More of the same rubbish from All Blacks
BY MARC HINTON
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Opinion
OPINION: This was so bad it was almost embarrassing. We awaited the All Black response in Durban this morning, but instead all we got was more of the same muddling mess that has marked their last fortnight in South Africa.
If ever there was a vivid example of a team badly out of form and confidence it was the 80 abysmal minutes put in by Graham Henry's All Blacks at Durban's King's Park this morning.
They gifted this win to a very, very good Springboks side that needs no such favours. Too many mistakes; too many bad decisions; too much indiscipline.
All Blacks fans must have been tearing their hair out watching this. Where were the promised improvements? Where was the response from Bloemfontein's disappointment a week earlier?
Instead it was just more of the same old rubbish.
The Boks deservedly won their second straight Tri-Nations match against the New Zealanders 31-19, Morne Steyn scoring all of their points in a record-breaking display. The deadly five-eighth punished the All Blacks at every turn with a try, conversion and eight penalties. It was only with his 80th-minute long-range penalty that he finally blotted his copybook with his first miss from 10 attempts at goal.
All is not lost in terms of the Tri-Nations, with the South Africans effectively only having held serve at home. There is yet to be a road winner from the first three contests this season. And let's not forget the All Blacks lost two straight last year before making a competition-winning correction.
But it's hard to see where it's going to come from this year, and the fact the New Zealanders leave South Africa without even a bonus point after two pretty comprehensive defeats suggests it's a mountain too high for Graham Henry's men.
On this form, they might be lucky to avoid the wooden-spoon.
It really was dreadful stuff from the All Blacks who for the second straight week were the architects of their own doom.
This is a quality Boks outfit, who compete well at the lineout, defend with vigour and accuracy and have an astute kick and chase game. But they rely on opposition errors for much of what they do; and in that area the All Blacks were willing accomplices on a dreadful evening in Durban.
The All Blacks, who made 21 handling errors and had a similar amount of brain explosions, are stuck in a morass and the Springboks have been only too happy to cash in.
As forwards coach Steve Hansen said after the match "we're trying too hard". And that's leading to tightness, to bad decisions and to a succession of schoolboy errors that simply have no place in the game at this level. There wasn't a lot to enthuse over from a New Zealand perspective in a match dominated by the Boks, especially after they made their correction from an early 3-10 deficit.
The home side dominated this match statistically (72 per cent of the territory; 15 minutes to just four in the opposition 22; 33-24 in turnovers forced; and a 13-6 penalty advantage that was decisive) and also won the tactical and skill battle.
Last week we had lamented a pretty poor All Black performance, and not only was a major correction promised, it was expected. The one-time No 1 side in the world just doesn't have two shockers in a row, surely? Well, they do now.
Their ability to clear under pressure was bordering on comical, it was so poor. Their skill execution was again abysmal. Their lineout for the second straight week was below-average. Their discipline was awful. And their kicking game and decision-making was nowhere near the standard expected at this level.
Twenty-one handling errors, for goodness sake. That said it all really. This is a side that right now would struggle to catch a cold if they sat out all night in the rain.
No All Black covered himself in glory, that's for sure. Sitiveni Sivivatu looked the most dangerous attacker, but he studded his match with errors to offset his brilliance. Conrad Smith and Ma'a Nonu tried hard in midfield and Isaac Ross, dreadfully unlucky to be sinbinned in the first half, did some good things.
But there were plenty who will have been hanging their heads after this contest. Joe Rokocoko may never have had a worst test, and his time must now surely be at an end. Stephen Donald kicked well, but was too uncertain and error-prone under pressure. Mils Muliaina continues to struggle at the back. Jimmy Cowan and Piri Weepu had a horrible night behind a back-pedalling pack.
Rodney So'oialo remains well off his game, Richie McCaw transgressed too much at the breakdown and both the All Blacks lineout and scrum were below par.
The New Zealanders were so out of sorts they couldn't even cash in on a second-half sinbinning to Boks lock Bakkies Botha that invited them back into the contest.
Nothing really went the All Blacks' way, and even some of the decisions from Welsh whistle-blower Nigel Owens seemed to work against them. Most notably it was hard to see how he could yellow card Ross for attacking ball that was out of a ruck.
