All Blacks post game an*alysis & articles

Chris Rattue (the Beeno of the NZ Herald): All Blacks have glaring problems; NZ Herald

The All Blacks are riding for a fall unless they sort out their dodgy backline and there's also a glaring problem in the forwards.

The touring WWE troupe, also known as the England rugby team, would be a huge chance to beat this All Black side. I'd even back them at Eden Park under Eddie Jones' combative style and Owen Farrell's goalkicking. Sadly, this sort of much needed international rugby contest is not on the horizon.

England would smell blood. About all Wales are going to sniff is smelling salts.

The Red Dragon is breathing all the fire of a cigarette lighter. Apart from Liam Williams, who can a spot a hole quicker than a desperate dentist, they didn't have much to threaten the All Blacks with when it counted in Wellington. Warren Gatland's side have nicely controlled plays which create overlaps, but it's all too nice.

The All Black backline is a mess. The budding combinations are limping along, and there are individual issues. Mistake prone Waisake Naholo's lack of respect for the rules could be costly - his aerial charge was careless, his late charge simply stupid.

There's a lot of justified hoo-ha about the power of the All Black bench. But not every side in world rugby is going to lie down once the cavalry arrives. The All Blacks were powered to victory by a scrum which did the business when given a couple of attacking chances, and lightning strikes from replacement Beauden Barrett. As a stray observation, Dane Coles is developing superbly as a wide ranging hooker and on-field leader, and is running an excellent lineout.

Back to the backs. Fullback Israel Dagg didn't kick on after a terrific start, leaving Ben Smith's true talents stranded on the wing. To state the obvious, Ryan Crotty is a marginal test choice - for a team like Australia that is. He's not in the same stratosphere as players who have donned the All Black No 12 jersey. Crotty at second five-eighths does not equal continued world domination. Malakai Fekitoa looks lost, and as a rookie Seta Tamanivalu should scrap the cocky business which got the All Blacks into late trouble. He is either a big hit or miss on defence.

Chris Rattue's All Blacks Player Ratings

The backline is coming together like a meal without a plate. It should improve out of sight when Sonny Bill Williams and Nehe Milner-Skudder return and Rieko Ioane and Damian McKenzie develop, but those events are some time away.

Here's a confession. I still really miss Richie McCaw, and partly because of Sam Cane. A test match still seems slightly weird without the thought of McCaw zooming around it, and "Plain" Cane isn't helping the sense of loss.

The great man was a Man of the Match contender in most of the zillion tests he played. Even on a bad day, he was more noticeable than Cane has been at openside against Wales.

McCaw could look like one of those clean-up machines on a driving range, turning everyone else into the golf balls. He was omnipresent. Cane is highly touted within the system, but that doesn't mean we all have to agree despite coach Steve Hansen's brilliant record.

Cane doesn't fit the No 7 job description - it's a glamour All Black role despite the wide variety of inhabitants. It's hard to get used to an openside flanker who is difficult to see, even when you look real hard. We weren't brought up that way. Ardie Savea is more like it. Maybe Matt Todd is too.

As for the test itself, the result was too predictable and was thus completely overshadowed by the wonderful beach brawl between Australia and England on disintegrating turf in Melbourne. And talk about a leopard changing its spots. I doubted Dylan Hartley's ability to captain England but he appears to be a reformed thug, and could actually be seen acting as a restraining influence when it was in the interests of his team. The aggro in the Melbourne test was great, and is sadly lacking from the New Zealand-Wales series.

- NZ Herald

Rattue (English) is the Beeno of the NZ Herald, he likes to be controversial & is often wrong but you would never know it reading his own reviews of himself
He makes a few good points though, IMO Naholo is still not the complete package. He still hasn't shown he is good under the high ball; he committed some stupid errors which resulted in penaltes (2 penalties) & could have had a yellow; his tackling is still a mixed bag (6 tackles 4 missed tackles). On attack he scored 1 try; ran 111 meters on 9 carries; 3 defenders beaten; 4 clean breaks; 2 passes; no offloads; 2 turnovers conceded.
Our mid-field is a weakness. Fekitoa had a poor game but was injured. Crotty did okAttack-

45 M

7c2DB3CB6P1O2TC

Defence10 tackles 2 missed.
Tamanivalu
Also, had a mixed performance but glad he got more playing time.
Attack
31 M8C3DB1CB8p2o3TC Defence 6 tackles 3 missed tackles.

 

Ardie Savea: Wellington's new All Black hero; Patrick McKendry; NZ Herald

Ardie Savea is Wellington's new hero in black, and it might not be long before his popularity extends to the rest of New Zealand and beyond.

His star qualities, revealed on the big stage at Eden Park last weekend, shone even brighter in the second test against Wales.

The reception from the Westpac Stadium crowd of 35,000 as he ran on in the 58th minute for Sam Cane was extraordinary and almost certainly unprecedented for an All Black so early in his career.

