The All Blacks have beaten the French 26-13 in Wellington in a game that was a real struggle to watch for fans.
Unfortunately cards will be a key topic spoken about as people review this game but perhaps more than the cards, the All Blacks’ poor performance and the French pride should be where people focus.
The French started really well and were on the board first with a penalty goal. They had a buzz about them and while everyone knew the odds were against them, they seemed up for the challenge.
The Kiwis struck back quickly as Joe Moody went over for a nice try having picked a lovely line to run onto a crisp Aaron Smith pass and the prop ran hard to go over the line unopposed.
Just as the game was hotting up the French found themselves with a mountain to climb. Their new No.15 – Benjamin Fall – went to compete with Beauden Barrett for a high ball but the Frenchman never got up high enough and instead crashed into the All Blacks No.10 legs, tipping him over and sending him head first into the ground from height.
While the decision of a red card is fair, no one would have complained if it had just been a yellow.
There were flashbacks to last week where a yellow card gave the All Blacks the chance to score try after try in the second half in Auckland.
When Ben Smith scored just a few minutes after this red card the writing was on the wall – just how big was the winning margin going to be?
But instead two things happened – the French fought hard and scrambled really well for 60 minutes, and the All Blacks played average to poor rugby for 60 minutes.
Instead of pulling away and taking advantage of the extra space and man, the All Blacks struggled to get any rhythm going.
They kicked the ball away far too often, made error after error and in general just forced the play when they needed to play patiently.
At half time it made sense that the home side would get a quick rollocking from Hansen in the sheds and then come out and blow a tiring French side off the park. But that never happened.
Yes the All Blacks scored some points and the result was never in doubt but this was a poor, poor performance from them.
Discipline was terrible and while the ref did become a bit whistle happy in the second half, the All Blacks made things hard for themselves and even had TJ Perenara sin-binned as the team persistently infringed when the French were in the All Blacks 22.
The French made their own fair share of errors and it was a hard game to watch but the French never stopped trying.
Whereas in game one their heads dropped once things started going south, this week their heads stayed up and they took on the challenge with great pride and effort.
They even had two tries disallowed and managed to score a lovely try in the final minute. When you think about that and the points that could have gone their way this could easily have become a game that went down in rugby history – the day when the All Blacks lost at Wellington to 14 men.
It’s hard to judge the French players when they had to play for so long with a man down. Bastareaud was better today than he was in game one – he needs to get himself into the games earlier and more consistently as he is a real talisman for the French. Thomas looked good but needs some more space to really unleash his pace and burn the opposition.
For the All Blacks no one really shone out. McKenzie came on earlier than he would have expected as Beauden Barrett had to go off with a head injury from the red card incident.
McKenzie played well with ball in hand and his pace in loose play is a real weapon. He needed to take a bit more control of the All Blacks and when they were struggling to break the French down could have done more to force the French back deep and make them make mistakes.
Game three could be interesting and let’s hope that there are no cards and we can see these two go at each other for a full 80 minutes.
The French will still be massive underdogs but they’ve shown in two games now that they can be a real threat to the All Blacks at times and if the Kiwis have another off day then who knows what could happen.
It will be an interesting review for Hansen and lots to talk about in the All Blacks camp next week. The usual Kiwi control and ruthlessness was missing in action today and they need to get that back quickly.
Final score
All Blacks 26
France 13
Winston
Guest
Player safety trumps our entertainment.
piru
Roar Rookie
I feel like this comment hasn't got the respect it deserved - well played Jerry
piru
Roar Rookie
AFL players rarely run at each other and try to take a high ball between them. They are nearly always facing the same direction and jumping side by side - very different situation
zhenry
Guest
I agree, Fall’s attitude was reckless. He might have his eyes on ball but he has also peripheral vision, besides he should assess the whole senario. Don’t agree cancellation of red card. I don’t agree with red cards during match, but if player is injured then after 10min a substitute. BB was totally without care to his body. Long term this jumping senario will kill someone. How does AFL deal with it? I can only see such things as slow down on approach, and once a player in air, clear out until they land.
Nobody
Guest
It says here that concussion incidence for player hours in AFL is 6 per 1000 player hours, and here that rugby union's concussion incidence is 10.5 per 1000 player hours. Not sure what to make of that, but thought I'd share it.
