good article Ron!

i think the ABs did a lot of things better than in past weeks. first off as Ron said, the Haka looked much better and more fierce than what’ve we’ve seen recently. Hosea Gear needs to be in the side just to lead the Haka i reckon.

i agree with fraz about the lineouts, not hard to win when the opposition dont contest, but usually the aussies do so i was surprised. but still, the AB’s seemed to play more as a unit. for Hore to actually find his man is a step in the right direction.

the skills and handling of the ABs were markedly improved from the previous week. those few open runs showed emense skills by all players involved, pity ice man had to pass to an aussie player otherwise it wouldve been try time. yellow card maybe considered a bit harsh for him, but deserved i feel.

scrums? well, you did they ever actually scrum? there were so many resets it was a joke. i dont know who was to blame but seriously a mess at scrum time.

i think cowan is improving with every game, and his clearance kicking is getting much better. his quick tap penalties got the ABs on the front foot plenty. pity his passes still seem to be slower than most

cory jane, well, the hurricane man really sparked the AB’s back line i feel. regardless of his try, he seemed to have passion and determination to play good rugby and did all things well. full back to wing transition seemless for this man.

donnelly did enough to warrent a recall to the end of year tour. i think it’d be wise to have him and ross playing there. brad thorne did well but not enough to warrent his inclusison about either of those two i feel.

thomson also played himself into a more perminant selection at flank. more consistant and was everywhere in support.

i cant really comment much on the aussies. they didnt seem to be anywhere. o’conner, im in the same mind as ron, the kids a player but he just fell apart. adam ashley cooper is making that 13 jumper his own. genia was very quiet as was barnes and giteu. g.smith’s subsitution on about 60mins when the aussies were hot on attack speaks volumes of the W mind set at the time i think. eaton saved the AB’s bacon with 2 crucial line out steals in his 22 that couldve let the aussies have a sniff had those gone to them

joe is still not it for me. while i agree he had a better game, i still feel he’s on the end of this career and there are better NZ wings waiting to take their place, hosea and masanga leading the charges on that i feel.

good game to watch though, and of course, i enjoyed the resounding result 33 - 6…!!! BANG

Want to see what okes think of Lachie Turner. I thought he had just as bad a game as O’connor, and has had a terrible tri nations, the mans defense is utterly terrible!!! Do the aussies not have another wing to call on??
I suppose when mortlock returns they will shift ashley cooper out there, but old stirlo is also in the twighlight zone and they need a more permanent plan there….

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10598550

What you got to ay about this article manny???

What a shambles!!!!!!!! I am so disappointed by the Aus I could just throw up. After the rantings and ravings by their supporters and media when they beat the boks, one would have expected much more from them. I was completely(and still am) shocked by the way the Aus were counter rucked at the breakdown, the way they did not contect the lineout at all, their lack of ingenuity, even from their best players. I think this game just speaks volumes about their victory in brisbane, that was more of the boks misfiring than AUs playing well.

I would just like to be the devil’s advocate and suggest that the All Blacks have much more work to do than it seems. Do not be fooled, Australia did not contest Lineouts, Breakdown, Srcums and certianly did not test the All Black defence. While i am not taking away anything from the All Blacks, I still feel that Saturday’s performance should be taken in contest. Australia just rolled over and took a lashing. Yes, the All Blacks maximised on an impotent Australian outfit but I felt that more work is needed on Hore’s lineout throwing, Tight 5 scrumming and their execution when in opposition territory.

Cory Jane had a good game yes, but please let;’s not forget that he has his limitations. I would still insist that after saturday’s game, the All Black backline should be 9)Cowan, 10)Carter, 11)Sivivatu 12)Nonu 13)Toeava 14)Gear 15)Mils. As I said to Ron during the S14, Rocokoko is now past his sell by date. He has lost pace and is just too lethargic. All is all, i still feel there is more work to be done by the All Blacks but having said that, they deserved their win on Saturday. I was most impressed by their counter rucking and their work off broken play.

haha Guru, no one is saying the ABs were perfect. they’re nowhere near anything required to beat the boks, i get that is what you’re saying. the W were nowhere but there are still positives for the ABs from this game. and the win against the boks for the W showed more of their potential than what this game did, regardless if the boks had an off day or not, in the score books it’ll go down as a thumping.

jane may not be the complete articule, but he has a hunger for the game that we havent seen from kiwi wings in the past 2 years. he is fighting for the jersey.

im surprised that with pocock and smith that the aussies didnt make more of the breakdown, it was hard to assess why that was the case.