But to level any sort of blame at the referee would be churlish. This was a poor All Black performance, and they simply have to take it on the chin.
It had looked so promising early on at 10-3, especially after rookie Ross had crashed over to finish a superb attacking try. But then that's when it all rather turned to custard.
The errors came, the composure went west and the Boks built pressure thereafter, with Steyn at the same time building his own personal haul in deadly fashion.
The All Blacks have a fortnight off now till they resume in Sydney. That time must be spent finding answers to some pretty serious questions.
- © Fairfax NZ News
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Dan #61 - "I refuse to waste my time watching the AB's anymore - NZ rugby is dead"
Yet you're quite happy to waste your time, and ours, writing such stupid stuff on here? If you don't like rugby then just go away. Those of us who still enjoy it don't care what you think.
For those of us that still believe in loyalty though, I've had a thought today about the saying "familiarity breeds contempt". Thinking about this in terms of NZ rugby and I realised that generally (this year's NPC being slightly different) my teams play as the following: Otago - 9 games next year Highlanders - 13 games next year All Blacks - 15-16 games next year I've assumed the ABs Test schedule will be similar and assumed Otago and Highlander don't make playoffs (sadly, a pretty safe assumption these days!)
That's just wrong! Grassroots is the base of the pyramid, ABs the pinacle. Grassroots for most of us means our province, so for me Otago should be playing 16 games, the Highlanders 10-12 games, and the ABs 6-8 Tests (although a few midweek games would help top up the coffers)
??? what the??? To start with Rico gear, Lauaki ben May & Jamie Nutbrown are all ineligible as they are overseas. Secondly hwo the hell is Andrew DeMalchance? if you're referring to Aled de Malmanche, he is a hooker! and who the hell is Dave Thomas??
mr #181 11:55 am Aug 03 2009 My team when Carter is back would be.
15. Cory Jane, 14. Hosea Gear, 13. Conrad Smith, 12. Luke McCalister, 11. Rico Gear, 10. Daniel Carter 9. Brendon Lenard, 8. Sione Lauaki, 7. Richie McCaw, 6. Liam Messam, 5. Ali Williams, 4. Taniel Latimer, 3. John Afoa, 2. Kevin Mealamu, 1. Andrew DeMalchance.
Reserves:
16. Tony Woodcock, 17. Ben May, 18. Jason Eaton, 19. Karl Lowe 20. Jamie Nutbrown, 21. Matt Berquist, 22. Dave Thomas
The whole of SA sing praises whenever we win and, we also call for the coaches head when we lose so, I can understand the emotions. The AB's have always been a great team and two wins in a row for SA does not make them the Tri Nations 2009 Champions. Why not put Nonu on the right wing and bring on Luke at 12 ?
1. its a blessing in disguise, we need to loose some matches now to win the world cup.better to loose like this now than in 2010 coz that would bring too much panic. 2.Dont play Carter now, let him regain his fitness slowly n heal well.Putting him straight may make him get more injured like Ali williams.He is strategic for 2011...[ Please have that in mind GH n Co.]
Lee # 182
Thanks for that suggestion, I think I'll follow it. League eh? I'll have to look into this "league" you speak of. Two backlines running at each other all day? No rucks/mauls/lineouts? No Boring kicking duels? Sounds like heaven! I suppose ur going to tell me that they have decontested scrums to keep the game moving as well? No wait, ha, I bet ur going to say they have 2 referees to keep an eye on any grey areas and speed the game up even more? But that won't work, I'm a New Zealander and I want to support a world champion team! Hang on.... who's the League world champs at the moment? Hmmmm, I wonder if thats the kind of game, where the majority of the game consists of players RUNNING with the ball that William Webb Ellis had in mind? Maybe the league world cup should be called the William Webb Ellis trophy. Hmmm.... you present a very strong case Lee, thank you, you may have just saved me another wasted 80 minutes of my life.
The game was poor. The ABs played the wrong tactics, and made too may mistakes. However it could have been a really good game if the three referees would stop:- players slapping down the ball - cheating! And not picked up this week or last. hands in the scrum - cheating! tackling players without the ball - cheating! And not picked up this week or last. Nigel Owens was a bit out of his depth, and some of his decisons were very curious indeed. I hope he doesn't get any world cup games.
