All Blacks dodge Bledisloe bullet
The All Blacks remain a long way from the finished product as they head towards a Rugby Championship finale against the Wallabies with serious question marks still hovering following an escape act the Great Houdini would have been proud of.
On the surface they are trending in the right direction after Thursday night’s 39-37, five tries to four, thriller over the Wallabies at a sold-out Marvel Stadium in Melbourne locked away the Bledisloe for a 20th straight year.
It also brought them back to 4-4 for the season, and 3-2 for the championship – likely an Eden Park win away from securing another title.
But scratch beneath the veneer of that comparative success, and there remain concerns.
They coughed up a 31-13 lead into the final quarter and would almost certainly have lost to a remarkable three-try Wallabies finish, but for a brain explosion from Bernard Foley, and a stickler piece of refereeing from Frenchman Mathieu Raynal, who issued a free kick for the five-eighth wasting time.
That unprecedented call turned a relieving penalty into a five-metre scrum from which the All Blacks were good enough to conjure their match-winning try to Jordie Barrett.
This was a long, long way from the All Blacks at their precision best, a la Hamilton. They missed 18 tackles, with many coming in the final quarter when they allowed the Australians too much latitude, and three tries. They also squandered a handful of breakout-type opportunities with poor decisions or shoddy execution.
Caleb Clarke had a massive game, with 146 running metres, four defenders beaten and a trio of clean breaks, but made a bad defensive error at the end, as did Will Jordan who made up for that with a slick try and a fabulous assist for Barrett’s winning score.
Coach Ian Foster lamented after the match that the finish and defence left a lot to be desired, but was adamant there were still positives: ‘‘We had to show character at the finish coming from behind in a game we could have and should have had a bit more control of. It was like the second test in South Africa where some very clear and level heads got the job done.
‘‘There was a lot of good stuff. We took some great opportunities, we’re starting tests better now and our intensity in the second half when we took advantage of yellow cards was pleasing. But clearly we’ve got to work on that last part.’’
In the cold light of yesterday, Foster’s view had not changed a lot.
He lamented poor execution and rushed decisions on the attacking side, and was clearly not best
Chaos ensues, and when the dust settles the All Blacks keep their composure long enough to manufacture a try to Jordie Barrett on
At a glance
At Marvel Stadium, Melbourne: All Blacks 39 (Samisoni Taukei’aho 2, Richie Mo’unga, Will Jordan, Jordie Barrett tries; Mo’unga 2 pen, 4 con) Wallabies 37 (Andrew Kellaway 2, Rob Valetini, Pete Samu tries; Bernard Foley 2 pen, 4 con, Nic White pen). 10-10. pleased with No 8 Hoskins Sotutu’s decision to put in a grubber when he had a man outside him on the break.
‘‘We were keen to play and had three opportunities in that first half where we just forced the offload or last pass. Defensively, we had one wing who jammed in quite hard and the other wing just missed a one-onone tackle, so they’ll both be disappointed with that.’’
But Foster, who admitted he felt for the Wallabies losing a test in such fashion, remained adamant the tenacity at the finish countered the frustration with the third-quarter implosion.
‘‘It’s swings and roundabouts. Test rugby is made up of big moments. There was a bit happening in that last 20 . . . we just missed a couple of tackles we shouldn’t have, and it’s probably as simple as that.’’
After calling his attack ‘‘ambitious’’ in Hamilton, the coach repeated that label post-Melbourne. ‘‘We’re playing with a bit of confidence in that space, but we’ve got to get more ruthless when we create opportunities. We got a bit sloppy at the end of a lot of those line-breaks, and that’s disappointing.
‘‘We’re certainly getting a lot more [openings] than we did 4-5 weeks ago – we’ve just got to get better at taking them. That side of it went good, we’ve just got to dovetail it with real tenacity in our defence for 80 minutes.’’
It was also notable that Foster was restrained in his praise of standout young pair hooker Samisoni Taukei’aho (two tries to cap another dazzling display) and wing Clarke.
‘‘I don’t think I’ll say much about Soni because you’ve probably written enough about him the last few weeks. He’s going pretty good, though we would have liked him to score that try before halftime [when he fumbled over the line].
‘‘Caleb is a young guy who had a year away from the international game, he’s come back in, and has grown in confidence. He can bust a game open and he can still learn a couple of things based on your previous question [about defence].’’
And that, in a nutshell, is the All Blacks right now as they head to Eden Park next Saturday needing a new No 12 (surely Jordie Barrett), and maybe a replacement for skipper Sam Cane at No 7 (he will be assessed after leaving early with concussion symptoms).
Plenty to admire; plenty to fret about. Perfectly imperfect. A good time to run out at their favourite stadium for a finishing flourish.