Lachie Turner - what a prat! i dont like this guy one bit and think that he’s over rated. still in the youth of his playing career he’s way too arrogant with little to show for it. hardly see him doing much, i’d rather play drew mitchell above him any day! dont see him as much of a talent and a lucky selecetion ahead of other better wings i feel

33 - 6 is a wolloping, the ABs needed to make the most of a useless W team, and while i feel they couldve scored more, i think that their defence was great, not allowing them to score one try, which they also did in aussie’s only other non-try match against the kiwis earlier.

i dont know if toeava is the answer at 13, but he certainly made a big difference this weekend. the kid needs more confidence to take that s14 game to test level

kieren reed was all over the park this game, one of his best in the AB jumper i reckon

I finally watched the game last night. Guys this was by no means a spectacle. I suppose for the desperate All Black followers it might have been but, I guess the 33-6 win score line would excite any rugby fan. As I have indicated before, the Wallabies are the weakest team the Boks have faced this year (perhaps including Namibia). It showed on Saturday and I must say they will not win 2011. Not if they are going to play the way they did in the try nations this year. New Zealand managed to score 33 points but I suspect they are going to need more work to be done to become a fraction of what the men in black are renowned to be. A couple of individual performances set up this win. Toeva, Tompson and Nonu were good. Richie was ok but it’s difficult for me to say he is back to what he does well since the opponents were pathetic. Thank you New Zealand for ensuring that the bad record of loosing with the biggest margin in this years tournament does not have any relation with the Champions.

Here is something interesting guys. I do not see how Morne Styne was omitted from this team. Cater did nothing to impress me really. He was eratic and I am sure his goal kicking was 2nd best to Morne. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/all-blacks/news/article.cfm?c_id=116&objectid=10598707

yeah that team of the tri nations was a bit off with that call for carter before m.steyn. i think that based on the trinations, steyn would be in the team, i dont think he’s a better player, but i think he ahd a better trinations.

fourie du preez should be player of the trinations

What a biased take on the team of the Tri Nations. When Carter is selected ahead of Morne and Asheley Cooper ahead of Jaques Fourie it just shows how one eyed the panel was. I would not give any Aus player a mention becasue they all played terrible rugby, especially in that last game.

Fourie vs Cooper. lets talk gentlemen. remember reputation counts for nothing. strictly tri nations. Guru I need more convincing on this one. Cooper bridged our defence twice.

And how many times did Fourie break both the Aus and NZ lines? Not only that, his defence was solid as well. It could be a long debate eventually because of semantics but for me Ashley Cooper played very well in Brisbane and that’s it. Whereas Fourie was more consistent throughout the tournament.

I thought Fourie was subdued on the offensive. but so were the rest of the boks backs in most times. but now that u mentioned it I suddenly remember his work defensively as well. I am still mad at Fourie for his selfishness in the RWC against England in the group match. Brian was behind him begging him to just throw him the ball but he chose to score himself only to drop the ball on the line. but ya, I am beginning to believe that 13 numbered spot was emotionally given to ashley.

I am not over looking his two tries in the tournament when I said he was subdued.

i think ashley cooper deserves it ahead of fourie. i think he’s over rated mate. i saw on rugby365 they were putting him on the all time trinations bok team, please man. what a load of codswallop! defensively i think he’s pretty decent, but otherwise i dont rate him.

cooper carved most teams and i think he was probably aussie’s best and consistent player

I am just recovering from the humiliation suffered by my beloved W over the weekend!

That was pathetic! Thank goodness I didn’t get to watch the game but from what I read it was a complete capitulation by the W. Hopefully the alds would have learnt their lesson before 2011.

The best sentence in that article was the one where the writer says a fine English team won the world cup in 2003 because they were all about being physical; then he says even a “useless” team won it four years later using the same tactic! Couldn’t agree more!

the only thing the wallabies are going to win are tickets to watch the final. may be some napkins to go with it. they sure needed them on saturday. PATHETIC