What's wrong with the All Blacks?

By MARC HINTON - Sunday Star Times

The All Blacks are clearly off their game. But how bad is the malaise? And does it have long-term ramifications? Marc Hinton went searching for some answers from some people who know a bit about these things.

If you think things are bad right now for the All Blacks, contemplate this. But for a desperation Brad Thorn try-saving tackle in Wellington and a horrendous misfire between Berrick Barnes and George Smith in Auckland, we could actually be looking at a record of played six, lost five. Gee, if Italy had been halfway decent the doughnut could have been on the cards.

That's painting a rather gloomy picture, but what the heck. After the unflinching optimism that has been flowing from the All Blacks since the Durban debacle last weekend, someone has to bring a touch of reality to proceedings.

Graham Henry, Steve Hansen and Richie McCaw are adamant that nothing major is wrong with either the All Blacks' game-plan or their key platforms. Just poor execution, they say with a shrug. As if playing with hands of stone and minds of mud were acceptable occurrences for the one-time No 1 team in the game.

But surely the issues are deeper than just a dose of the dropsies and a few brain explosions in South Africa. The All Blacks have lost three times in 2009 which already makes it the worst season since Henry took charge. And there's still a torrent to flow under the bridge yet.

But they're fortunate it's not a lot worse. France could well have made it back-to-back wins in Wellington had Thorn not been able to knock the ball lose from Vincent Clerc's hands with the line at his mercy; then in Auckland, Barnes and Smith grassed a regulation interchange that would have put the Wallabies out by a mountainous 17-0.

So while Henry and company oscillate between denial and putting on a brave face, the facts are the All Blacks have some issues, and they need to be addressed.

Their fundamentals are way off.

The game-plan is all to hell.

They have too many players out of form.

Poise under pressure has gone west.

The lineout is a shambles.

The scrum on a downward spiral.

The attack is, at best, laboured.

Even the breakdown is a million miles from the standard normally expected.

On the positive side of the ledger there's no quit in 'em and their defensive system seems to be solid enough. But they're lone bright lights that are failing to penetrate the gloom.

The apologists will say it's just two away losses against a very good rugby side. But it was the nature of those twin defeats in Bloemfontein and Durban that have set the alarm bells ringing, and have many questioning whether a rot has set in.

Former All Blacks coaches John Hart and Laurie Mains have both been exactly where Henry is now, and they have empathy for the coach's lot. But they also recognise some worrying signs, and admit to concern over where the side finds itself at this juncture of the World Cup cycle.

Former All Black lock Andy Haden has emerged as a stringent critic of the current coaching regime and takes a much more caustic view of the state of the national team. It's rotten, he says, and needs fixing - fast.

So it's to these three sharp rugby minds that we pose five key questions about Henry's out-of-sorts All Blacks.

What on earth is going wrong?

Hart: "They really haven't played well this year, so you've got to go back to the game they're trying to play. Test matches have got to be won by territory and up front first. We don't seem to be doing that. As a consequence we're putting ourselves under a tremendous amount of pressure and our skills are getting exposed.

"And maybe we've locked ourselves into a few players, which happens, particularly when you're coming off success. As a consequence some of our players haven't been in form and are trying to find form in test matches. That's a big risk."

Mains: "The players are good enough no question. I think it's a serious disadvantage not having a kicking second five-eighth, because in test rugby you have to have a kicking game from midfield.

"The fundamental errors are not a lack of skill because we've seen the players go through Super 14 and test matches where they haven't made those mistakes it was good play by South Africa to put them under pressure, but the All Black game-plan created that pressure. It allowed South Africa to apply that pressure. That's where it was fundamentally flawed."

Haden: "They need to select from players who are playing. If you analyse the Springboks matches you'll see that a half-dozen or so had played two games or less. That in boxing terms equates to being ring-rusty. Then they're selecting players who are out of form. So, they've got selection badly wrong.

