Daring, speed and skill can win tests
Selectors deserve kudos for nailing job description with right picks
Some armchair All Blacks selectors had their doubts.
But last night in Dunedin a 46-6 hiding for Wales showed Steve Hansen and his crew got their selections right, as they usually do.
Take the midfield. Ryan Crotty had taken some nasty media flicks after the first two tests. George Moala actually was as near to a left field selection as you’ll get in 2016, given that he wasn’t in the original squad of 32, his only test last year was on the right wing, not centre, and at the start of the year he was struggling to get a start with the Blues. Both were terrific value.
Crotty doesn’t offer the line breaking bursts Ma’a Nonu did, but then nor does any other second-five in the world.
What Crotty does have is a cool head, expressed perfectly in the Moala try before halftime, when, in the heart of a frantically fast attack, he had the presence of mind to straighten off his right foot so there was no chance for the Welsh cover defence to squeeze Sam Cane and Elliot Dixon outside him into touch. Crotty’s a terrier on defence, too, as five tackles in the first 10 minutes showed.
Moala, who insiders in the Blues say has an ego that’s as small as his biceps and thighs are big, showed good temperament, too, overcoming the slight embarrassment of having his first attempt at a try disallowed, after attempting to score with support players outside him. It was only a matter of minutes before he was flinging his 104kg at the line again, this time for five points.
The longer the game went on the more new cap Elliot Dixon settled to his work, playing the fierce, physical rugby in a test jersey he does for the Highlanders.
And bringing back the stunningly revitalised Israel Dagg, who along with Beauden Barrett was one of the stars of the game last night, has proved to be an inspired choice.
Mark down most of the wise selections to the rugby intelligence, and vast experience, of the panel of Hansen, Ian Foster and Grant Fox.
But there’s a bit more to it than that. Unlike the amateur selectors, the professionals have the benefit of highly sophisticated video analysis.
The rest of us get a tantalising glimpse of the information they get after every game, when the All Blacks release some statistics.
Sometimes the figures confirm our impressions. If Sam Cane looked more involved in the Wellington test than he was in Auckland it’s because in Wellington he made 12 tackles, twice as many as he did at Eden Park.
But the selectors can dig down much, much deeper into the figures.
They can study every second of footage from the 16 cameras Sky use to cover test matches. Six operators are coding live on laptops for them, during the game, noting players, time and incidents.
During the week the coaches can then ask for, and study, video of every tackle, run, kick, or clear-out a player has made in a game.
And when they say a player has looked impressive in training, it’s not likely to be a throwaway line. Up to nine cameras record the sessions for future examination.
Last night’s display by the All Blacks was the one they’ve been looking for since Eden Park a fortnight ago.
Just as they did at the World Cup last year, the All Blacks showed that tests can actually be won with daring, speed and skill.