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Revelling in their team’s blistering second half performance, with a few little digs at the Wallabies along the way, New Zealand’s media reacted with glee to the All Blacks’ record-breaking win over the Wallabies on Saturday night.
The only downer on the night for the local media were the empty seats at Eden Park, hosting a second game in two weeks. While high prices, or Wallabies fatigue, drew the sting out of the crowd, it didn’t have any negative impact on the All Blacks as they ran in eight tries and scored the most points ever in a Bledisloe Cup game, to hold the trophy for a 19th year in succession.
Gregor Paul, writing in The New Zealand Herald in a piece entitled ‘watch out world, the real All Blacks have arrived, argued “there have been sporadic flashes and big hints that a quality rugby team has been trying to break out from the shell of mediocrity in which it has been encased and finally the true All Blacks broke through at Eden Park.
“There was pace, power and panache from the All Blacks in a performance that would have to be the best they have produced since the last World Cup.
“There was a flow and cohesion to it, as well as physical clout and whatever everyone was thinking about this team, they will have to change their minds now.
“These All Blacks are not so bad. They are in fact a tight and gifted unit with the requisite steel and resilience to believe that their growth trajectory will be upward and by the end of the year, if they keep building the way they are, they could be quite the handful.”
Paul, however, was quick to play down the Wallabies threat.
“Australia gifted them two soft intercept tries and nor are they necessarily top of the tree opposition with the grunt game of others, but they provided enough of a tussle to be sure that the All Blacks played well to secure the Bledisloe Cup,” Paul wrote.
“So many people want to bag the Wallabies, see the All Blacks beat them up and then declare it a non-event, “because it is only Australia”, but the visitors will beat some good sides this year and in time, this performance will come to be seen in an even better light.
“Tougher challenges await this team. No one is kidding themselves about that. The Pumas will bring a different set of skills and the South Africans will be another level up from that again.
“But no one should fear what awaits this All Blacks team anymore. They can play. They can really play.”
He added it was “a massive step up by the All Blacks who played the game at a pace, and with execution, that the Wallabies simply could not live with.
“The visitors had a flourish or two of their own, with wing Andrew Kellaway once again impressing with a brace of tries, but they were a distant second in this one, and chasing black jerseys for much of the night.
“So much for that All Blacks aura being compromised, or whatever it is the Australians had suggested in the leadup.
“This was a much more accurate and sustained effort from Foster’s men and the head coach will be very happy as he and his team likely play out the rest of this Rugby Championship campaign in Australia. They head next to Perth for Bledisloe III, which must seem a daunting prospect for the men in the gold jerseys.”
Liam Napier, writing in the NZ Herald, said the 25,121 crowd – the worst in recent history for a Test at Eden Park – “left New Zealand Rugby red faced after the decision to stage successive matches at the Auckland fortress backfired.
“Otherwise, though, there can be no complaints with the manner in which the All Blacks locked away the treasured Bledisloe Cup for a 19th straight year to maintain their home stranglehold over the Wallabies – now unbeaten in 27 tests.
“Wallabies halfback Tate McDermott was close to the best player on the park at times and, yet, with one play, Aaron Smith managed to upstage his opposite number.
“With the All Blacks one man short following Savea’s yellow card, Smith’s instinctive skill to snipe down the blindside and put Codie Taylor in for the first of his double proved the killer blow.”
All Blacks legend Andrew Mehrtens questioned Wallabies coach Dave Rennie’s tactics, saying they were “just too quick with the boot”.
“When you’re on a front-foot roll you put in a little kick to regain it, a grubber kick to regather. They’ve just kicked the ball away too often tonight,” he said on Stan Sport.
Rennie, however, said he wanted them too kick more, including both times they conceded intercept tries.
Sir John Kirwan, another All Blacks legend, criticised loose passing that led to the intercepts – by Noah Lolesio, and then Matt To’omua.
Hunter Paisami made the same error a week earlier.
“They made that mistake again twice … they haven’t adjusted,” Kirwan told Sky Sport NZ. “They’re throwing moneyballs because they think they can see the space and it’s not coming off … they are letting themselves down.”
“Were they really physical tonight, did they create lots of play? … Are they fantastic in contact? Yeah,” he said. “But you cannot give the All Blacks those 10 or 15 minutes where they put mistake after mistake.”