Lions roar into semis as Tasman hit perfect 10
Wellington will host one of the Mitre 10 Cup Premiership semifinals after a comfortable win over Waikato last night.
Wellington will play either Canterbury or North Harbour in their semifinal in Wellington next weekend, with those two teams meeting for the Ranfurly Shield today in Christchurch.
Earlier, top qualifiers Tasman Mako made it 10 wins from 10 by downing Hawke’s Bay 47-28 in Napier.
The Lions ran out 39-21 winners at Westpac Stadium, with a three-try burst in the five minutes before halftime doing most of the damage.
Hooker Asafo Aumua struck twice for the Lions, while wing Vince Aso, who had earlier butchered a try, used his footwork and speed to beat the Waikato defence to score a spectacular second try.
The cancellation of New Zealand’s final pool game against Italy has significantly hampered their chances of retaining the Rugby World Cup. There was stuff they needed to fix, and they needed to fix it fast. Now the All Blacks will have to make those adjustments in the red-hot temperature of a quarterfinal.
Most of the things that coach Steve Hansen needs to get sorted out are interlinked. They concern the halfbacks, problems at the breakdown, long lulls in play when New Zealand have been dominated by other teams, and the wildly unconvincing play of the forward pack.
Let’s deal with the halfbacks first. Aaron Smith is not right on his game. Yes, at times the pass has been quite sublime, as we expect it to be. No other halfback in the world is capable of delivering some of the extraordinary passes that the All Blacks No. 9 delivers.
But the nugget has also been making too many mistakes. His kicking against Namibia was very poor. Oh, it was only Namibia, I hear you say. Maybe, but as Hansen as the other coaches know only too well, it can often be hard to get out of bad habits.
Smith chipped away possession, he kicked a ball straight out, he was intercepted, he gave away a penalty. The two passes he gave in the lead-up to the first try reminded us of his greatness, but there is too much sloppiness in his game at the moment. The big teams will go after him, because if you get to Smith, you are a long way towards getting to the All Blacks.
It has been noticeable how much flow has come into the All Blacks game when Brad Weber has come onto the pitch. The word is that T J Perenara is still ahead of Weber in the pecking order and was due to be on the bench against Italy. Would Perenara have been playing for his place in the squad?
He should be. There is so much to like about the man. His effervescent personality, his running ability, his competitiveness, his support lines and his ability to play as an extra loose forward. To that we might add his ability to play as an outside back after the sensational try against Namibia. I know he came on as a shadow No. 10, but I wonder if his best position might not be 13.
But the worry for the All Blacks must be if the quarterfinal sees a repeat of the humidity from early rounds. That humidity has previously exposed Perenara’s frailty as a passing No. 9.
We have seen how slippy conditions in Japan can be. After scoring a try the other night, Angus Ta’avao even dropped his drink bottle en-route to his mouth. It may sound odd, but selecting Perenara for the knockout stages is a bigger gamble than picking Weber.
But whatever the halfback combination, the All Blacks have to sort out the breakdown. For a while Samoa did a number on Japan and Japan became a shadow of the team that had exposed Ireland. Fast ball is paramount, as the All Blacks showed against Namibia.
Torsten van Jaarsveld has been playing for Bayonne in the French second division, but the Namibian was still good enough to make a mess of the All Blacks phase ball in the first 40 minutes. It was noticeable at the start of the second half, how much more aggressive and accurate the All Blacks were. Words had clearly been spoken at halftime.
George Bridge and Sam Cane crashed into the first clean-out. Sam Whitelock and Ardie Savea shifted bodies at the next phase. A try swiftly followed. But it is an area of the game at which the All Blacks struggle from time-totime.
This is reflected in these great lulls in play. South Africa, and even Canada and Namibia, all had huge period of first-half domination. It makes you wonder if the All Blacks are up to some form of Ali rope-a-dope. Knowing the physical tug of the humidity, they conserve energy in the first half and then come at teams in the final 40 minutes.
Judging from Hansen’s reaction to his team at halftime of the Namibian game, that was not the case. Heavens, the All Blacks only led 10-9 after 34 minutes. Not the right attitude opined Hansen.
Dane Coles said of Hansen’s halftime talk: ‘‘It was one of the better ones I’ve heard. And rightly so, to be fair. We deserved it. It was a nine or 10 out of 10. It was good, a bit oldfashioned. When that first word came out of his mouth I knew something was on.’’
But the All Blacks are now at the pointy end of the tournament. They can’t afford any more of these ‘lulls’. They need a heck of a lot more from their forward pack. They are spilling too much ball, Cane being a particular offender in the Namibia game, and they are giving away too many penalties.
The scrum has been good, but the lineout and the breakdown remain works in progress. How they would have loved Brodie Retallick to play 60min against Italy because he is the talisman of this pack. They need his grunt. They need his edge. And they need his sublime passing ability which we saw in the cameo against Namibia.
This All Blacks pack needs to prove itself. Whoever the quarterfinal opponents, the New Zealand eight need to make a statement. Because right now, nobody is afraid of them. The retirements of Richie McCaw and Jerome Kaino since the last cup have left big holes. The mana has gone.
But how do the forwards bully the opposition without giving away a stack of penalties or even conceding yellow cards? It’s a balance that the All Blacks have not found since the laws around contact began to be properly applied. They can’t react like they did to their defeat against Ireland a few years ago and simply run out and smash all parts of the opposition, including the head.
Owen Franks isn’t here. Liam Squire isn’t here. Kaino isn’t here. Sonny Bill is likely to be on the bench. Smash-mouth football just isn’t acceptable anymore. New Zealand’s selection reflects that. So the forwards are having to find a way to dominate by playing nice.
If they can find that balance, if the big men can tread the line between brutal aggression and legality, then New Zealand’s backs will win them the cup. So the return of Retallick can’t come soon enough. Nobody in the world plays the enforcing sheriff better than Retallick. He is the ultimate hard, but fair, rugby player.
Never mind Beaudy, it’s Brodie who is the main man.
Now the All Blacks will have to make those adjustments in the red-hot temperature of a quarterfinal.