The All Blacks.....is there a problem

NZ have looked irresistable this year, but also quite vulnerable. Yesterday Oz stuck to their guns in a highly contested game and lived off AB mistakes. The model was great defence, Oz made 90% of their tackles vs the Ab’s 83%, they dominated territory and possession.....and almost doubled the AB metres gained. From a statistical point of view it was a dominating win. .. Coming on the heels of a Lions’ second test win and a near miss in RSA, it’s fair to ask whether the great AB dominance, which peaked after the 2011 WC win, is still alive. .. My guess is yes, but are the players as special? The NZ centres looked far less assured than old man Beale and the admirable Kuridrani ( to think one fool thought Allende was better). And McMahon’s storming run beating three defenders and just refusing to be put away could have been early Jerry Collins. .. What it probably shows is even a great team like NZ depend disproportionately on a few players...Smith, Barrett, Retallik. Finding and cherishing those world class players is not negotiable. McKenzie looked ineffective today....nowhere for the Hodge interception and swotted off by Koroibete. Smith makes that tackle every time. ... This win also puts our test in perspective. Given a similar opportunity and an AB team that had just travelled to Bargie, we bottled out at the end....and then made a virtue of the loss in a typical bout of loser think. This more experienced Aussie team just did the business. .. So next RC for the first time in years might be competitive, or perhaps a new wave of NZ talent will emerge. Some members of the current team seems to be operating on fumes, but great players like SBW are always hard to replace.

2017 is perhaps the All Blacks worst season of rugby since 2009, which I think is the last time the All Blacks have lost 2 tests in one season.
They have been excellent in patches- but not many 80 minute performances. The Lions pushed them closely, and Australia did well in New Zealand. .The new players have not performed as well- but this may due to new combinations than just individual skills.
 It will take a little bit of experimentation to identify which new prospects that are not long-term options- and also establish combinations
Chubby Sopoaga appears to be out of his league at test level.

 They lost to OZ in a dead rubber. And lost to Four Countries. The new players have not performed as well? What arre you smoking. Mckenzise has been outstanding, so has Havili, Squire, Fafifita. Abs have built depth in the squad. Reason they are playing in patches. IS all the experimenting they are doing. Chopping and changing. Theirs no point being consistent now. IT matters in the five week window in Japan 2019. 

 No worries, the ABs are just fine. Even wee Justin Marshall says that the ABs need to keep developing the young talent such as McKenzie, J. Barrett, Sopoaga, etc (we also need to develop another 9 as we are thin their (sic - one for Moz).  We lost a lot of very experienced players & young ones have to be developed.

Within the last 12 months there was also the small matter of Ireland. I sense a slight weakening in the Force.

The All Blacks are looking vulnerable in the physical trenches. The game plan of teams should be to take them on physically with rucks and mauls and dominating the advantage line. Tire their forwards out to pull in backs to make tackles on forwards, then make the most of the resulting space.

Agree with that....the ABs are dominant when the play gets loose. The strategy you describe was used in all the wins against the ABs over the last 12 months.

 It will take swampy fields for the ABs to lose, or so we were told*

*A highly self-esteemed poster made this observation leading into the last RWC.

 Da wee abs are cracking up. Dr Moz should realise the Boks were the better team and should have won. Damian Mckenzie is you typical flawed player, good on attack and poor on defence. 

"Damian Mckenzie is you typical flawed player, good on attack and poor on defence. "
Interesting that you guys rave about weee willie and he has no where near the talent of McKenzie. Could there be a little bias at work here

Aw...you just like his smile

He smiles like Kermit the frog. We need to have players run over him a few times to see how he deals with the physicality. 

To me he looks more like the Joker in Batman......but then again I think Retallik looks like Jaws.

 Betcha wouldnt mind swapping wee Damien for Jantjes eh ?I have no probs with Hansen blooding as many young players as possible even if it means we have the most inexperienced ABs team for quite some time,the team last saturday was missing 5 of the best players in their position so not even the ABs can afford that atm .Moz there was the little matter of ireland getting their  arses booted on their home turf 2 weeks later though wasnt there ?By the time the RWC rolls around we will have a settled team with depth and talent to burn ,y'all should be so lucky eh ?

 And winning the Bledisloe and the RCs is all that really matters eh ?

Yes indeed you are lucky in your talent pool WD. But events over the last few weeks suggest Barrett and Retallik are nececessary parts of the machine.....just as JdV, F du Preez, Matfield and Schalk Burger were key elements of the Boks in 2009.

 
Hiding one's head in the sand while pretending all's well is foolish.

There is without a doubt a big problem in the All Blacks camp.

You guys were blessed to have so many incredible rugby players playing at the same time. Makes me think of the West Indies cricket team that dominated all comers in the 70's and 80's.

They had a special bunch of players come together ... and since then they've never been able to reproduce anything remotely the same. 

I'm afraid the All Blacks' era of absolute dominance has come to an end. It's time for someone else to take up the reigns.

You didn't think it would last forever ... did you?

