Player ratings: NZ shift up two gears; Rugby 365

New Zealand ramped up their World Cup preparation on Friday when they made short work of Argentina with a 39-18 victory in Christchurch on Friday. Although still short of their championship best, the All Blacks five tries to two domination was a marked improvement on their ragged warm-up outing against Samoa last week.  All Blacks fly-half Dan Carter produced all the tricks in his playbook, while Sonny Bill Williams had his trademark offloads and led the defensive line. Kieran Read and Richie McCaw backed up their reputations with monster performances while Israel Dagg showed why he is still one of the best in the business. Andrew Duncan rates the All Blacks! 15 Israel DaggSilenced his critics with a solid performance at the back. He ran well, offloaded well and was always in the right position to receive kicks. 7/10 14 Waisake NaholoGreat debut from the Highlanders wing - a shaky start with a couple of handling errors but got into the swing of things with devastating breaks and tackle busts. 7/10 13 Ma'a NonuStill not convinced on Nonu at outside centre, he looked a bit out of place but the usual strong performance with a big finish to a try.5/10 12 Sonny Bill WilliamsRuthless on defence and outrageous offloads throughout the game. Bone-crunching performance.9/10 11 Charles PiutauLooked dangerous with ball-in-hand when he had the chance. Always managed to beat the first defender plus scored a five-pointer.6/10 10 Daniel CarterControlled the game for the All Blacks. Tried to reignite his running game but that wasn't really happening. Kicked well and distribution was quality. 7/10 9 TJ PerenaraHad big shoes to fill as a starting No.9. and he did not disappoint. Gave Dan Carter crisp, fast service.7/10 8 Kieran ReadVery prominent on the park, featured along the trams of the field with storming runs and threw numerous perfect back-door offloads. Topped it off with a try.8/10 7 Richie McCaw (Captain)Tireless effort doing ruck-work throughout the game. He won classic turnover penalties and wreacked havoc in the Pumas breakdown.8/10 6 Jerome KainoWorked well in tandem with Riche McCaw. Kaino put in some big hits on defence pushing Argentina backwards while also grafting hard in the rucks.7/10 5 Brody RetallickA big engine on the Chiefs lock. He wasn't shy of a ruck or two doing plenty of dirty work and was a force in the line-outs.7/10 4 Luke RomanoProved he can mix it with the best in a very well rounded enforcing game. He cleaned rucks and made strong carries.7/10 3 Owen FranksBesides a slightly above average scrumming performance he just got smashed by Manual Carizza in a tackle.4/10 2 Keven MealamuProminent in the first-half in linking and support play, scrummed well but was seemingly quiet after that. 6/10 1 Tony WoodcockGood scrumming effort by the loosehead - a great bounce on Nicolas Sanchez in the first-half.7/10 Replacements: 16 Codie Taylor (on for Mealamu, 60 mins)Was energized when he ran on for his debut and scored a try after being denied one moments before.6/10 17 Wyatt Crockett (on for Woodcock, 60 mins)Didn't have much time to contribute. Although played his part in the scrum.5/10 18 Nepo Lualala (on for Franks, 55 mins)A good scrum injection for the All Blacks, other than that hit some rucks and contributed in the tight.5/10 19 Jeremy Thrush (on for Romano, 60 mins)Did his duties when he came onto the pitch in a vintage No.4 role.5/10 20 Liam Messam (on for Kaino, 70 mins)Was aggressive and quick to the breakdown. An awesome super-sub to bring on with twenty minutes left.7/10 21 Andy Ellis (on for Perenara, 70 mins)Continued where TJ Perenara left off with quick service and quality passing.6/10 22 Colin Slade (on for Naholo, 51 mins)Made two runs and spilled the ball both times.3/10 23 Ryan Crotty (on for Nonu, 73 mins)Not much of an opportunity for the Crusaders centre but ran hard when he touched the ball.4/10 By Andrew Duncan@andrewslamdunc

SBW received the highest rating of any AB in the game. Admittedly this was against the Argies but nevertheless it shows he has recovered from his back problems.  De Allende shouldn't be worried should he?