"That's compounded by accuracy with skills. They don't train accurately, and they play like they train. When you're going in against good opposition, it's paramount to be as precise as you can. Then the IQ area of the game has concerned me for a long time. We don't seem to have enough decision-makers supporting McCaw. You can't produce that artificially, like in leadership groups."

Is there a quick fix?

Hart: "Tactically they have to play differently. They're paying the price for trying to play a game that's attractive and expansive, but you've got to have everything going right, and I don't think our skills are right at the moment, some of our form isn't right, and some of our pivotal positions aren't right. From a coaching perspective it's a matter of reshaping the structure of the game to make sure they win in Australia."

Mains: "It's not major. I've been involved with teams that have seemed horribly out of form and then within a week you can turn it round by giving players belief, giving them a game-plan they believe in and then that All Black jersey does the rest. For me it's simplifying the game-plan and then the only fix required is to have a kicking option in midfield."

Haden: "The easiest fix of all is to demand high standards at training. Tiger Woods demands high standards on the practice fairway and constantly produces results. We demand low standards of ourselves on the practice ground and spend an inordinate amount of time making mistakes. It's not Einstein stuff."

Are personnel changes the answer?

Hart: "The coaching staff are experienced and have to believe in what they've got. But at the same time they've got to be critical of themselves and there's no point in just hoping it will all go away because it looks as though there are some fundamental issues. There's got to be some hard decisions, but you can't make multiple changes. I don't think that's an answer. Dan Carter is going to be crucial, but a fit Carter long term is more important than a short-term fix."

Mains: "It has to be not for the sake of change, but for a special reason. They may need to bring a player in with a particular set of skills that's going to alleviate a problem you have. I do believe a cautious approach is best with Carter. He's had one and a-half games after a six-month layoff. He's still human."

Haden: "When we have to make personnel changes all that says is our selectors aren't up to it. My biggest concern is with the players' collective. When you're paid because you might play well rather than because you do play well, there is a fundamental weakness. I wouldn't bring Carter back just yet because we're asking him do the job that should have been taken care of with proper planning."

How much of this is on the coaches?

Hart: "I've been through this, and it's difficult. The most important analysis is what the coaches do. They've got to be open-minded, rather than possibly lock yourself into where you are, because that's a danger."

Mains: "There's probably 70%-80% on the coaches. It's up to them to create an environment and game-plan that the players are comfortable with. They've got to get their fundamentals right which is their game-plan and the belief of the players, and then let the game evolve from there."

Haden: "If I was the head coach of the All Blacks I'd ask myself are our forwards operating well at lineout? If the answer was none, I'd fire the lineout coach. Same with the scrum. Same with the attack. But the people supporting the head coach with their input seem be an unholy alliance where they're all banded together."

Are the All Blacks in crisis?

Hart: "If we're not worried we'd be foolish. But, no, it's not a crisis. What we're seeing are coaches under pressure. I don't think there's any freshness there, and they've locked themselves into some processes and people. It's going to be hard to turn that around."

Mains: "This can be turned around in a week. The concern I have is since 2006 the All Blacks have steadily declined. These guys now have the responsibility to reignite and take the All Black game-plan forward. It's very hard to coach a team for a long period and keep innovating and developing so you stay a step ahead of the opposition."

Haden: "I'd prefer to ask are we making the sort of progress we need to not only win a World Cup but to repolish the tarnish that's now on the All Blacks. No, we're not ... Simple handling skills have gone out, our ability to run with the ball looks laboured, our ability to cross the gain-line, our scrum, our lineout, our interpassing with our forwards, they're all off the mark. Every department you look at it's way behind where they were before."

Conclusion

The All Blacks have some fundamental issues to address before Sydney. Maybe a kicking No 12 will help and a more effective game-plan. It's not the end of the world, but things, and possibly a player or two, need to change for this team to get back on track. Mains, Hart and Haden were united on that. The ball is now in Henry's court.