 It has for the last hundred or so years and it will in the foreseable future.Will we continue to dominate like we have for the last 4-5 years probably not, no one can expect that to continue forever as there are always ebbs and flows but we will not be sinking to the Boks level anytime soon.As you say we have to much depth for that to happen and the game is continually changing so as long as we change with it everythng is good.The gap has closed but there is still a gap

 
That's not quite true, is it?

The Boks dominated you for years on end. You needed the ANC'S help over the last 20 years and even that didn't stop us from taking a series win on your own home soil a decade back.

You and your unrestricted policies vs us and our quotas.

A 100 years or so, huh ... ??? ... Keep dreaming ...

LOL!!!!

 

 ...i would'nt read too much into this years results...in between RWCs every team are building depth, trialling new players , experimenting with different configurations, critically analysing performances and NZ is no different...but nothing is fixed and everything is always in a constant state of flux - the makeup of the team included 
with the EOYT coming up,  the introduction of Richie Mo'unga could be a major development given how so much of the play revolves around the fly half..and he has arguably been the form NZ 10 this year..
A Crustifarian backline with Crotty and Goodhue running off Mo'unga could well be the next option Hansen goes with as it worked fine in SR for the champions. Still two years to go til the next RWC as well so plenty of time for the team to evolve and new players to state their case for selection..

Well ... to me that the same as telling yourself that all's good with the All Blacks when clearly there's something amiss.

You seem to think that the days of Carter, McCaw and Nonu will be easily revived. That it's just a matter of digging around in the talent pool bag and coming up with another Dan Carter ... another Richard McCaw.

Good luck with that.

The Boks went from 1900 to 1956 without losing a series to any team......and beating NZ twice. Lets be clear, we dominated that period.From 1956 to 1974 we split series with NZ.....and finally in 1974 we lost a series to another team, the Lions, for the first time. .. At best NZs besting of the Boks started 43 years ago and was never as complete as that of the Boks. Part of this is down to more tests and broader opposition.....but apart from the ABs in the last 5 years or so, the only real dominance in rugby was the 56 years of Bok dominance.

 CC, we have a better chance of fielding a complete well balanced and talented team than the Boks do at this point.  We are rebuilding & still we are the highest ranked team in world rugby.
JW trying to make things clear to the foggy headed CC.

 ....the pessimist will say the glass is half empty... the eternally optimistic will say that the glass is consistently overflowing,...all depends on yr attitude
..Bean Brain will say, under the last government the glass was half empty and becoming emptier, but thanks to the new leadership the glass is definitely now half full and becoming fuller...but if the last party were to return to power the glass would once again empty rapidly...
Mozart will probably say there's room for some more whiskey in the glass and be wondering who's paying for the next round

If it’s the Oban Bricy there is always room for more.....except in Scotland itself where a tot barely covers the bottom of the glass.

 Then I'm a supreme optimist because I'm just happy to have a glass.

Really the only problem I see with the AB's is that they are that much better than most if not all other teams.
Their depth in rugby has to be admired and appreciated by all irrespective of who you support and follow.
Unfortunately for SAR.  

 In other news, Tom van Vollenhoven passed away this week.

When I was a young boy he was my Springbok Hero....what a wing he was. When as a 20-year-old touring NZ in 1952 Springbok team he did what was required and following the games on radio and all the excitement and build up to the test sure captured all Saffers.
Never understood why he signed up with St H in the Rugby League game but sure was a loss to SA Rugby.
RIP Tom.

 Arthur, if you look at his League accomplishments, it's even more of an eye opener as to the man and sportsman he was. A true South African hero...and humble at it too. RIP Tom.

Gentles, Ulyate, Briers, Sinclair, Rosenberg, van Vollenhoven.....Dryburgh......they trip off the tongue. Our great 1955 backline.

Thank you DbDraad I will be to sure will look it up.

 Just checked out Van Vollenhoven ,was a hell of a player in any ones book .Sad to see another rugy legend gone ,the RL side of him was mighty interesting too How would that gave gone down in SA ?

Those days there was a bit of a stigma attached to League players ....but Tom was always respected.

 
JW ... of course you do ... but that's not the point, is it?

I'm saying that the incredible All Blacks team of yesteryear has come and gone and that you will not get to that same standard easily. It's a once in a life time type of thing.

McCaw is gone ... you have Cane now and he pales in comparison ... Carter is gone ... you have Barrett now and he's no Carter ... never will be either. 

They were unbeatable ... which is not the case any longer, is it? You just got thumped by an out of sorts Ozzie side. You won by a single point against the hapless Goats. All the excuses you can conjure won't change this ... pretending that all's good with your team is just you refusing to face facts. 

Glass half full ... half empty ... does it really matter? ... I've always preferred reality ... and that reality dear JW is that there's a freight train coming ... and if I were you I'd get off the track ... not ignore it ... or pretend that all will be well when it arrives.

CleanCut trying his best to prepare his delusional friend JW from all the inevitable heartache ...