Having read all the posts on this site I have to express a point of view that balances it all out. The nonsense that SA play an uncreative brand of rugby is honestly a load of rubbish. Just as in soccer, different nations have different styles, the Germans with their structured approach,the Brazilians with the expansive game, the English with the long ball game. Its the same for Rugby Union and SA play a hard uncompromising brand of "in your face rugby". The AB's prefer the expansive style of play.
Which ever brand wins is not the point, the point is each country enjoys there particular brand and that's as it should be. An SA fan loves seeing a phase of play where the defence totally distrupts the other team, leading to errors and taking advantage of the that, we enjoy the hard, nose to the ground stuff. Words like "tackle", "pressure", "soften them up front" are part and parcel of our upbringing and we love it. Our stlye is our style and offshore appreciation of it is not our concern at all and means nothing at the lend of the day.
The alarming thing about this AB side was they could not match our players physically at all (other than perhaps Woodcock,Mcaw and Thorn). Its concerning that the AB's can't match up in this department and it made it look like men against boys on most occasions in the tests. Where have the hard nose Skinner's,Fitzpatrick's and Zinzan's of NZ rugby gone? Why cant the AB's give us a bit of "in your face" stuff?
These are the issues of the day and the game right now as relates the soul searching that NZ rugby must do. It been close on 90 years of rugby between our nations and the proven way to beat the Boks is to at least gain a semblance of parity in the physical exchanges, then and only then you let the ball go down the line. Surely Henry should know that and surely the NZ public must get the emphasis back on physicality up front. The first test against the French showed this up in the NZ game and promises of a "step up" have yet to materialise.
Its great that NZ play an expansive game but it means nothing without parity up front, as the three tries in three tests have shown us all. Alarm bells should be ringing and forwards need to step up who can match the Bakkies Botha's, Bismarck du Plessis's and Spies's of the world. This has got to happen now because when it comes to the final in 2011 and you have the 6 of the current pack still there, then I'm afraid its "game over" Take heed NZ, and start finding them now.
I hope the despairing comments above are from kids or people with very short memories. A couple of points if I may:
The ABs have been here before. Remember 1991? That was the '87 side trying play from the memory of the great times in the late 80s. And that effort on saturday looked like some guys thinking "I used to able to do this, why is it not working now?" However, in '91 by the time we realised they were too old we had no time to change for the RWC and exited in Dublin. At least we have time to have a long hard look at ourselves now. I wouldn't usually want to sacrifice any Test for a future RWC, but as 2001 will be our (last?) home RWC it MUST be the sole focus from here in.
And think back to 2004. A washed up side that was severely culled before Ted took them to Europe in November. In fact, after that demolition of France a new AB captain called Tana Umaga said in the post match "this is not an experimental side. We are all All Blacks" Ted now has a chance to do the exact same thing this November, and we all remember how that side came out in 2005 and carried on in 2006 ('07 just a bridge too far). Also, for those young fans amongst us, don't lose heart. You have grown up in the most successful era of AB rugby in living memory (with the arguable exception of '87-'90).
Finally (thanks for your patience) can I mention yachting? It's not a common sport in NZ, just a rich boys game yet 1987 and KZ7 - failure. close, but failure. 1992 - failure. yet we all still believed! Can you remember 1995? I have never in my entire life been so proud to be a kiwi and I still get a lump in my throat recalling that Sunday morning we finally won it. Can we please stop the in-fighting and bickering? Come 2011 we will need every ounce of that spirit again. More importantly, our boys will need it! If we can display that kind of national pride and belief and succeed half a world away, imagine what we can do at home. The Lions had the famous 99 call. Maybe we need a '95 call.
Best game of typical Springbok rugby I've watched for some time. When the Springboks play like this they can beat any team in the world. It's the pressure that does it. The Springboks can play other types of rugby but this is the way to beat the All Blacks. Springbok vs All Blacks is the ultimate test rugby, we'll enjoy our victories knowing full well that you'll be back!
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Cy
Fantastic - one less person clamouring for Rugby to be more like League.