All Blacks backs put fumbles behind them

All Blacks v Wallabies

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Josevata Rokocoko and Jimmy Cowan close in on Rocky Elsom.

An All Black victory of old

MAARTEN HOLL/Dominion Post

OVER THE LINE: Joe Rokocoko celebrates his try at the Cake Tin.

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Another capitulation in the face of another late stampede has Joe Rokocoko believing the Wallabies mentally disintegrate when they play the All Blacks.

The Australians again did a hedgehog impression and curled up in front of the headlights of the All Blacks juggernaut as they rattled on two late tries to humiliate their opponents 33-6 at the Cake Tin, giving them three straight wins against the Robbie Deans-coached side.

Even though the Aussies were already on all fours and twitching on the canvas following Ma'a Nonu's knock-out try minutes earlier, Rokocoko gleefully poured more iodine into their wounds when he scored with a trademark swan dive in the final minute.

The emphatic victory gives the All Blacks a record six consecutive wins against an opponent that has made an art-form of shrivelling up under pressure in Bledisloe Cup tests over the last 12 months.

"If you get into these guys pretty early, your body language is pretty positive and you are creating pressure," Rokocoko said. "As a player I am sure, maybe some of those guys in their heads might be saying `here we go again'."

Under pressure for his lack of form, Rokocoko, who had been shifted to the left wing in place of the injured Sitiveni Sivivatu, showed glimpses of past form with his busy work rate and ball retention and dedicated his try to the coaches after a week of intense scrutiny in which they sought to avoid being in charge of the first side to lose three tests in a season at home.

"They have done nothing wrong. It is just us as players. We are the ones going out there."

Gone were the backline's fumbles and slack passing from the previous weekend's 32-29 defeat to the Springboks as they benefited from their forwards mighty efforts and their dominance at the breakdown.

For backline coach Wayne Smith there must have been immense relief at seeing wings Cory Jane and Rokocoko, and second five-eighth Ma'a Nonu run in tries as they erased the high error-rate that has cost them so dearly this season.

"He always shows a lot of love, he always says `I love you guys, win or lose'," Rokocoko said in reference to Smith.

"He's an awesome bloke."

This was the most comprehensive and clinical backline performance of the year. Keeping Dan Carter at first receiver after he shared those duties with Stephen Donald against the Boks in Hamilton did wonders and despite being yellow carded for a high tackle, centre Isaia Toeava produced his best performance in an All Blacks jersey.

Jane was another to enhance his chances of a spot on the right wing.. Although he lacks top-end speed he was composed on attack, made some slick offloads and his take of the Mils Muliaina kick for his try would have warmed Smith's heart.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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cam (the one with a pulse)   #3   07:06 pm Sep 22 2009

Danny are you serious??? Did you watch the game? Do you even know what Rugby is??

Explain to me how you thought the game was even..... PLEASE???? I live in Sydney and even the aussies know they got pumped in every single facet of the game! They lost rucks and mauls 2:1 and lost every other stat as well including turn overs, line breaks, missed tackles, line outs etc, etc. I also dont recall to many "even" matches ending in 27 point winning margin.... do you

danny   #2   06:02 am Sep 22 2009

Its not that they ABs tried too hard for this victory. They them selves recently know what its like to roll over. If it wasnt for the teenager mistakes by OConner. the game was pretty even... Current Abs still not upto the professional standard of class as the amature side of 87'...

titus pullo   #1   01:17 pm Sep 21 2009

Richard Knowler, how can you say that Jane lacks top-end speed? He's one of the fastest backs out there. He's easily has the speed of a winger. Are you basing this on the fact that he's a fullback? Or that he nearly got run down by Mitchell just before he scored on Sat night? If you come down from a leap like that it's going to take a bit to get back up to top speed. The fact that Mitchell missed him in the end tells me that he misjudged how fast Jane would be after he hit the ground.

I've seen Jane in full flight for Wellington and when the backs chase the loose ball, he makes guys like Gear pedestrian. And Gear is pretty quick too.