"Ardie, Ardie", the crowd chanted, and the 22-year-old responded. In his test debut in Auckland he was a powerful figure, particularly with the ball, and he took it to a new level on his home pitch, racing away for a 40m try, the most popular of his team's five on the night.

Hooker Dane Coles, his skipper at the Hurricanes, didn't know what to make of it afterwards.

"He's only played two tests," a smiling Coles said.

"He might be Wellington's favourite son. Snakey [Conrad Smith] has gone and no one likes me so Ardie Savea, yeah.

"It's a pretty special moment for him - only his second test in front of his family and friends and scoring a try and the crowd chanting his name."

Jerome Kaino, who provided the pass for Savea's try, called him a "freak", with coach Steve Hansen describing him as a "special player".

Hansen selected Savea as an apprentice on the All Blacks' northern tour three years ago, a prescient move which is now paying dividends alongside some hard work by the player and fitness trainer Nic Gill.

Savea has gone from a quick and skilful athlete to one with real destructive power thanks to the muscle he has packed on. He also has the knack for making things happen and a determination to stay on his feet, despite defenders desperately clinging on.

"I've been happy with the way he's performed, but I haven't been surprised by it. He's been one of the standouts in Super Rugby," Hansen said.

"He's a big man now, and he's developed and matured, and he's a pretty special player."

Kaino said he was sure the attention wouldn't go to Savea's head.

"Ardie is quite a mature kid for his age," Kaino said. "It's natural for the Wellington crowd to try to get a cult figure now that Conrad has gone - it's good that Ardie has taken that.

"Around the environment he's always asking questions and trying to get better.

"I think he'll be shy about the attention he's been getting.

"He's a freak. Obviously with the sevens background he loves that open play and he has got some speed.

"No one's bigger than the team and when you get back to Monday it's all about the team and how you can improve. If anyone has a big head in this environment you won't last long. I think Ardie understands that."

All of which will beg the question of when Savea will start in the No 7 jersey ahead of Sam Cane and the answer is probably not any time soon. Cane's leadership qualities and combination with Kaino and Kieran Read make him a near certain starter and besides, Savea is such a superb impact player that Hansen is unlikely to do anything to put that in jeopardy.

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Developing into a special player, we all will be interested to see what Hansen does about him and Cane. Maybe in the third test Ardie will star.

AllBlacksimprovebutmoretodoby LYNN MCCONNELL
They may have to look at the structure of their match-day 23 after first five-eighths Aaron Cruden was taken to hospital for check ups after he was taken from the field with a neck injury.

Coach Steve Hansen felt the effort was an improvement on several fronts but there was still plenty to work on for the sayd.

Hansen said scoring five tries meant the All Blacks management had to be 'reasonably happy' with the attack play and they had defended well for long periods of the game.

"Even when the Welsh scored their last try we were dominating with our defence, made one small mistake and they were good enough to penalise us by making a break.

"There were big improvements across the board, our lineout was a lot better, we managed to put pressure on their ball and our scrum, in the end, we scored two great set-piece tries off it," he said.

So far as the defence went he felt there was more cohesion and intensity in the hits but there weren't many rewards for getting over the ball, he said, but they would look at that. There had been a lot more dominating tackles than in the first Test.

"Last week we spent most of the time scrambling but this week we came forward and put pressure on them," he said.

Captain Kieran Read said it was always important just after half-time and the All Blacks had settled into that period a little better and it was always pleasing to score off a scrum so it had been especially pleasing to do it twice on the night.Assistant coach Ian Foster said it had been good experience for Seta Tamanivalu who had benefited from the extra time he had after replacing centre Malakai Fekitoa. He learnt more about line speed of defenders but he had put a lot of energy into the game and contributed well.

Foster said when Beauden Barrett went on to replace Aaron Cruden he, like all the backs, had been struggling in the face of the Welsh defence to get the ball to the space they needed but once that had been achieved Barrett looked sharp, carried the ball strongly and made some good decisions particularly with his passing game.

"Overall he played the sort of game we expect him to but it was great to see him look composed in the 10 jersey," he said.

Foster said fullback Israel Dagg returned to the side with an outstanding game, especially with his kicking game and he had handled the windy conditions very well.

"His organisation at the back was quality and it was good to see him running around with the ball looking for opportunities so we're delighted with him," he said.

=============My comments: the ABs are improving for sure. One point of interest in this article is the fact that the ABs are still having trouble at the breakdown. I guess they are missing McCaw, maybe he will give Cane a few free lessons

 How the ABs beat Wales, some factors:
Rugby Stuff article

ABs ran hard lines at the Welsh rush defence targeting the mid-field. Hence the head blow Fekitoa took. It was the sign of things to come. Once Barrett got on the field this paid off. Abs really did well getting over the gain line.