The run-up to the World Cup semi-final in 2019 had many a New Zealand rugby union supporter experiencing increasing nervousness as the coaching panel were displaying an unshakeable belief that no matter how slow ruck ball became, and no matter how much time defences had to reset their full defensive lines on the back of that, they would be able to select a side that would be able to outrun all comers.
Well, history tells us that ended badly. But the feeling was that game, or one very like it, was always just around the corner. But that was pushed to the side as in their main games, the All Blacks had moved the ball to surgically neuter the Springboks’ loose forwards and run rough shod over an Ireland side that simply couldn’t get its defensive structures in place.
In the loss to England, while the All Blacks still produced all sorts of ball movement that put the opposition under pressure, they were not able to either produce quick ruck ball in sequence, nor could they dominate the middle of the park, which England took away.
This meant their options were constantly going one way late in the phases against a disciplined defence that had time to reset and reset well. Let’s not forget in that game England missed 34 tackles for a tackle percentage of 81 per cent. They buckled, but didn’t break.
In forever pushing the ball, New Zealand made multiple errors, were frustrated in to conceding a swathe of offensive penalties and did not set the platforms to control the game.
(Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)
When I refer to platforms in this piece it is not a concern about either scrum or lineout, neither of which have been a concern for the All Blacks for years. But it is in the selection of players who are able to provide individual platforms that allow others to play off them.
This means excellence in core roles and specialists who intuitively do the right thing and who have error rates that don’t impact negatively on the wider team. Who knows if Owen Franks, Sam Came, Ryan Crotty and Ben Smith would have made a difference in the starting side that fateful night in Yokohama, but there is no doubt they would have provided a better set of individual platforms than what was delivered.
And this is why I wonder how the current coaching panel will approach selection and the laying of a base for the team to play off. Beauden Barrett has declared his intent to compete for the ten shirt at a time when the changes in law direction actually play towards the dual-playmaker system, whereas if you had four playmakers in that semi-final it would not have made the slightest difference.
Although only evidenced by the one-sided Tonga match, we saw Richie Mo’unga and Damian McKenzie throw 39 passes each as the dual-playmaker system is actually well suited to how the game is played now, adding in of course greater influence from the halfbacks.
(Photo by Anthony Au-Yeung/Getty Images)
While it may have been hard to quantify too many positives from that skewed Tonga contest, perhaps the All Blacks didn’t get enough credit for staying within their structure and game plan for the 80 minutes when it would have been easy to get very loose.
What concerns me most about this Ian Foster-led panel is any underlying tendency to follow the prior coaching team’s ethos and nowhere is this of greater concern than in the loose trio.
It is not inconceivable to see a loose forward trio selected this year, in captain Sam Cane’s absence, of Akira Ioane, Ardie Savea and Hoskins Sotutu – all players who need a platform to play off, rather than being a group who can provide a platform for others to play off.
It gladdened me greatly to see a balanced trio for the first Fiji Test: Shannon Frizell, Ethan Blackadder and Hoskins Sotutu. And with the excellent Dalton Papali’i waiting to return from injury, surely that seven shirt, which is so important to how New Zealand play the game, has enough genuinely combative options in the position to always ensure tackles in front of the gain line and dominance on the ground.
But where does that platform come from further out in the side? David Havili looks to have all the core skills to be that man, although he is a newbie at Test level. What I would give for Conrad Smith at centre tomorrow.
George Bridge still seems to be the only low-error back three member that New Zealand can call on, and while there is no end to the amount of flair the All Blacks can select in the fullback shirt, I am not sure there is yet an individual who can live up to the position’s alternate name of custodian.
And it is this skill set we need: a low-error, excellent reader of the game, who is secure under the high ball and who makes the right decisions on when to join both on attack and in defence. Suggestions, anyone?
Flair is not something the All Blacks will lack, nor do they need to give up the core roles of individuals in order to display it in an officiating environment that is slanting their way.
Simply select enough individual platform providers and the more creative players will thrive. Ask them to play an open and attractive game without setting those individual platforms.
In key positions, and despite the game having more space and being quicker than in 2019, it still looks like asking for trouble, especially when faced with the better international sides.
Phantom
Roar Rookie
He certainly looked 100% on Saturday.
Uriah Heep
Roar Rookie
The thing is he isn't a 100% effort player. He's a 100% effort player for the things he chooses to get involved in. Not the same thing.
Uriah Heep
Roar Rookie
What? A final against Ireland ? You're joking. They were already a much diminished team since the previous year and had been beaten in the pool games.
