Honesty session turns up the heat
For a team coming off a memorable and dramatic victory, the All Blacks kicked off preparations for their final home test of 2022 like a side that had just suffered a defeat.
That was made more than clear by senior backline figures Aaron Smith and Beauden Barrett who revealed a refreshing and honest theme for the final week of the Rugby Championship on the back of their remarkable Marvel Stadium escape act last Thursday.
The New Zealanders snatched a contentious, last-gasp 39-37 victory over the Wallabies in Melbourne to tuck the Bledisloe Cup away for a 20th straight season and set themselves up for another Rugby Championship title going into the final round. They are tied at the top of the table with South Africa, and likely must defeat the Wallabies at Eden Park on Saturday to give themselves a crack.
As the All Blacks kicked off preparations for the competition finale with their customary Monday review, gym session and planning meetings, coach Ian Foster set a staunch tone that laid bare a few harsh truths for his players. Fingers were pointed at offenders, and a response demanded.
After coughing up both an early 10-0 lead, and then again a 31-13 advantage over the fourth quarter, the final numbers on the scoreboard masked a performance with many deficiencies.
‘‘It was a very good review,’’ declared veteran playmaker Beauden Barrett, who is considered favourite to fill in at fullback if his brother Jordie is moved to No 12.
‘‘Very honest and a few boys are a bit scratchy at the moment which is great. It’s where you want to be on a Monday – not feeling comfortable at all.
‘‘There’s plenty of edge in camp and there’s a lot to work on. We obviously didn’t put an 80-minute performance together on Thursday so that’s the challenge this week.’’
Asked for his take from a test where the All Blacks mixed the good with the bad and were repeatedly found out defensively, Barrett’s response nailed it.
‘‘It’s reassuring when we do what we train we can perform really well,’’ he said. ‘‘But we can’t have mental lapses which give them easy tries and the ability to make it a contest down the stretch. We shot ourselves in the foot, gave up a comprehensive lead and a lot of it was individual errors or mental lapses.’’
The All Blacks addressed the detail of those deficiencies in a hard-hitting review.
‘‘A lot of it was individual errors rather than team or system errors,’’ he added. ‘‘There were some shots fired in there. It was a good opportunity for us to look in the mirror at ourselves and our preparation.’’
Smith said it was important the All Blacks understood they got a lot wrong at Marvel after making a positive start.
‘‘We need to take the lessons from that 56-minute mark on and knuckle down. To let them back in through the pressure we put ourselves under, with skill execution, discipline, and just getting complacent, it’s disappointing.
‘‘From the 50th minute till about the 78th it was pretty tough. We won only one penalty in that stretch, and Australia took the momentum. The good thing is a lot of it is under our control. If we’d made some tackles, nailed some moments, it would have been a different result.’’
Smith, too, said an ‘‘honest’’ review set the week up nicely.
‘‘A lot of it was around mindset. A lot of our points were when they had 14 men, so we to need look at it honestly. When it was 15 on 15 it was pretty level.
‘‘It’s very exciting, it’s a final, and to be part of game like this is very special. We need to take the lessons from today and train them, and let a bit of anger out from what got called out in the review. They’re all things we can control – mindset, focus and don’t let the scoreboard dictate how we play.’’