All Blacks start 2013 with a shaky win

All Blacks start 2013 with a shaky win

New Zealand claimed a 23-13 win in the first Steinlager Test of the series with France at Eden Park on Saturday night, but the victory knocked more rust than gold dust out of the home team's system.

It was a game bearing all the hallmarks of an early season Test match with both sides introducing several new combinations. For the All Blacks that resulted in the usual clarity and precision expected of them.

France could claim something of a morale boost but were too ill-disciplined to be able to claim a moral victory. For all that they did well in having such an inexperienced side perform to stretch the home team for as long as they did. They unleashed players who look likely to make a significant impact in the future, headed by centres Florian Fritz and Wesley Fofane. Wing Adrien Plante also impressed.

However, coach Philippe Saint-Andreu will be looking for more experience in his pack after the feared French scrum assault was not delivered with several key scrums in potentially dangerous situations resulting in relieving penalties for the All Blacks.

The world champions looked anything like the ball-hungry combination who annually dominate the game when, in the final quarter, their forwards started throwing wild passes that were not held and allowed the French to retain attacking fervour.

It took a powerful sideline burst by local hero and replacement wing Rene Ranger to provide the impetus for New Zealand to claim their winning advantage, albeit the third penalty goal by first five-eighths Aaron Cruden. French fullback Yoann Huget got his head in the wrong position for the tackle on Ranger and was laid out for several minutes afterwards.

Utilising the experience of two of their key players, captain and flanker Thierry Dusautoir, and No.8 Louis Picamoles, France created the first try, nine minutes into the game, in superb fashion.

Picamoles created a turnover and the ball found Dusautoir in the backline in broken play, he fed outside-centre Fritz and he found space out wide on a curving run, then linked with his flying centres partner Fofana who demonstrated why all the mail on him had been good when racing in for the touchdown.

New Zealand made it onto the board at their third attempt, 21 minutes into the game when Cruden found the spot with his third penalty goal attempt.

The lack of combination among the New Zealanders meant it took them time to settle during the first quarter. There were plenty of attacking opportunities as Cruden marshalled the attacks, several times looking to feed back inside. But the breaks were not there initially as Dusautoir and Picamoles dominated the ruck.

France still found it difficult to get out of their own half and when a 32nd minute kick was launched to fullback Israel Dagg on the New Zealand 10m line, he took the kick superbly and turned in the tackle. When the ball emerged it came quickly to right wing Ben Smith and he decided to go for the gap on the outside of Dusautoir.

He sped into space with the French defence absent and when challenged he looked inside to find halfback Aaron Smith in support and he ran in the try to give the All Blacks the lead, 10-7 for the first tim in the game.

But when New Zealand got off-side at a mid-field chargedown halfback Maxime Machenaud landed the penalty goal four minutes later which came after a penetrating run by right wing Adrien Plante.

French delight was soon undone however when Picamoles lost the ball in a ruck. New Zealand cleared the ball quickly and second five-eighths Ma'a Nonu raced onto the ball and punched through, linked with Aaron Smith, who looked likely to score a second, before passing to supporting flanker Sam Cane who scored for Cruden to add the conversion as the All Blacks took a 17-10 lead to half-time.

France lost halfback Machenaud in the first five minutes of the second half which resulted in goal-kicking duties changing to first five-eighths Camille Lopez who landed his first attempt, a penalty goal, six minutes into the second half.

France had a chance to score with a succession of pick and goes at the New Zealand line but the defence held and then at a scrum close to the line the French were penalised when prop Thomas Domingo took the scrum down.

The All Blacks cleared and Cruden landed a 59th minute penalty goal to extend the lead to seven points. However, a turnover just inside the All Blacks' half allowed France to build an attack and it was Plante who broke the defence and fed to Fritz inside. A certain try was lost when Picamoles dropped the ball three metres out from the unprotected All Blacks' line.

It was a first step in retaining the Dave Gallaher Cup for New Zealand, but hard work lies ahead in anticipation of a much tougher contest with a more experienced French combination available for the second Test in Christchurch.

New Zealand 23 (Aaron Smith, Sam Cane tries; Aaron Cruden con, 3 pen) France 13 (Wesley Fofana try; Maxime Machenaud con, pen, Camille Lopez pen) HT: 17-10

ABs have got some serious problems around the ruck, i know it was their first game, but that was still unacceptable for that level, to be fair though, the loosies was one area where on paper, the french were more then capable of holding their own.
i thought too many players were getting isolated and or supporting players were not getting to the rucks fast enough. the french had good plans in this area where they made there were plenty of numbers ready to compete the ball and secure the breakdown.

i thought barnes had a decent game & IMO, the ABs were more then lucky in a number of occasions, on many breakdowns when the french had the ball, i saw plenty of All Blacks and frenchies too who could have got pinged for not rolling away, had that been a ref from spXV, they would have got done for sure
scrums was another area where crockett pretty much had his hand on the ground every single scrum. funny thing though, the one time barnes came round his side to watch, he was actually solid & scrummed right, which probably unfairly added to barnes preception that crockett was all kosha, LMAO, :oP

was very happy with the performances of both smiths, cane, retallick, romano & surprisingly barret, hope they got their DB, cos they earned it, :o)

nonu as per usual performs once he dons the black armour, questions about whether he deserves the ABs No12 after a poor season is best answered by someone else, but i will say hansens faith was handsomely repaid with intrest by nonu.

