Why Hansen’s men are the best
OPINION: So, does being world tier one record holders for successive test wins make the current version (from 2011 to 2016) the best All Black team of the last 50 years? Yep.
Even better than the fantastic 1967 All Blacks, who revolutionised the game?
Or the superb ‘87 side that won the first World Cup? Or the brilliant team of 1995-96 that introduced Jonah Lomu to the world? Yep.
The best international rugby side of the last 50 years? Yep. Better than the 1971 Lions in New Zealand? Much better. Why? Because in the tests the Lions played stupefyingly boring rugby. Look it up. They won the series but scored less tries.
Does the huge scare last night (despite the final big winning margin) thrown into not only the team at Eden Park, but also the nation’s rugby fans, and, you’d imagine, the TAB punter with $100,000 on them to go unbeaten this year, change that?
No. Great teams have average games. Or in this game, a big average patch.
And to be fair, the Wallabies that came to Eden Park were a totally different group to the surly mob in Wellington in August, where there was as much macho posturing as there was honest endeavour.
Israel Folau, who for much of the season has been like a slightly distracted observer, suddenly found the aerial and attacking skills that were starting to be a distant memory.
So it was far from a triumphant march to glory for the All Blacks. Quite the scrambling, nervous, goal kick missing reverse until the last 12 minutes. By and large, in their march to the word record, this All Black group has ignored that mantra that winning test rugby was such a serious business, you didn’t dare to make it fun.
Not this group. In most of the 17 victories before last night’s grind, the first thought in the team’s collective psyche was not, ‘‘How can get we get better field position?’’ but ‘‘How can we score from here?’’
It took just 10 minutes last night at Eden Park to demonstrate how their skill level is matched by their belief in each other, with two stunning tries.
What happened in the next 58 minutes was a weird mash up of poor goal kicking by Beauden Barrett, basically proving he is human, some strangely imprecise defence by the All Blacks, and a controversial ruling, disallowing a try by Henry Speight that might have put the game in the balance.
Was the ruling correct that Dane Haylett-Petty was guilty of obstruction? Yes.
Would some television match officials have given the try anyway? Certainly.
In the end the harsh reality is that man for man there’s a huge talent gap between the sides, and it’s almost all on the All Black side of the ledger. It wasn’t always on display last night, but we’ve seen enough this season to know that, if you concentrate too much on Barrett, you’ll be opened up by Ryan Crotty and Anton LienertBrown whose combination is at a level you’d expect to only come from at least a couple of seasons playing alongside each other.
Crotty is basically revered in the Crusaders squad for his intelligence, selflessness, and commitment.
That he’s brought the same attributes to the All Black backline is no surprise. That he and LienertBrown would almost instantly step up close to the mark set by the world’s best centre pairing of Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith is a huge surprise.
Selection has been a great strength of the Hansen era, but a hidden skill in this management group is how the environment they’ve created in which new players are made to feel welcome by the veterans.
Of course all the feel good behaviour in the world means nothing if you’re not winning as well.
What we saw demonstrated in the blistering last 12 minutes at Eden Park was that this side isn’t just classy, they’re hungry too. And as the record shows, that’s a winning combination.