Player ratings: How the All Blacks fared in Dunedin's Bledisloe II thriller; Marc Hinton

Damian McKenzie 7: Threw early intercept to Folau, but came back well and stayed the course. Nice pop pass for Ben Smith's try. Not last week's game-changer but still solid.

 

Ben Smith 8: Scored crucial late try to cap a quality and typically efficient test. Takes his well-deserved break now, but will be missed because he so seldom puts a foot wrong.

 

 

Ryan Crotty 6: Not up to his usual high standards, as went off twice for head assessments (second permanent). Left for dead by Foley in his try and early tackle on Folau rubbed one out for Ioane. Will bounce back.

 

Sonny Bill Williams 7: Poor start with four early handling errors. But tidied his play after that and came into his own in second half with some nice offloads in the tackle. A night when the chances came outside his channels.

 

Rieko Ioane 9: Another standout test from this young wing who continues to look the goods. Scored one very well-taken try, but threatened to breach on nearly every carry. Must get him the ball more.

 

Beauden Barrett 8: Off his game early, but two tries showed his class in second half as came back from head assessment. Made plenty of tackles too. Not quite back to his vintage 2016 form, but a big step in the right direction.

 

Aaron Smith 8: Couple of defensive misses, but his distribution was again world-class and scored crucial try just before halftime to demonstrate his sharpness. Back to his best, and his team-mates the better for it.

 

Kieran Read 8: Old captain fantastic stuck at it, and was huge at the back end with his decision-making as well as playmaking. His restart win late was vital in Barrett's match-winning try. Slipped off tackle for Hooper's try. Forgivable miss.

 

Sam Cane n/r: Lasted just 12 minutes before going off with a head knock. Not long enough to be rated.

 

Liam Squire 7: Not the big influence of last week, but still had a strong test on the carry, and saved Barrett's bacon with superb cover tackle on Folau.

 

Sam Whitelock 7: Strong, solid test, and part of an outstanding tight five effort.

 

Brodie Retallick 8: Had one try rubbed out when TMO couldn't see ball grounded, but another strong, busy performance with immense physicality. In irresistible form.

 

Nepo Laulala 9: Monster first test start for the All Blacks, before being subbed after three quarters. Big part of a hugely dominant scrum, and threw in a couple of strong carries for good measure. If Franks is out long term, the crisis may just be over.

 

Dane Coles 7: Would have loved this, back in the thick of things. Did his core tasks excellently, and enjoyed the high pace of the game. Better to come, but nice resumption.

 

Joe Moody 8: Scrummed brilliantly, and did everything else required of him. Hard to fault a performance like this.

 

RESERVES

 

Codie Taylor (68min) 5: Did what he needed to as the All Blacks got out of tight spot late.

 

Kane Hames (68min) 4: Bad penalty conceded late allowed the Wallabies to get in front. His mates got him out of jail.

 

Ofa Tu'ungafasi (62nd min) 5: Did solid job off the bench in a frantic finish.

 

Scott Barrett (76 min) 6: Time for a crucial passing touch in his brother's test winner. Did his bit.

 

Ardie Savea (12min) 8: Came on early for the dazed Cane and warmed brilliantly into the test. Outstanding in second half on the carry and ready for start if Cane's knock is serious.

 

TJ Perenara (68 min) 6: Much more influential this week off the pine. More like it.

 

Lima Sopoaga (46th min for HIA) 6: Stepped in well while Barrett got his noggin checked. Did not look out of place.

 

Anton Lienert-Brown (13th min for HIA; 62nd min) 7: Came on for a Ryan Crotty head assessment early, then Williams late. Solid effort both times.

High ratings overall. I expect the wobblies will also get high ratings as they played well, maybe Moore and a few others will be rated 5.  SBW had a poor game as far as I could tell 5 would have been a better indication of his day. Ioane is fast becoming a star and we can expect to see a lot more of him. Great to see speed and skills on the wing, he brings more than Savea. Good to see there is a good back up to Franks in Laul ala, the scrum looked good.

Hansen has some good players to chose from Cloudy :) He will need them all as it's a long season. This game once again illustrated that a team's performance can be down a couple of percent & with a few early mistakes they are in trouble. The mental side of the game is so important. Glad the ABs showed they still have the confidence to pull out a win. Oz really showed us something, they should be proud but also disappointed.

 Clunty Clown can get farked JW ,Bro I enjoy the stuff you put up .Beats his nonsensical anti Kiwi sh!t by a country mile .Still I see  a place for Julian Savea  if hes fit and against the right team .At least give him a crack at the record for ABs tries eh ?

 Much as I love Doug Howlett !

 High scores for a team that scraped home against the ones who crasched against Scotty.  Aus and Scotty must be better than we think....congrats to NZ on bagging the match. Aus might be better than I hoped for...darn!

 too high ratings,... and some of them a joke

SBW was awful,... I lost the count of turnovers,.... but he lost the ball something like 6 or 7 times,.... he did almost everything wrong,... he run at the wrong time,... he was wrong positioned in defense,... I believe to remember that Foley's try was his fault not Crtty's, as the writsr says,.... looking to his performances this year he should be dropped

McKenzie is not up to test level yet,.... he's an excellent SR player and he's able to do things in attack that probably no other can but at test level they are less frequent and he mixes them with many errors,... errors that cost dearly to the team,... he's almost always out of position defensively

Crotty was far better than both SBW and McKenzie,... if only for his commitment,...

