Australia 25; New Zealand 20
One of rugby's finest cliches is this one; it was a game of two halves. It's a cliche that certainly applied last night as a fired-up Australian team won the Tri-Nations in Brisbane.
Australia climbed into the All Blacks from the first whistle, and raced out to a 20-3 lead at half-time. Graham Henry's team talk at the break must have been a paint-stripper; the All Blacks emerged with a new game-plan and a new resolve, and within 20 minutes had levelled at 20-all.
Then came the moment when the Tri-Nations was decided. Will Genia found space with a bit of help from referee Wayne Barnes, the Wallabies broke away and Kurtley Beale scored the winning try.
It was an enigmatic performance from the All Blacks. They were stunned by the ferocity with which the Australians attacked them in the early stages, and never really recovered in the first half. If anything, the half-time score flattered the All Blacks. The early loss of Kieran Read with a sprained ankle didn't help, whilst Adam Thompson aggravated an elbow injury, and was ineffective. The team struggled to get the ball, turned it over far too easily, and missed too many tackles.
It was as though a different team emerged after half-time. The All Blacks grabbed the ball and hung onto it for phase after phase. Victor Vito came into his own, and Ali Williams was prominent. The scrum began to dominate, and the combinations started to click resulting in well-taken tries by Ma'a Nonu and Conrad Smith. No sooner had the All Blacks caught up than the Wallabies scored again, and although they tried gamely, they couldn't reply.
The negatives were obvious; a slow start, missed tackles, dropped balls and indecision; 40 minutes' worth. There was no one single culprit; the malaise was widespread.
On a more positive note there were some good signs in the second half. That All Black forwards were able to achieve dominance, and when the Australians were forced to defend for extended periods some cracks appeared. When Nonu scored, the final player he beat was Quade Cooper who, from only a couple of metres away from Nonu did his best impression of a statue, not even trying to tackle Nonu. Tony Woodcock played the full match, and got better and better. The All Black lineout was good, and the scrum, once Ali Williams, Brad Thorn, Owen Franks, Keven Mealamu and Woodcock were reunited was dominant.
Looking forward, we wonder what selection changes will be prompted by this result. Mils Muliaina seems to have lost his speed; he may need the Japan and Canada pool matches to reach 100 tests, but we reckon that Israel Dagg will put pressure on for the #15 jersey. Zac Guildford had a horror first half, and Cory Jane was starved of ball. We'd still pick them ahead of Toeava. The next three pick themselves; Smith, Nonu and Carter. Piri Weepu was hesitant last night, but that was due to the quality of the ball he was being given, and the lack of protection his forwards accorded him. He was coming into his own when he was subbed last night; an odd decision. The loose forwards again pick themselves, assuming that Read's injury is not serious, and the tight five mentioned above is the All Blacks' best tight five.
Two things console us as we look forward to the start of the Rugby World Cup; the team that won the Tri-Nations has never won RWC, and the All Blacks can not play as poorly again as they did in the first 40 minutes last night. But we're not as positive as we were this time yesterday.
10 comments:
Mice and men eh Inv2!
Sobering.
Bugger.
Kaino back in,Dagg for Mils,Williams has to play for his mongrel and hope Reid gets well beore it matts...
And your last paragraph sums it up.
The tri nations was the entre. The world cup is the main course.
Even though I can't abide the AB's being beaten by the Aussies the loss in this game is meaningless in the scheme of things unless it is used at a prod to make the team do better.
Had a horrible flash back last night.
Had to leave off viewing the game for a short while in the first half and came back just as NZ received the ball from a ruck/maul/pile-up.
Was immediately back in 1973 watching sickening Sid Going "clear" the ball.
Horrible! Simply bloody horrible!
Just after that NZ had a 16 man overlap on the right wing but blew it after Howard Joseph was tackled and lost the ball.
Such was my shock at this time warp I had to switch to another channel.
If Weepu's the answer god knows what the question is.
Zac Guildford was very fortunate the WC team had been picked.
Piri Weepu not a starter however valuable on the bench.
Mills Muliana not the man either.
Pleased Woodcock made the 80.
If they can put their preconceptions of having to only turn up away,the last two games are a better build up for this WC.
At half time last night I thought the run on 15 had gone to Townsville,talk about AWOL.
INteresting development; just heard Kent Johns on Radiosport suggest that Quade Cooper is "poop"; he has been cited for kneeing Richie McCaw and faces the SANZAR judiciary this afternoon.
A poor first half effort right across the team but Guilford was an absolute disaster - too hyped, too eager no concentration. What the hell did they (particularly Wayne Smith) say to him in the dressing room before the match.
In the first half they looked like the Hurricanes in a match that had to be won and we have seen that from Weepu, Nonu, Smith and Jane time and again over the years.
The loss of Read was huge he is as big a factor in this team as McCaw and Carter and ranks equally with them. Williams had his best game since coming back into AB rugby and will be pushing Whitelock hard. Were they too quick in discarding Hoeata who covers lock and blindside and why are we starting players with injuries of the type Thompson obviously had?
Inv2 as you say Muliaina seemed very slow but, how many times was he in at half back covering for Weepu who was walking to rucks and tackle situations. I suggest to you that Cowan would have nailed Genia when he scored. Carter suffered from the lack of quick ball and not including Mathewson may be a problem too.
Henry and co have a lot ow work to do and a match against England or Argentina in the quarters will not be a pushover.
the AB's have days like this. They went through the monuions expecting someone to do something. They didn't match the Aussies aggression. 2-3 mid-field spot tackles stop what would have been easy tries. That sort of thing can be fixed.
Mils lacked speed and an eye for a gap, Read and Thompson were injuried at the same time and both should have gone off straight away. Whitelock did nothing, Brad ok. Ali HAS to be our No1. With fewer scrums these days, Crocket should be there ahead of Afoa and Woodcock
Is it meor is Genia very, very good at using the ref as a sheild?
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