Romano makes the most of rare call-up
In a scrappy All Blacks victory, there were still a couple of individuals who stood out.
David Havili’s performance makes you smile. His influence and to achieve what he did on debut was outstanding.
No doubt plenty of accolades will be given to the front row, and rightly so. The starting trio did the job, and Wyatt Crockett when he came on . . . for them to dominate an Argentinian front row in Argentina; those individuals, the likes of Kane Hames, deserve a lot of praise because they’ve been under a lot of pressure.
But the one guy who shone above others for me is Luke Romano. He doesn’t get many chances any more but, with the All Blacks leaving out Sam Whitelock and Brodie Retallick, he really stood up.
If you watch his game, he epitomised the desperation on defence; he ran hard, he executed the lineout. It is good we can leave out two world-class players and have someone like Romano, who is probably underrated, play 80 minutes and play them really well.
It gives you great confidence that if we were to lose Whitelock or Retallick through injury, Romano could step in and more than do the job. He doesn’t get a great deal of praise but he is a high quality player.
The last article I wrote after the All Blacks thrashed the Springboks in Albany, I complimented them on their unnoticeable aspects where they are so proficient, especially their passing. It usually flows without you really being aware just how clinical they are. The passes are always out in front; not on the hip.
One test match on, it was a catalyst for the All Blacks not putting in a performance we expect of them. There’s a slight sense of irony that one of the things we take for granted and they do so well didn’t work and caused them problems. They just couldn’t get any rhythm like they normally do. They did it at times, but not over 80 minutes and that unsettled them. When Argentina reviews the game, they will rue the opportunities they gave the All Blacks in the opening 15 minutes when, to be quite blunt, the Pumas were pretty awful. By being that bad, they allowed the All Blacks to put a lot of points on them early. It was a deficit they were never going to chase down. Yes, they put in a tenacious fight from the 25th minute and slightly got themselves back, but a lot of that was because the game had been dragged into the gutter a bit. That suited them more than it being free-flowing and the All Blacks getting fast ball to punch on to their passes. The Pumas will feel if they didn’t concede all those early points, it might have been different. With a young side after giving opportunities to fringe players, the All Blacks will move on very quickly. They know they have a difficult challenge playing the Boks at home next. The All Blacks would be foolish to over-review this match. Sometimes things just don’t click. When you make mass changes, that’s always a risk. They did enough — they still put on 36 points. They could be really critical and hit up individuals for errors and yellow cards. But I don’t know what good that will do them. This was a grounding game for them after the performance at North Harbour. Who knows what to make of that test in Buenos Aires?
It started out as great fun to watch, with Beauden Barrett apparently reestablishing himself as the most wondrous first five-eighths you might ever see.
By the end, it was about as much fun as bashing your foot with a hammer, and poor old Beauden looked like he was operating in a haze in a maze.
It was a mess, and the end couldn’t come soon enough.
The All Blacks will take their lead from baseball’s finest philosopher Yogi Berra who said: “Slump? I ain’t in no slump . . . I just ain’t hitting.”
The All Blacks know that home runs are never far away. They are so good compared to most of the rest of world rugby, that a slump can equal a solid victory. Which doesn’t say much for the rest of world rugby. It’s exhilarating, and also kind of depressing.
This test had a wonderful youth and unfortunately long dotage.
Anyway, not to worry. Damian McKenzie to the rescue.
I don’t know how someone that small can think he belongs in the same hotel as the All Blacks, let alone dares to step out on the field to play a positon which can involve so much confrontation and high-ball dangers.
McKenzie — who is around the 80kg mark — is so small that he weighs a touch less than George Nepia, the genius All Black fullback of the 1920s.
Unlike Nepia, he is up against massive opponents who pump iron for a living and can run like the wind on hard grounds.
He’s as brave as brave gets and as Barrett went into decline at the Estadio Jose Amalfitani McKenzie was left as the shining light and clear man of the match.
The highlights included a brilliant last-line-of-defence tackle which covered two players, and his alertness and acceleration left wing Matias Moroni grasping at air, as he turned Barrett’s between-the-legs pass into the All Blacks’ fourth try.
This meant the little Chief was involved in three of the four tries in the opening blitz, having taken control of a tap penalty to score himself, and play a cameo role in another.
No wonder the rest of the rugby world is being left behind. The coaching etc. is exceptional, but the raw talent beggars belief at times giving the All Blacks too many strike