ABS lick their wounds
Wyatt Crockett and his fellow All Blacks should have loved every second of sloshing around in the wet in Brisbane.
Well, that was the view of some Wallaby supporters who were happy to tell their Kiwi counterparts that they must have brought the rain with them from the Shaky Isles.
During the 12 hours prior to kick-off the heavens opened-up on to Suncorp Stadium, as it for much of the week, and the Aussie fans, especially those who think all Kiwi newborns are issued with snorkels and flippers as soon as they swim out of a birthing unit, reckoned the All Blacks would love wallowing around on the soaked pitch and with a greasy ball to boot.
Wrong. The All Blacks never got a grasp on how to master the tricky conditions; they tried too hard with the slippery ball, mistakes were inevitably made and the turnovers bolstered their opponents’ self confidence.
Given the Wallabies were rushing-up fast, and aggressively piled into the rucks, it was a difficult task to keep control of possession.
First five-eighth Lima Sopoaga, who plays for the Highlanders inside the enclosed arena in Dunedin, struggled with his game management; in addition to flicking the gift pass for Wallabies wing Reece Hodge to intercept, some of Sopoaga’s kicks weren’t accurate enough to stress the Wallabies and the backline never got close to operating at full capacity.
As loosehead prop Crockett noted, the were a few warning signs when not everything clicked during the practice sessions at Brisbane Boys College in the build-up.
‘‘It was probably something that just came out through training this week, perhaps we were pushing it when it wasn’t quite on,’’ said Crockett, who replaced Kane Hames in the 38th minute after the latter left the field with a head knock.
‘‘And in tough conditions as well, with the slippery ball. Maybe we tried to do a bit too much. Some of the decision-making probably wasn’t quite there. We just have to, I suppose, learn from games like this.
‘‘In the conditions maybe we could have done something different.’’
The Wallabies were far from perfect, but they deserved to end their seven-game losing streak with this win.
Unlike Bledisloe II in Dunedin, where Beauden Barrett scored a late try to snatch a late victory, the All Blacks fell apart in the final minutes and as they surged upfield in the final seconds a fumble at the back of ruck by Sam Cane put an end to a miserable night.
Hodge was one of the heroes for the Wallabies. He kicked two long-range penalties, his second from 56m with just two minutes left.
‘‘We were just not quite good enough to
steal it,’’ Crockett admitted. ‘‘It would have been pretty fortunate to come away with a win there, the way we were playing.
‘‘It is like losing in any team, we all hate it. It is extremely disappointing. We put a lot into it to try and win it. We certainly take it personally.’’
"It is like losing in any team, we all hate it. It is extremely disappointing. We put a lot into it to try and win it. We certainly take it personally."
Wyatt Crockett, left