JW
De Allende would not be worried at all - he managed Williams in the past and will do so again.  Williams should rather be afraid - he came off second best in their latest encounter.

You never agreed with me about the AB prop problems - but it does not look good if one looks at the ratings:-
*  Owen Franks    -    4/10*  Tony Woodc ock -  7/10*  Wyatt Crockett   -  5/10*  Nepo Lualala       -  5/10
The above ratings for a winning team is not very complimentary.  The best is Tony Woodc ock - but he is also not really up to standard.  The rest is definitely not up to standard.    That is the only real problems in an otherwise top AB team.

 Mikey why dont you stick to talking yer own team down ?After seeing the ABS scrum roll the Argies [ and the scrum is the one thing they are very good at ]  I reckon they are doing quite well thank you .So does the evidence of your eyes not count ? After all the one stat that counts is the score and win loss ratio [ unless you go full retar.d like beandik]

 AB scrum looked strong & the Argies could hardly their own ball. Glad the ABs were also able to field a big and effective pack.

 JW I have just finished watching the game. The Argies scrum was poor. Its not so much that the wee abs can scrum as we have all seen how pap all the kiwi sides were during the Super 15. This was a surprise.Then as well the Argies exciting was poor as they dilly dallied in their 22 and gifted the wee abs a couple of tries.In the end the scoreboard flattered the abs. The way the Argies twice walked over the ab line will be of concern.Lets face it old men woody woodcock. mealamu, mcaaaw and even bent read have played their best rugby some time ago.
Carter is not the player he once was. I thought sunny billy has gone backwards as has Dagg. Perenaru is apoor mamns reinach etc etc
Had the Argies scrummed as well as they usually do and not been plain dumb when exciting their 22 the score would have been alarming close for the wee abs.
Where to from here is the question. Perplexing times for Hansen 
Beeno not impressed. 

Beeno: you have provided a curious "analysis" of the game, we do try to be understanding 
We will see how we e willie and the boks do tomorrow, our mate Nigel is the ref so I am sure he will provide the usual standards of fairness

 JW wee Nigel no doubt has been well compensated in the best and well known get the Jarpy tradition.
But as I have said we need to be at least at 75 % to beat the Wobblies.Ou maaaike thinks we are at 50% but I am not that pessimistic.
Wish ou matfiled would be shown the door for the good of all.

Wardad I complimented the AB side - but for the props.  The ratings itself indicate they were not up to standard - and from what i have seen they did not overwhelm the Argentina props.   
That was evidenced in Super 15 as well - the same players were beaten in scrumming regularly and that us a worrying factor.   However, you are welcome to differ from me on the issue - but it would not change my mi9nd about the quality of NZ props.
You must pray that Meyer is his usual dud self and play Jannie as tighthead prop - and useless Matfield at lock - otherwise the AB props will suffer badly.   

Mike be sure that when matfiled hits nz he wil be lauded by one and all. The matfiled groupies will suck it all in as usual and the kiwis will have a hearty laugh at our expense.

I am concerned that Meyer will not learn his lessons before finalising the Bok RWC - he is that slow. However I welcome being proved wrong on thsi matter! A win over OZ will confirm him in his mistaken views re matfiled. I have no confidence in him putting his finger on th e issue soon. 

 @mike,
"but it would not change my mi9nd about the quality of NZ props."

and nothing could never change it, no matter what the reality is you will stick and stick and stick with your prejudice.

"That was evidenced in Super 15 as well - the same players were beaten in scrumming regularly and that us a worrying factor."

well, these are the best 7 teams in the SR (if you want to see the whole table: http://www.sanzarrugby.com/superrugby/competition-stats/2015-team-ranking/)

Scrums Success (%)
Hurricanes95.0Crusaders94.0Rebels92.0Highlanders92.0Stormers91.0Blues90.0Chiefs89.0
as you can see the 5 NZ franchises are btwin the best 7 scrumming teams, so WTF are you talking about?
The same applies for the AB, year after year they are the team with the best success rate in scrums (and I showed it to you with the stats some times before).
And this is only related to the scrums (which is not the only task of the props despite what you all saffas believe), because if we talk about the all around game, then the superiority of the kiwi props is enormous .