All Blacks v japan player assesment.

big congrats to the All Blacks and continuing with their 100% season, even if it was only against the cherry blossoms.
hope to see more All Black/cherry blossom tests in the future, was very impressed with the fans too, they could have taught the Bok fans a thing or two about supporting their teams, cos the japanese crowds were their till the ned cheering on their boys, unlike ellis park where the All Blacks sent the Bok fans out in droves despite the fact the test wasnt finished (even if the results were, )
then again, the japanese didnt just get schooled for the umpteinth again, isnt that right brother shezza and brother beeno???

ok, ive fed my starving little baby troll, time to get back to work so heres my take on the All Black test and players assessment,

1 w crockett 5/10
very active around the field with decent performance that would make any team proud, and thats the problem, cos the All Blacks arent any team.
important that he continues to strive for a stronger set piece which is a weakness.

2 d coles 6/10
good strong game especially out wide where it has All Black class written all over him, needs to work on his tight game a bit more though, never forget hes the All Black rake and must always finish his All Black checklist.

3 b franks 8/10
one of the most active forwards on the field which is exactly what every coach would love to see from a front row veteran,
he was also a anchor for the All Blacks scrum, no doubt he was motivated in showing brother owen the incumbent All Blacks tighthead that he can do the job too.

4 j thrush 6/10
if it wasnt for that impressive game against the wallabies, i would have said he was very good and reliable against the japanese, but i know he can do better then what we saw against japan, needs to work on consistency, but the potential to get the job done at an All Black level is there and then some.

5 dominic bird 6/10
high workrate, saw him get through plenty of tight stuff, but needs more if wnats to stay in touch with NZs top 3 locks.
still not bad considering it was his debut, his limited time back after that injury and cohesive combinations were lacking all around the park.

6 s luatua 7/10
was the All Blacks No1 target in the linouts and didnt let us down. was a defensive behemoth too, but his attack was a little stifled, a couple of tackle breaks and an offload might be awesome for alberts or louw, but luatuas standards are much much higher.

7 s cane 8.5/10
awesome game, did everything expected of an openside flanker and then some. high workrate with significant contributions on attack, support play and especially defense.

8 R McCaw 8.5
didnt have the pace that read usually provides, but what he did bring was more then the brave blossoms could handle.
as per usual, significant contributions everywhere, especially on attack.

9 t kerr barlow 6.5/10
good game from barlow, delivered the ball well and chose his options wisely.

10 d carter 8/10
another solid game from carter who guided the backline well. dosent get fazed by top teams, so japan were unlikely going to do anything which would rattle the best flyhalf the world has ever seen.

11 f halai 7/10
had a great debut, was a real attacking menace showcasing the speed and power which saw him monster his way through many NZ 7s wins.
very high error rate though and he needs to get those cut down, but with a bit more game time under his belt and a more stable backline, he has the potential to be an All Black incumbent

12 f saili 4.5/10
defensively sound, but everything else was average at best with others being down right poor.
way too many handling errors, poor execution with some of his plays compounded even further with the fact that his option taking is very noobish.

13 b smith 5.5/10
the apprentice 13 was very quiet, what little ball he got wasnt wasted though, but he got very little ball.
was defensively solid, but was never really tested there either, going to have to do much more which will be difficult considering the french and english are next.

14 c piutau 9.5/10
my man of the match.
the No14 jersey must be a lucky jersey for the All Blacks, cos piutau is carrying on where ben smith left off.
ran with the ball 10 times and scored 2 tries, got a try assist, 5 tackle breaks, 5 line breaks 2 offloads and made all his tackles.
even more evidence that the All Blacks outside depth is second to none.

15 b barret 5/10
had a quiet game, but did his job without the usual razzle dazzle were used too.
was a great support player and had some nice tactical kicks, but didnt take may attacking chances of which their were plenty.

 Shit game. AB's never got started..They got a few tries simply because Japan had no idea under the high ball. Never seen a team worse under the high ball infact..That was worse than school boys. Take those tries away as they would not happen against top tier teams.
AB's 1st team would hve beaten that Japanese team by 80-90 points. What we saw was a few gifted tries and the first quarter was an arm wrestle. Does NZL really have as bright a future as they think when some of the big guns like Carter, McCaw, Nonu, Smith, Mealamu, Hore retire? Everytime we see them make a few changes, they dont look like the normal AB's..
As Beeno says, writing is on the wall!

Complete mismatch even against AB second stringers.

I doubt the Japanese learnt anything from it.

Waste of time.