All Blacks in a class of their own - critics
29 Aug 2016
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Under a headline 'Have Hansen's
world-beaters become too good now?' the Rugby Paper summed up the rugby
world's feelings on the All Blacks Bledisloe Cup winning performance in
the second Investec Rugby Championship Test against Australia in
Wellingon on Saturday.
Veteran writer Peter Jackson continued:
"Steve Hansen's untouchables will have left the rest of an admiring
world wrestling with an ominous question last night, one that cannot be
ducked much longer.QUICK TAP: BEAUDEN BARRETT RE-COMMITS TO NEW ZEALAND RUGBY
"It has never had to be asked before but it does now: have the All Blacks become too good for the game?"
"…Even from this distance, perhaps only England will offer a genuine threat to their monopoly of the World Cup.
"The
facts confirm that the holders are not so much in a class of their own
but on a different planet surrounded by a more sophisticated solar
system.
"New Zealand have such rich seams of untapped talent that
what would be considered a crisis anywhere else is viewed as an
opportunity. [Anton] Lienert-Brown responded by playing a blinder."
SuperSport South Africa
"Such
is the dominance of the men in black at the moment that Australia
produced so little – bar one break by Will Genia in the game – and were
never challenged, not even close, despite a promise by Michael Cheika to
be more physical and clinical after their drubbing at home in Sydney
last week.
"With a lenient ref in Romaine Poite, the All Blacks
never took a step back and although they weren't as clinical as in
Sydney, not as accurate as they have been in the past few years, still
had way too much in the tank for the Wallabies to ever trouble them."
Sydney Morning Herald:
"I
don't foresee the Wallabies' set piece suffering the way it has over
the past two weeks for the rest of the Rugby Championship, simply
because no other side has a Kieran Read or Sam Whitelock to cause havoc.
The All Blacks' defensive work at the lineout has reached peak Victor
Matfield levels of disruption."
The Daily Telegraph (Sydney):
"It
wasn't a 34-point thrashing this time. It was only a 20-point
thrashing. That is the little consolation the Wallabies can take away
from a 14th consecutive Bledisloe Cup series defeat in which they were
comprehensively outgunned in every department…Worryingly, the gap
between the two nations seems as far apart as it's ever been."
The Sunday Telegraph (London):
"How
good were All Blacks?" They were absolutely magnificent. That they were
not quite as good as last weekend probably goes without saying, simply
because they were playing rugby from a different planet then, but they
still plays some sublime stuff in retaining the Bledisloe Cup, scoring
four tries and being so ruthlessly efficient at taking the opportunities
when they arose."
http://allblacks.com/News/29678/all-blacks-in-a-class-of-their-own-critics
