Class of 2017 lacks the class of 2015
These are the wooden men. Keven Mealamu, Ben Franks, Charlie Faumuina, Victor Vito, Sam Cane, Tawera KerrBarlow, Beauden Barrett, Sonny Bill Williams.
Some of you may not know what I am on about. But that was New Zealand’s bench for the 2015 World Cup final. Stunning, isn’t it? A hooker and a role model with over 100 international caps. The 2016 World Player of the Year. France’s 2017 Top 14 Player of the Year. As furniture goes, it may just be the greatest bench of all time.
And I mention it, because it puts Saturday’s defeat to the Wallabies in perspective. That is how good the All Blacks were in 2015. And yet they scraped past South Africa in the semi and were rattled by Australia in the final until the final 15 minutes. It makes you think.
The Lions shut them down without too much bother. Warren Gatland was surprised at just how little menace the All Blacks had once they were under pressure. And pressure is the key in international rugby. It came to a head on Saturday with Australia’s crucial opening try.
The All Blacks called a move which was supposed to be a misdirection off the back of the scrum, but was crushingly predictable. But the Aussies saw it coming a fortnight ago. Will Genia and Reece Hodge applied the blow torch and Lima Sopoaga and SBW did not have the nous between them to abort.
It has a lot of people asking questions about Ian Foster. Where has the attack gone? Is there an attack? The two tries came from bad defensive reads, one from Tevita Kuridrani, the other from Bernard Foley.
Graham Henry used to juggle the coaching roles every few years to keep the thinking fresh. Maybe that is a trick that Steve Hansen has missed.
The All Blacks are losing a bit of control. They are losing it in decisionmaking positions. Aaron Smith took on a lot of kicking to try to take some of the stress off Lima Sopoaga, but that seems to me to undermine the guy. And Sopoaga played like it. His tactical kicking was dreadful.
Much of the backline seems riddled with uncertainty right now so it would be good to see Jack Goodhue and Ryan Crotty playing together in midfield on the northern tour. Barrett is not the greatest reader of the game and the team badly needs direction. Goodhue makes a lot of good decisions.
I know people will hail SBW’s performance against Australia and there were a lot of good things. But he gave away too many offside penalties, his lack of skill as an orthodox passer blew two prime attacking positions and he kicked a ball away when his team had to hold onto possession. He remains a superb impact player at the very top level.
The All Blacks are also losing their aura with refs who aren’t called Jaco or Nigel. They are being pinged for taking men out off the ball, although Wayne Barnes did miss the move where Liam Squire jumps across the front of the lineout to impede the opposition lifters.
But three or four years ago the All Blacks won so many games in the final 20 minutes. In fact it was a big part of the coaching strategy. They would up the pace and stretch teams for 60 minutes and then bring on the impact men. But they have lost that impact and do not seem to have a Plan B.
Kane Hames was superb for the All Blacks for 37 minutes and when he left the field they were up by six points. Hames’s tackle count and protection of the ball on the carry were first rate. As soon as Wyatt Crockett came on he missed the tackle that led to Australia’s crucial try before halftime. It should also be noted that SBW’s defensive read was not quick enough despite a shove from Aaron Smith and he failed to cover the hole.
All is not doom or gloom. A couple of decisions went the All Blacks way but Kuridrani was very lucky not to get a yellow card for a sly but massively important pull back on TJ Perenara.
This is a team devastated by injuries, misfortunes and departures.
Brodie Retallick, Jerome Kaino, Joe Moody, Owen Franks, Aaron Cruden, Ben Smith, Barrett, Faumaunia, Vito, Charles Piutau, Charlie Ngatai, Israel Dagg, Nehe Milner-Skudder.
Having said that, it is odd that Hansen has included Sonny Bill and Dane Coles in the sextet rested from the opening game of the northern tour because of heavy work loads.
Really? Coles was out for a massive part of the season with a head injury and SBW also missed a lot of games through injury and suspension. Who is Hansen kidding?
The good news is that the All Blacks don’t have to play England or Ireland, who have dominated the Six Nations for the previous four years, on their northern tour. And Nigel, bach, will ref the opening game. So no doubt we will all be feeling just a little bit too cosy again in a couple of weeks.