Bill Larkin
Guest
Would you like to re-think that now the judicial committee has dismissed the red card?
Old One Eye
Guest
His jump was delayed because he got a push in the back from Crotty. Should have been a red card too for Crotty ?. Ref and TMO both said he had eyes on the ball the whole time which despite Anus Gardeners assertion put him in a position to catch the ball if Barrett doesn’t jump over him. Yellow card at worst.
Jerry
Guest
Hard to tell, they tried setting up an HIA syestem but they all failed their baseline tests.
Nobody
Guest
The "player out of the game, but after 20 mins you can bring on a replacement" idea is better than this. I reckon it will happen sometime.
Nobody
Guest
What's the incidence of head injuries in AFL?
If you are under the ball you have a realistic chance to catch it. Not complicated at all, judging after the fact defeats the whole point of contesting for a ball
Paulo
Roar Rookie
Its a grey area sometimes, but in this instance it is not. If he actually jumped then you could say he was out jumped, but here he ran into a contested contact area knowing full well that it was extremely likely that they was a jumper and that his actions were more than likely to cause an injure should he make contact with the jumper. I don't know if a Red is appropriate, but I think more than a yellow. The problem is there is nothing in between.
Fionn
Guest
Hmm, I know grey areas area inevitable in rugby but that is a very grey area. I would dispute he was not in a realistic position to catch the ball – if Barrett had not been there he would have caught it. I understand that Barrett WAS there, but how do you determine what Fall should have known given he kept his eyes on the ball at all times? It is a very complex issue.
Paulo
Roar Rookie
The ref and the tmo, that’s their job. That’s the conversation they had as they started to look at this incident. “Was he realistically in a position to catch the ball?’ Both Aussie officials said no, he wasn’t. It’s a card based off of that. Colour was determined by Barrett’s impact. Those are the guidelines they have to use. There is a judgement call to be made in the first question but both ref and tmo agreed on it.
Paulo
Roar Rookie
If they were realistically in with a chance to catch then they would be fine. You saw that in the first kick contest of the game. The AB got higher, got tipped and hit the ground but it was deemed fair as the French player was in a realistic position or at least tried to put themselves in a realistic position to catch the ball. If Fall has actually jumped he would likely have been fine. And I mean jumped properly, I’m aware his foot left the ground but not by much. This was the discussion to the Aussie ref and Aussie TMO asked first, ‘was he in a realistic position to catch the ball?’, once they agreed that no he wasn’t, it was always a card offence.
Paulo
Roar Rookie
Players are responsible for the safety of other players. Long held precept and well established. If you are entering a contact situation you are responsible for your actions and the results of your actions. If it is deemed that you should have expected a certain situation and didn’t account for that in your actions, it is deemed reckless. Fall should have anticipated a jumper and so should have either jumped, or stayed back until feet were on the ground. This happened in every other kick contest in that game and other games over the weekend, so this isn’t hard or new. I’m confused why all this is an issue now when these are very well established principles.
Fionn
Guest
But even if the player jumps if they don't get up as high as the other player then they're still just as liable, right?
Paulo
Roar Rookie
Neither has to watch the opposition player, but you have to put yourself in a realistic position to catch the ball, and not jumping in that situation is not being realistic, knowing that in all likelyhood someone is jumping for the ball on the opposition. That’s the rulings, that’s the laws and rules. It is what it is. It is considered reckless and dangerous. There is a focus on player safety and that’s the way the powers that be have decided to rule it. There were any number of contests where this didn’t happen so it is very very easily avoiadabke and all players and coaches know this.
You either go for the ball or you watch the opposition player. Why must one player watch his opposition player and the other not? Sorry, but that is unacceptable
Russell Neville
Guest
A player is not responsible for actions of an opposition player. Furthermore the referee must have the safety of all players as the number one priority. However as it is plain for all to see in this instant the French player was watching the ball and jumped a little. The fact that Boden Barrett topped over this French player contesting a high ball doesn’t constitute dangerous play. The next thing will be the outlawing of tackles. This was a terrible decision. The options the referee had were 1) Play on 2) Warn the French player 3) Penalty for reakless play 4) Yellow Card 5) Red Card I truely dislike head-high tackles and no-arms in tackles and completely agree with strong sanctions in those cases but this truely absurd and simply stupid decision that ruined a great test match and the series.