System of a Downey Jr
Roar Rookie
What is it about being a Chiefs fan that makes me not want their coaches anywhere near the top job? Years of watching them oscillate inconsistently between genius and ghastly I suspect...I think Rennie would be ok, but I've never wanted Foster or Gatland as the head AB coach. I think Foster knows he is on a tight schedule. Hansen was a WC winning coach so he had had four years to do what ever he liked. Even if results had gone against him he'd have kept that top job until 2019. But I suspect Foster was given two years, and Robertson told, hang on for two years, stay in NZ don't take another international coaching position. If Foster gets resigned in 2022 watch Robertson leave NZ (this would be under normal non-covid conditions).
Emery Ambrose
Roar Rookie
I think the problem with Foster is 1. he's got a young team overall and a few experienced guys mixed in, he doesn't have the 5-10 world class players that Henry and Hansen had, just starting out, mid way through and at the end of there careers. 2. he was given a two year contract, with chance of extension if he did well. Then covid hit with only 6 tests last year and losing a couple, he now has 15 tests to prove himself all in the space of 5 months, its going to be tough, do you play a top 15 all games just to win to save your job and run them into the ground and lose the games in europe cause there knackered. He needs time to pick that starting 15 to carry him through to WR, he needs to find those players that provide the platform, but who are they from 2 games? Can Jacobson lead from the back row, Jordan from deep at Fullback, Mounga from 10 with his calm and poise or BB finding that x factor again at 10. What we have seen over the last 18 years worldwide is there is something to be said in a coach being around for a long time to build his team and to build players and mold them into how he wants to play. He got to build these players, either him or Robertson would lose some games because of where we are in our cycle of players. If S Robertson takes over next year and only gets signed to 2023 then hes going to throw things at the wall to see if they stick cause he has to win it in 2023 to keep his job unless he can persuade them to keep him until 2027.
Smashed in the head? You know when Dmac came on and went back off again.
I wish Razor was his friend and then he could phone a friend.
OtakiCraig
Roar Rookie
So I wonder who that little fella who got smashed was?
Smiggle Jiggle
Roar Guru
I know many label Bridge as too slow, etc, but his defensive reads are great, and it can open up the full back to be more of a roaming FB. This worked great with Dmac at 15, but J.Barret doesn't seem to roam as much, so Bridge is wasted on the wing. I said it before, you need complementing players for certain game types. Bridge and DMac work great. Bridge and Jordie don't. This also can be applied to all other positions, but that has been talk about for ages.
potsie
Guest
McKenzie lacked presence because he wasn't present, he was on the bench.
Lara
Guest
Foster never rated Laumape . ALB is first choice when fit , but Laumape didn’t even make the perimeter of the map . Laumape is a 12, a genuine 12 n the ABs midfield could be so much better.
Riccardo
Roar Rookie
Something like 10. Mounga 11. Clarke 12. Havilli 13. R.Ioane 14. Bridge and 15. Jordan Leinert-Brown is our best 13. Other than that, excellent post.
JB
Roar Rookie
After seeing yesterday game against the Fijians, there are a few lessons to the All Blacks coaching panel should keep in mind - - Whitelock is essential to the AB pack; we saw the difference when he came on; - Japanese Top League doe snot prepare you for internationals - Retallick was o off pace, I am not sure he is mentally ready for test rugby. - Sotutu will be an impact player but he is not Read's replacement; Jacobson is far more reliable to do the hard work and the hard carries. - I have to agree that Bridge is a very reliable player; nothing too fancy but it is always well done. Reece on the other wing is the good combination - Havili is the find of the season at 12 and they should continue with him; a very smart player
BleedRedandBlack
Roar Rookie
Given the All Blacks selection policy since Henry can be reasonably described as “A World Class player in every position at the World Cup”, at least in objective, Foster has a lot of work to do, and I have zero doubt he’s not up to it. I went through the existing players and could only identify Retallick as a player I’m reasonably certain will be world class at the 2023 World Cup. That’s a very small foundation to build off. The first problem Foster has it that he has a group of players who, while world class in the past, are getting old and may not/probably won’t be up to the same standard in 2023. Moody, Coles, Whitelock, Cane, Smith and B. Barrett will all be well into their thirties and at the end of long careers come 2023. Foster then has a large group of players who have been around for 3 plus years but have yet to demonstrate world class quality; Tuungafasi, Laulala, Tu’inukuafe, Taylor, S