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After a rollercoaster year that almost cost Ian Foster his job, the All Blacks’ crushing win over the Wallabies at Eden Park was embraced as a return to normal service by New Zealand’s impressed rugby media.
The Wallabies held their hosts scoreless for 20 minutes but then the same old failings of ill-discipline arose as the All Blacks put on 17 points in a seven minute spell. Another surge after halftime put them out of sight.
“It was an excellent response to the entirely unconvincing nature of the 39-37 victory in Melbourne in Bledisloe I,” wrote Marc Hinton on stuff.co.nz.
“That was the bad All Blacks that night at Marvel Stadium as they blew an 18-point lead in the final quarter and only got over the line via a contentious 79th-minute call from French referee Mathieu Raynal.
“This was much, much better. The forwards muscled up excellently, grabbing three tries off the drive, the defence showed few of the fallibilities of Marvel and there was a sharpness about the attack, led by standout performances by Will Jordan (119 metres on 9 carries, 4 defenders beaten, 2 clean breaks) and Rieko Ioane (100m on just 4 runs, with 4 tackle-busts), and excellent contributions from the Barrett brothers, Beauden and Jordie.”
The Roar’s Brett McKay, Harry Jones, Jim Tucker and Tony Harper pick through the wreckage of Australia’s 40-14 defeat in the Instant Reaction podcast
Hinton noted it had been a rollercoaster year for the All Blacks who finished their nine Tests with a 5-4 record “but could easily be 4-5 if not for a massive rub of the green their way in Melbourne. They were toast when Raynal pulled the time-wasting card on the Wallabies.”
Hinton said there were still questions to be answered around the All Blacks’ consistency.
“When they’re good, like at Eden Park, they’re very good. But when they’re bad, such as Mbombela, Christchurch and, yes, Melbourne, they’re well off the pace. Consistency remains this team’s next big challenge if it’s to be a true contender at next year’s World Cup.”
Gregor Paul, writing in the New Zealand Herald, said: “In an All Blacks season that has taken some crazy twists and turns this year, giving the Wallabies a proper, old-school thumping feels like it should be seen as a return to the familiar.
“But seeing this All Blacks team so in control of the game – so easily and quickly on top of the Wallabies and never giving them the first sniff of an upset – was a little hard to comprehend.
“It felt a little alien to go through 80 minutes with no thoughts of an upset surfacing: with the All Blacks, at no stage, looking like they might self-combust and find a weird and wonderful way to blow up and let the Wallabies back in or pull off an unthinkable win.
: Aaron Smith of the All Blacks reacts during The Rugby Championship and Bledisloe Cup match between the New Zealand All Blacks and the Australia Wallabies at Eden Park. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
“Alien but welcome, and whatever frailties this All Blacks side may once have had, they no longer do.”
Paul praised the home team for possessing “a world-class power game.”
“That was what smacked the Wallabies off their feet at Eden Park – this big, black machine that took to them like a combine harvester does a wheat field.
“It wasn’t an even contest at any stage. The All Blacks had way too much scrum power; a driving maul that the Wallabies unsuccessfully tried every which way to stop – legal and illegal – and a bite and grunt in the collisions that was too hard to contain.”
Liam Napier, writing in the NZ Herald, said the team had rewritten the narrative of earlier in the season, when Foster appeared on the brink of an early exit.
“After three losses at home this season – twice to Ireland, and the first home defeat against Argentina in Christchurch – the All Blacks gave a sold-out Eden Park ample reason to celebrate by crushing the Wallabies with a familiar flex of dominance against the traditional foe,” Napier wrote.
“Aside from the All Blacks’ dominant defence and continued show of strength from the forward pack – with three more tries coming from their vastly improved maul – Jordie Barrett’s excellent performance from second five-eighth stood out for the All Blacks.
“Others, such as Will Jordan, Rieko Ioane and Ethan de Groot will feature prominently in highlight reels but Barrett’s strong carries and defence in midfield was a constant theme that must at least force All Blacks coach Ian Foster to ponder using him there more often. All night, Barrett did not put a foot wrong.
“Smacking the Wallabies at their favoured fortress marked normal service resuming for the All Blacks. It is certainly a world away from the depths of earlier this year when Foster’s job was on the line and two assistant coaches were replaced.
“Since then, despite the wild fluctuations in form, their improvement in the forward pack and on attack are undeniable.”
Foster was asked about the up and down nature of his campaign in his post-match press conference.
“I’ve forgotten about the rollercoaster,” he said. “I’m just happy in the moment. We’ve come into a championship, we’ve had, in our mind, the hardest draw by having both Tests against South Africa in South Africa, got one out of two in that space, we’ve let ourselves down in Christchurch, but our response to that has been really positive.
“We look at the last half of the championship and we’re really pleased with what went in. All we can do is deal with what’s in front of us right now. I know we’ve got a buffer (against the Boks) – whether it’s enough I don’t know. But we’ve given ourselves a chance and that’s all we want.”
The Springboks beat Argentina in the later game but not by enough to prevent the All Blacks from lifting the trophy.
“All you can do, in the circumstances you get dealt, is try and find a way out of it and I think we’ve owned very clearly that we put ourselves in a situation,” said Foster. “But I back the group we’ve got to get through an issue.
“I said at the time we’re going through stuff that none of us had really gone through in an All Blacks jersey and it was hard. We just had to own it and we had to be the people who came up with the solutions.
“We’ve done some good problem-solving. We’ve worked hard, and it’s given this team a little bit of steel and it’s given us some harsh lessons we kind of wish we didn’t have to deal with, but we did. In those situations you either fold and walk away because it’s too hard, or you buckle up and get stuck into work.
“The work of the players has been phenomenal, and we’re growing belief. But we’ve still got some steps to go.”
Foster was pleased with the “attack, the strength, and the set piece” in the win, and singled out Jordie Barrett for how he performed in his first Test start at No. 12.
“I was delighted with David Havili’s growth this campaign, and I’m delighted with what Jordie gave us today. I thought he had a phenomenal game. He was very physical, with the ball and without the ball, he worked hard, and he got some kicks in. He should be very proud of that effort.”
“You’re trying to learn … you’re trying to learn before the first game too. The fact is we’ve come through this championship and shown some growth in that aspect. It’s losable when you play Australia at the moment. We saw last week how good and dangerous they can be, and saw spells of that again today. We had to be on our game and we had to improve.”
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.