One of the key features of the latter parts of the Steve Hansen era and the beginning of the Ian Foster one has been the wide range in performance quality, not only from game to game but even a 40-minute period, and we saw this again in Bledisloe 1 this weekend.
Let’s start with the boxes that got ticked.
For all the talk of the Wallabies’ forwards bringing the metal this week the All Blacks’ tight five forced them into scrum and lineout completions of 71 per cent and 83 per cent respectively while being clean on their own lineout ball and for all but one, secure at scrum time.
Sam Whitelock and Brodie Retallick were back to their spoiling best as a combination at lineout time. For a pack still missing Joe Moody, Dane Coles and Sam Cane they will be happy with that.
If there were any remaining doubters that Rieko Ioane is a left winger and not an international centre they should have been dispelled. He looks back to his damaging best with ball in hand, being able to go either over or around his opposite, and his time at centre for the Blues has demonstrably improved his front-on tackling, space awareness and distribution.
He really has the ability to dominate this position for years to come and I hope they don’t move him.
(Photo by Anthony Au-Yeung/Getty Images)
Richie Mo’unga has locked himself into the ten jersey, looking calm with the ball in hand and kicking well from both hand and tee and having that unique ability to always be moving onto the ball as the slick service from Aaron Smith comes towards him.
I am liking the developing partnership with David Havili at this level with the latter in particular making good decisions, especially when a move is breaking down and a reset is required rather than a low percentage offload, it is not perfect but moving solidly in the right direction.
It is worth noting, New Zealand only kicked the ball ten times, as they rotated Mo’unga, Havili and Damian McKenzie through that first receiver role. I am not sure that much change is needed in game but clearly there is a plan in development here.
The back three forwards produced a mix of excellent along with the downright woeful. The loose forward trio conundrum is no further forward in resolution after this match and the first 40 minutes may have been the most disconnected performance from an All Blacks trio in a long time.
Those who have read my recent offerings will have noted my highlighting the difference between players who provide a platform for others to play off, and those that need a platform to be set for them. The opening half was all that bad about not setting a platform for the side to play off.
When you are playing a 1-3-3-1 pod system there is a real need for the wide player furthest from the ball to work hard back towards the middle of the park until control of the ruck is regained. We saw little of this in the opening 40 with Ardie Savea stationed on the left, Akira Ioane on the right and Dalton Papalii left to manfully plough a lonesome furrow up the middle of the park at both tackle and ruck time.
New Zealand could count themselves fortunate that both Rob Valetini and Harry Wilson were having games at the quieter end of the spectrum.
I have written many times on these pages that the All Blacks can only afford to play one of Savea, Ioane and Hoskins Sotutu together at any one time and the lack of collective work rate in the opening half further consolidates this view.
A firm message was clearly delivered at halftime as we saw all three operating more centrally in the second stanza, upping their work rate, and all three played positive roles in both the McKenzie and Havili tries.
(Photo by Dianne Manson/Getty Images)
The Havili try in particular was exactly what we want see from an All Blacks loose forward trio, working together as a unit, on a far more regular basis.
Ioane won the lineout at the front, it was a good first offensive ruck clean out from Papalii, then there was a carry from Ioane, a carry from Savea, a good pick and go from Ioane and then with the Wallabies’ defence unable to reset, Smith threw the magic pass for the try.
It was wonderful stuff, and for the McKenzie try all three had hands on the ball as the All Blacks’ wave rolled forward, but a good attacking five minutes doesn’t mean you can go missing for a full half of rugby at this level, which will be fatal come Springboks time.
Sam Cane’s return in the seven shirt by year end and Luke Jacobson’s entrenching at eight will go some way to remedying the 80-minute effort required by the loose forwards to establish the required platform for the side to play off. It is worth noting that Dalton Papalii’s effort of 15 tackles without a miss was a huge effort in the circumstances.
There will rightly be concerns about the lack of focus and intensity as the bench rolled on at end of that game but in truth that variability of intensity of performance was a factor across the entire match for mine, albeit heightened in the last ten.
The remaining question is the make-up of the back three. I for one remain unconvinced of starting both Damian McKenzie and Sevu Reece in the same XV, especially with the current theme of bombs raining from the sky all day long but I do get the thinking that serious wheels are needed in that back division to both cover the 50/22s and to take advantage of those that kick poorly to them.
It is back to Eden Park for Bledisloe 2 next week with hopefully a more even performance of higher intensity across the 80 and a reduction in the errors and penalties that again served to put themselves under pressure.
DAVEC
Roar Rookie
rikeo is not and never be a proper centre for along time where is umuinga jenson or leaster from tasman our back line might backfire thanks foster
moaman
Roar Guru
I remain less convinced by Havili than I was prior to his warranted selection.
Duane's Beard
Guest
Sure, ABS have a better record at the moment but in 4 games they are not completely dominant and that is all I was trying to point out. Yes I do believe they are better than 2009 team, I just think the coaching team makes a big difference. I could be wrong, the boks could go to nz and get spanked but my feeling is that they will probably win one and possibly win two. Time will tell if I am right but my feeling is they are going to gun for two wins in NZ and that would be a pretty remarkable achievement which would put them ahead of the class of 2009 in my opinion.
Bluesfan
If you want to use that metric(amusing that you use metrics to put the best light on their record), then the Boks have a 25% win record against the AB's..... Or 1 out of 4 games. And you say this version of the Boks is better than 2009 - who beat a team that included Carter/McCaw 3 zip in 09?
Duane's Beard
Guest
I consider this bok team to have started when Rassie took over. I believe the ABS have a 50% win rate against Rassies boks? Lions still lost and I think this lions team would have beaten the current all black team if they had toured nz now. Boks will only get better but time will tell. Excited about the NZ games.
