All Blacks look to bury Wallabies
There’s only one problem with playing as well as the All Blacks did for 40 minutes on Saturday.
It’s very hard to match that, as the team found. Up 32-3 over Australia at halftime at in Sydney, New Zealand went on to win 42-8.
It was a good win and the second half performance wasn’t bad. It’s just that it wasn’t as good as during the first 40 minutes, underlining just how hard it is to be excellent two halves in a row, let alone two games.
But that’s the challenge the team have set themselves ahead of this Saturday’s return clash with Australia at Westpac Stadium. The All Blacks don’t just want to be adequate in Wellington, but outstanding.
‘‘We put a lot of effort into this game and we got the attitude right, we prepared at a really, really good level and the challenge is pretty basic: you’ve got to try and replicate that and bring the same degree of hunger and attitude into the week to make sure that we prepare for everything that Aussie is going to throw at us,’’ All Blacks assistant coach Ian Foster said.
‘‘History tells you there’s big swings, or there’s the potential for big swings, in Bledisloe games.’’
‘‘While the scoreboard margin was big, there were a lot of things that happened on the park that if they could improve a little bit then I’m sure they’ll figure that they can play better against us. You’ve got to enjoy the moment and then you’ve got to park it and go back from zero to a hundred again next week. That’s our challenge.’’
The All Blacks were superb in
"You've got to enjoy the moment and then you've got to park it and go back from zero to a hundred again next week." Ian Foster
building that 32-3 lead. They dominated physically, with men such as Brodie Retallick, Kieran Read, Dane Coles and Jerome Kaino winning most of the collisions.
That enabled first five-eighth Beauden Barrett to conjure and create and terrorise as only he can. Ryan Crotty, Kaino, Barrett and Waisake Naholo all scored before halftime to decide the outcome of the match. The second-half tries to Coles and Julian Savea weren’t academic but they were hardly crucial either.
But Naholo (definitely) and Crotty (maybe) won’t be fit for Wellington, while a back-up hooker for Dane Coles has to be found too. On the Australian side of the ledger backs Matt Giteau and Rob Horne are now gone for the entire Rugby Championship, thanks to ankle and shoulder injuries respectively.
Fellow back Matt Toomua is highly doubtful for Wellington after suffering a head knock.
Their coach Michael Cheika
seemed in worse shape than all of them on Saturday night. His area is mental skills and building belief and getting guys ready to not just
match the All Blacks, but beat them.
He reckoned he’d failed miserably at ANZ Stadium and,
given his reputation for volatility, it promises to be an interesting week inside Camp Wallaby.
You’d expect a more intense
Australian side this week, one which won’t fall off the number of tackles they did in Sydney. But they lack attacking threats and the
second test promises to be a more dour affair, unless the All Blacks can rise to the challenge their coaches have set them, of course.
Caused trouble when subbed on for Crotty, clever kicks, and elusive. Julian Savea 7 Could the big man be back? His try was special, scoring when there seemed no way he could.