thought this was a bit of an average side when the squad was announced, which of course I took flak for, but they need to produce excellent performances if they’re going to win Test matches in this Rugby Championship and they need to get the team selections right.

In terms of beating the All Blacks, they’re in a tough spot. Ewen McKenzie, or the ARU, or possibly both, want them to out gun the All Blacks, but as Eden Park showed the All Blacks are a six gun to the Wallabies’ water pistol.

The Northern Hemisphere sides have shown how to trouble the All Blacks, and both Argentina and South Africa have the packs to do it, but the Wallabies are going to have to rethink their strategy and try to out smart the All Blacks instead.