the way aaron smith was used and then barlow to relieve him worked insanely well. smith to help control things up & barlow the fresh star to put on the finishing touches. and im 100% convinced that no player anywhere in the world can clear the ball as fast aaron smith and over the next few weeks im going to conduct tests to prove this theory of mine.

benny smiths transition into janes No14 was a flawless trtansition, what a class act. i have no problem with him anywhere on the field and his ability to play13, and anywhere in the outside backs is only adding to his incumbent 15 credentials, but i think he will still occupy the wing for now with dagg to get plenty of chances from hansen to prove himself.

im stoked with power ranger, 14mins 2 runs, 1 linebreak, 2 tacklebreaks & 30 meters, thats more meters then what snake, nonu or savea,made imagine if he had 80mins, come on hansen, put him in the starting line up o_O

our control around the breakdown was poor, but our defence was world class & i cant fault any of our boys there, even messam fronted up on the defensive line, though i was disappointed by the rest of messams game.

i have a huge man crush on retallick, he made a few errors, but OMG the work rate on retallick was freakishly insane cos he was everywhere. he was like the terminator powered by nuclear energizer batteries, . o_O
i wouldnt trade retallick fro anybody, especiall the locals fan favourite lady invisblebeth, :oD

not too happy with dagg, some time on the bench would do him & ABs good. jeebers i sadly agree its time he be placed at fullback with dagg to go on the bench, i still rate dagg, but he needs to earn that No15 and thats something he hasnt done that in 2013 on any level.
maybe still select him against the Boks who for the last three years dont seem to have a clue as to how to stop him, lolz, :oP

savea was strong in the tackle, but a big nothing everywhere else, maybe the french could do savea a favour & get a woman to mark him??? im sure savea would have no problems beating her, o_O

cruden was very shaky, but the more games he gets the better, but if both he & barret continues with these performances, barret will be No2 in the pecking order before too long.
barret was great coming of the bench, his tactical kicking was just a huge pain in the ass for the french who were already struggling to build momentum.
i hope carter will be ready by test three, cos no one can steady a ship like the best flyhalf to ever play the game.

ben franks need to start at loosehead, crockett was lucky today, but he will get pinged more often then not, especially by SH refs who are strict in that area.

it was also a shame to see afeaki not get more gametime, couldnt understand why owen was subbed for his brother who has played nearly all of 2013 at loosehead for the canes, when afeaki a tighthead speacialist was ready and waiting, o_O
hopefully this is something thats rectified quick smart in test 2.

cant wait for next week, and how awesome was that angry birds sign??? llolz, yes, it was very awesome, :o)

 Power Ranger, I like that very smart bad relevant!

Bit of a drunken start to the Steinlager series which was to be expected i guess and that was just me.

Can't quite figure out why Mealamu with Samoan heritage was leading the haka when we have the captain of the Maori ABs playing. 

Could'nt quite see who missed the tackle on those frogs legs either that led to the first try. Someone fill me in.

 Still it's an experimental side on their first hit out so maybe Hansen will swap a few players around this week anticipating a stronger French team to come out all the wiser next week.

All Blacks did well. They can only build from it and improve. You can't expect them to come together after nearly 5 or 6 months and play as a smooth running unit instantly. The French have the advantage of coming out a 6 nations not so long ago.

So if you look at it they have beaten the French comfortoubly in the end 

@steinlarger,

i have a different take on the haka, IMO the haka isnt a maori thing, though its proud maori heritage should never be forgotten, the All Blacks haka is a All Blacks thing and it should always be the captain who leads it, wether theyre white, poly or even if theyre a vulcan, if ur the captain on match day, ur the one who should always lead it.

as for that french try, fench center fritz ran on nonus outside and nonu had him covered, but sam cane who was like right behind nonu while he was shadowing fritz tripped nonu up and they both fell over.
fritz now had a clear run with only the fullback infront of him and his center partner the exciting fofana ran inside him to take the last pass and score an easy try.
when u watch the replay again, nonu wasnt to impressed with cane and he let him know it too, lolz, :oP

@spoony,
dont forget that the french were missing a few players too who only just joined the squad from top14 duities, they werent considered for selection cos they just joined the squad this week, but most should be playing next weekend.
its true that the All Blacks only just got together, but there were ome areas that they were just poor in and it had nothing to do with ring rust. im sure they will improve though, they always do.

@mikey,
i was happy with reads performance, he had strong ball carries but not as many linebreaks as he usually produces, but he always got them over the advantage line and that is the key to go forward.
messam was average ball in hand, but i cant find any fault with any of their defensive work which was world class, they made their tackles and more often then not, they put the french attack to a dead stop, something that IMO was the All Blacks theme for the night.
theres nothing more id love then to luatua on the bench, but one of the biggest surprises for me today was that victor vito didnt even get a run, i found that both odd and troubling, o_O

i was more then happy with both romanos and retallicks work today, no surprises to see retallick topping the tackle count on the day, but his workrate today was outstanding. i dont think ive ever seena lock get involved in all the tight stuff as much retallick.

will be interesting to see how the next test goes though.

Those areas they were poor they were missing the worlds premier cheater as in Richie McCaw