Bluesfan
So this Bok team, which has 1 win vs NZ since 2015 (10% winning record) and is effectively the same team that lost to NZ in the WC minus Peter SDT, Beast and potentially Vermuellen is going to white wash NZ? Lions showed the blue print on how to beat the Boks in the 3rd test and if any team knows how to beat the Boks (80% win ratio since 2015) that's the AB's.
Duane's Beard
Guest
I think this bok team is superior to the 2009 crop. They actually have a coach and are building depth. The northern hemisphere is much stronger than it was in 2009. This bok team were able to beat them after not playing since 2019, barely any warm up tests, half the squad getting covid which mean they did not train, no altitude factor and they had injuries to key players like duane, peter steph and faf. The all blacks were able to win a world cup but could not beat the lions. It is a serious achievement and I really think people underestimate how good a team the lions actually are especially as the gap between north and south closes. 2009 boks had a very talented squad but lacked depth and they were being coached by the senior players whose focus wasn't on building squad depth. If the boks arrive in nz with most of their key players in good health, I have a feeling we might see NZ get white washed at home. Ian Foster is not the man for the job and I think the boks are smelling blood.
Bluesfan
More I see of the AB's more worried I am. Not since early 2000's have I seen the AB's with such a limited number of WC players. Don't get me wrong DP is/will turn into a WC player - but really lacking at Prop, 6, and even at 12 and 13. Given all that - don't think the Boks are of the 2009 vintage and as shown by the Lions, if you can move them around a bit big opportunities arise. That Lions series really does raise some interesting questions around his selection and gameplan.
Nicholas Bishop
Expert
One of the interesting aspects is something noted in previous articles during SR TT - that Kiwi 7's often have a very high work rate on defence, whereas Aussie 7's tend to be more all-rounders and used on attack and defence equally. When selecting Akira Ioane it is prob necessary to have that kind of 7 - like Papali'i or Sam Cane - who can make tackles all day, until the cows come home. I am not sure what the ideal answer is - but it as area they'll need to get right before the Boks arrive in late August.
Bluesfan
Yip, Hooper was very impressive and thought he was close to being the best player out there and did obviously outplay DP (there have opened the other eye). I thought the biggest problem though for DP - was not the opposition but rather Savea and Ioane. As you say BR balance is the big issue and will be interested in who they select - because both Ioane and Savea were disappointing. Ioane fades in and out of games - though when he is in, is very impressive and Savea - just appeared off his game? Very surprised really that Robertson from the Blues is not in the AB's, as he keeps Ioane out of the starting team for the big Super games for the Blues.
Sylvester
Guest
Yeah, I'm a big Bridge fan. I think he's quicker than people give him credit for, great under the high ball, often beats the first defender, and makes smart decisions. I just think without a line-breaking midfield we're going to need more x-factor at the back.
Nicholas Bishop
Expert
I've no doubt DP will become an excellent AB in time H'lander, but there are self-evident problems finding the right balance of skills in the trio atm.
Highlander
Roar Guru
Spot on nick Big effort from Papalii but lots of it covering for others Almost all the talk out of the more knowledgeable in nz is about the lack of balance in that loose trio ABs have won nothing on the ground 2 weeks ina row now
Highlander
Roar Guru
Bridge is as safe as houses but the lack of pace post injury which has seriously affected his ability to beat his opposite one on one must now be a concern
Highlander
Roar Guru
I concur that specialists are the way to go, that split second between intuitively knowing where to be and having to react to get there can be so important
Nicholas Bishop
Expert
C’mon, at least try to open that other eye once in a while. Papali’i has 15 tackles out of 15, but 3 were passive and two allowed offloads, and he made no turnovers. On offence, he had only two carries and one pass in the game. Hooper 11/13 but with two dominant tackles and one turnover; add in 8 passes, 1 successful offload and one tackle break out of 5 runs. [McReight 3 runs with one tackle break, and one successful offload out 4 passes made; 5/6 tackles with one turnover]. The diff is between a complete number 7 (Hooper) who can play on both sides of the ball, and one who is learning the ropes (Papal’i) and is heavily weighted towards D. I’m sure he’ll go on to win a load of caps and become a superior All Black, but right now the quality is with Hoops. That’s why most of the comments have questioned the AB balance in the B/R rather than the WBs :thumbup:
donmcdazzle
Roar Rookie
Is McKenzie even a viable bench option? He seems like a typical good at provincial, not good at tests player. He is fine when the game opens up a little bit and gets ragged, but it doesn't work in tight games. He runs sideways (a lot), and is so small that he gets rag-dolled relatively easily by defenses. And is just way too small under the high ball barrage that will definitely come from the boks. Will Jordan or even Jordie Barrett should both be ahead of him at 15, and BB should have the bench spot locked up. I watched a fair bit of Super Rugby this year, and while McKenzie gets on the ball an awful lot and is really busy, it's obvious the headless chicken routine doesn;t work in test rugny. On another point - agree the balance between ALB and Havili isn't right. I'm not a Crusader's fan but I would much rather have Havili/Fainga'anuku as a combo for the balance they have (although Fainga'anuku needs to tighten up his decision making/ball security for test level). They absolutely need to stick with Mo'unga/Havili now and let them develop together at this level.
Bluesfan
And not Brad Thorn's? And looking at his match stats - Attacking - 3 runs, 5 metres gained 1 defender beaten. Defence - 5 tackles 1 missed - that equals 85% tackle success. So what from his match stats screams quality ?
Colin Fenwick
Roar Rookie
Jordie Barrett played inside centre for the U20s so perhaps he has transitioned away from his best or favourite position?
Colin Fenwick
Roar Rookie
Is that Jogging or Yogging? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6nFhcI4tgI