Barrett, Tuipolutu, Savea, Perenara, Weber, Goodhue, Leinert-Brown, R Ioane, McKenzie and J Barrett. That’s the real problem. Some of them have had their performances compromised by a lack of opportunity or by being put in the wrong position, some should come through, but in reality they are the foundation of the 2023 team. That looks like a very shaky foundation to me, particularly given that there is no evidence that Foster is a major identifier/developer of talent. That fact alone means the next generation almost certainly won’t be a solution to the weakness of the current generation. The talent is there in Lomax, Aumua, Vaa’i, Jacobson, Sotutu, Papalii, Mounga, Tuapea, Ennor, Reece and Jordan in the current team, with Williams and Fakatava not far away, but the idea that Foster is the man to bring them through is fictional. They need a coach with a long record of working with high quality but underperforming players. I wonder where they could find one…
FunBus
Roar Rookie
:tennis: Yes, I know, that’s the point. A defender rushes up. The purpose is to direct the ball carrier either to pass or run down a particular route. They’re not in an optimal position to tackle because that wasn’t the primary purpose of the line the defender took. But, they’re close enough to give it a try. They ‘miss’ the tackle. One more ‘defender beaten.’ It happened a lot with Farrell in the RWC. A number of people were banging on about his ‘missed tackles per game’ average. What the stats didn’t record was that in many instances, he was the guy flying up making the ball-carrier turn inwards and then a second or two after his ‘missed tackle’ Curry or Underhill would smash the ball carrier. It’s why the stats suggest England were ‘wobbling’ but most people who watched the game thought England’s defence dominated the ABs. It’s a bit like those fans after another comfortable beating from the ABs consoling themselves that they ‘had more possession’ than the ABs as if that suggested they were ‘getting closer.’
His Bobness
Guest
Not sure it was done to any individual in the loose forward trio, but as others have said it was more due to a lack of balance in the back row. I saw somewhere that Frizzel led the tackle count, so if he was anonymous it was because he had his head down. Blackadder has barely played at 7 before, while Sotutu looked uncharacteristically tentative at the back, as did his Blues team-mate Patty T (who dropped two kick-offs). It leads me to think the problems are in the coaching staff - the Blues forwards, having just won the trans-Tasman trophy, don’t become butter fingers overnight. The chopping and changing of combinations, which is nominally about building depth, gets to the point where it is counter-productive. And players become frightened of making a mistake, lest they be dropped next test. On field combinations don’t get to mature. Nonu-Conrad or Read-McCaw-Kaino didn’t happen overnight. I think the most promising long-term back row combination (as someone else said on this thread) is Blackadder at 6, Dalton P at 7 and Jacobsen at 8. This combines speed, grunt and accuracy. Jacobsen impresses me as someone who has the makings an old-school AB number 8 in the rumbling style of Lochore, while the athletic Dalton is made for the modern game. Blackadder looks like an all-purpose loose forward, and could initially be used off the bench with Akira starting. The issue in the centres at the moment is just injuries. When you have your best 12 and best 13 out crocked and your second best 12 off to France, you have to improvise. Havili and Mounga have an established combination, so it makes sense to leave him there for now and bring back Ennor to centre. Rieko should go back to the left wing, while Will Jordan looks to have found his home on the right.
Chas
Roar Rookie
Talk of 'depth' and 'the NZ production line' always worries me, in some ways I believe it can almost be a hindrance - lots of talk on here about our three 10s and their ranking for example and talk of 'BBB, DM or RM would be a starter in any other country'. I just want to see a team picked and combinations developed. It is only my opinion but to me some of the best NZ cricket teams have succeeded almost because of our lack of depth compared to other nations.
stillmissit
Roar Guru
Highlander, we have had that problem of players waiting for others to do the hard work for years. That shows it breaks made, drives up the guts that get turned over not due to the guy with the ball but lack of support. It is in the top 2" where the ON switch is..
he looks a big boy but not sure of weights etc. He plays big enough so far. We will find out when we play the better teams I guess.
OtakiCraig
Roar Rookie
Well there you go Highlander. The Fiji game reminded me of the England semifinal. The forwards needed to show up, especially 6, 7 & 8. Apart from Brodie those Fijian forwards needed to be manhandled around the field, especially the breakdown. Akira in the loose forward area is the only one who does this consistently. Bridge and McKenzie lacked presence, and I’d say impact. Didn’t mind Harvili and the rest of the backs. Low error players, no impact on game.