Aaron Smith was poor on defense and slow, hesitant at times on attack

Ardie Savea is another excellent SR player and usually has a great impact from the bench in test games,... but when he has to play the whole game the team loses strength in defense and breakdowns,.... it`s risky to have him on the bench,.... and the NZ best openside, Matt Todd, is left out,...

cannot see what the coaches see in Tu'ungafasi and Hames,... hope Franks and Crockett are back soon,... and I think the AB need to develop another 3rd loose and tighthead

very good games from Laulala, Whitelock (who deserves more rthan a 7), Read (his contribution to the last try was decisive), Ioane (the real deal on the wing), Barrett, Sopoaga, the few minutes he was in,...

 ABF, according to NZ Herald match stats SBW had 5 turnovers conceded. He had a bad day that's for sure.
McKenzie had 3. Ardie had 2.
ABs had 18 turnovers to 9 for the Wobblies. Link to stats

 hey JW,

yeah, too many turnovers,.... too many chances gifted to the oposition,... this has to be improved for the next games,....

and IMO some changes need to be made,.... Crotty-ALB should start in the midfield with Ioane and Naholo on the wings and Dagg at FB

 find this rating made by Rugby 365 more acccurate:

15 Damian McKenzie
Got himself involved by joining the attacking line in the 10 channel, however, his execution let the team down.
4/10

14 Ben Smith
His only attacking chance saw him cross the try line, only to lose the ball in his attempt to dot it down. Other than that, he has very quiet in the first half before coming into his own in the second as he saw more of the ball.
6/10

13 Ryan Crotty
Survived a concussion scare but saw little of the ball as a result of poor execution from his No.12. Got his hands on the ball in the second half and managed to get his side on the front foot with some carries.
6/10

12 Sonny Bill Williams
It seemed as though he disliked the ball as he wanted no part of it, knocking it on at each attempted catch in the first half, although they stuck in the second, where did a split shift. Head knocks taking its toll maybe?
3/10

11 Rieko Ioane
At just 20 years of age, he has to one of the best wings in the world, if not the best. Speed, power and makes scoring tries seem like a stroll in the park.
9/10

10 Beauden Barrett
While it may not have been the blistering Beauden Barrett performance we have become accustomed to, he certainly continues to stand up at crucial times.
8/10

9 Aaron Smith
Had an exciting duel with Genia and the way he pushed the tempo got the All Blacks back into the game after a slow start.
8/10

8 Kieran Read (captain)
The control he showed at the back of the scrum, combined with his work rate, proves why he is the best No.8 in the world.
8/10

7 Sam Cane
His night came to an end in the 12th minute as he got his end in the wrong position in an attempted tackle. Not enough time to be rated.

6 Liam Squire
Carried strong and did well at the breakdowns while he defensive work rate was right up there.
6/10

5 Sam Whitelock
His defence was on point but his contribution on attack and in the set-pieces helped to dominate the opposition in those facets of play.
7/10

4 Brodie Retallick
Even when he is not quite at his best, his work rate and determination made a massive impact on his team's morale.
7/10

3 Nepo Laulala 
Gave the Wallabies plenty of headaches at scrum time, while his defensive work rate was massive. 
8/10

2 Dane Coles
Anchored the dominant scrums brilliantly and stuck each of his tackles in his 50th Test.
7/10

1 Joe Moody
Contributed to a dominant scrum and kept hold of the opposition in the tackles.
7/10

 Your selections make sense but I'm not sure SBW will be benched and I'm also not so sure ALB is in the form he was in a few years back. Glad the ABs have some depth to call on.

 The ABs were lucky to get away with that one. 5 tries we conceded and 4 tries last week. The ABs defence is in need of a serious over haul. The ABs cant afford to allow this many easy tries, SBW is terrible at the moment. The Wallabies collected most of their pretty easy tries off our mistakes... And their was plenty of them. The forwards are what won it for us in the end. The ABs set piece is our only real strength at the moment, we look solid in the forwards... then the ball goes out the back and we cough it up or do some dumb sh**t with it. The ABs just had a shocker!! Hopefully this week they get a good a$$ kicking and wake up. Or the Boks and the Pumas will beat us 

 Papamoa, I hope this week was the wake up call we needed. I'm not too keen on losing to get a wake up call.

 The second half in Sydney conceding 4 tries should have been a wake up call!! The ABs should have been in Dunedin with all the confidence and momentum.. Nek minute the Wallabies are walking over our try line scoring 3 tries in 15 minutes..WTF is that rubbish 
Hansen isn't use the opposition outplaying us, now he has to do so work. The ABs defence is pitiful at the moment, we aren't covering, we seem to focused on where we're going to score our next try instead of covering for the "what if moments" And the Wallabies figured it out that theirs no-one covering. But we will see how many times we can get away with leaving until the last minute.