Tri-Nations Recap – New Zealand 22 – Australia 16

The opening game of the tri-nations saw traditional rivals New Zealand and Australia locking horns in Auckland. But while so much has changed in rugby; yet, so much has stayed the same. The ground was soft underfoot, with the weather occasionally wet. NZ dominated the tight play, with Australia, particularly Baxter, being penalized repeatedly at scrum time; Australia dominated the line-outs and managed to steal a number of throws from the All Blacks; New Zealand offered a more direct and physical approach to the game; Australia opted to spread the ball out wide when they could and often had a number of dummy runners to confuse the opposition’s defensive line, a creative and expansive approach that helped the Wallabies to get over the gain line on a number of occassions; in general both teams defended well, particularly Australia, who looked well organized the whole game through. In the end a missed opportunity here and a silly mistake there separated the two teams and the home side turned out as the victors on the day. Like I said, it seems like we have read this script before; both teams’ strengths and weaknesses are the same as they have been for a decade now.

As expected, the more confident Australian team hit the ground running, and we’re unlucky not to find themselves up 17-3 within the first twenty minutes of the game. Had Barnes opted to switch the ball inside to an eager Stirling Mortlock, or had he given a softer pass to George Smith once Mils had committed to the tackle, then the Wallabies would have had a fourteen point gap on the All Blacks, and more importantly would have in all probability shattered the fragile confidence of the All Blacks. That moment turned out to be a critical turning point in the game. New Zealand took heart from their lucky break, awoke from their slumber, and clawed their way back into the game by playing smarter, tighter, more direct rugby. Australia are still not physical enough when it comes to contesting for the ball. Too much reliance is placed on the amazing ability of George Smith to steal the ball without the other forwards pitching in to either protect the ball or to force opposition turnovers. The All Blacks completely dominated this facet of the game and the Wallabies need to rectify this problem if they want to have any chance of beating a very physical Bok side in their next game.

Baxter was unlucky in my mind during the set pieces. Craig Joubert seems to have been making decisions based on reputation rather than what was in front of him. I am no expert when it comes to the front row, but I remember on two of the three occasions that Baxter was penalized, that Tony Woodcock had failed to bind onto his opposite man, and this had led the scrum to go down. How this results in an All Black penalty I will need Mr Joubert to explain. What was unfortunate for one of these penalties is that it was in an attacking position for the Wallabies, and the backline would no doubt have been licking their lips at an opportunity to create gaps in the New Zealand defensive line and hopefully get points on the board.

New Zealand were atrocious in the line outs however, and this will be a major concern when they face Matfield and the rest of the Boks on Saturday. With the Boks having a pretty solid scrum as well this could mean that the All Blacks face the prospect of playing against SA without any first phase ball, which would be disastrous to say the least. In general, the All Blacks quite frankly did not look too impressive. Donald, after a wobbly start, had a decent game. But I still feel the All Blacks are handicapped in the number 10 position. The physical nature of the All Blacks play and the mistakes made by the Wallabies seem to have contributed more to the NZ win than anything else. Burgess in particular made some really bad decisions at critical moments and needs to look at himself long and hard if he wants to make that Wallaby number 9 jersey his own.

But enough of the negative stuff. Australia can take heart from the fact that besides the questionable decisions made by Joubert, the scrum looked okay. The lineout was also very impressive and set a good foundation from which Australia could launch their attacks. Will Genia looked good when he came on to replace Burgess and the Wallaby backline managed to repeatedly get over the NZ gain line and also managed to contain the threat of Nonu, Mils and Sivivatu. Young O Connor got a feel of the Bledisloe Cup. He didn’t play too well but now that the first game is under his belt expect him to get better and better. Australia also know that they lost the game more than New Zealand winning it. Costly errors led to the defeat, and once these are rectified the team looks good enough to beat anyone.

For New Zealand, their tight play ability to contest for the ball on the ground was impressive and will prove a huge bonus to the team. McCaw lasted the full 80 minutes and looked competitive. Donald got over his nerves and eventually passed what has been his biggest test so far. If he gets confident and gets more game time he can only get better; and despite an “average team performance, NZ still came out on top, which will really help boost the teams own self –belief.

Man of the Match: This is a tough one, but for leading his pack admirably and helping to dominate the Wallabies on the ground, and for scoring his teams solitary try, Richie McCaw.

Ron’s Take:

Going into the game I was very worried about the All Blacks prospects up against a Wallaby team that looks great on paper. From the start of the match, the Wallabies were on the front foot and it was no surprise that they took the early lead through Barnes. It was always going to be up hill for the All Blacks from there but credit to them, they dug deep and never gave up. As Manny has pointed out above, the Wallabies lost the game as opposed to New Zealand winning it. If Barnes had offloaded to Mortlock and Australia had scored, it would have been a totally different story as I could not see the All Blacks coming back into the game.

The All Black lineout was shocking! They need to seriously work hard on it this week before they take on the Boks. Scrum time was also shaky for the All Blacks and I failed to understand why Baxter was being blown for penalties all the time at the scrums. I have a feeling that if a ref decides that he is against you, he is going to blow you for the rest of the match. Which is really unfair. There needs to be more clarity about the scrum.

There is no doubting the importance of Richie McCaw in the All Black team. He is an immense player and the key to this All Black team. I remember hearing the commentary during the game and they questioned if Richie and Rodney would be able to last the full 80 minutes due to their injuries and lack of game time and then one commentator responded, “They have big hearts!” And those big hearts pulled through at the end of the day.

I was largely disappointed with Muliaina at the back for the All Blacks. I have seen him play much better games and he needs to make up for it come Saturday. I was not happy seeing Cory Jane in the starting lineup but he held his own but I still hope that we see Joey back in the starting lineup on Saturday. Manny has gone with Richie as his man of the match and I can not complain with that but for me it was Sivivatu. I have not seen a winger look for work as much as Sivi did on Saturday. On many occasions you would see him as the first receiver and his judgement and decision making from there was just as good as a seasoned flyhalfs. As for the worst player on the night, I have to give that to young James O’Connor. I am a huge fan of this guy but he really let me down on Saturday when he came off the bench. I will not forget his pass into touch!! But as Manny said, hopefully now with the experience under his belt he will learn from it. And knowing Robbie Deans, he will not drop O’Connor and he will keep fielding him.

In all fairness, the All Blacks are not looking good. They really need to step up big time come this weekend against the Boks but if there is any team that can beat the Boks in South Africa, it is the All Blacks.