All Blacks Springboks
“You get greater pleasure when you see people performing under pressure. You want contests. We know we won a test match where both teams really played well. When you win those games, there’s probably a bit more satisfaction.
“We tried to tell anyone that would listen that Albany, even though the score looked ridiculous, it wasn’t reflective of how the game went. In that game, we took every opportunity and [yesterday] we didn’t.”
Hansen likened McKenzie to a fly in a bottle; sometimes he comes off and other times he hits the side.
“He’s getting better and better at it as he understands what test rugby is all about, which is really pleasing. There’s been times where even he didn’t know what he was going to do, he just did it. But [yesterday] he was calculated in most of the things he did. He’s growing all the time. I’m on record saying he’s going to be a better 10 than he is 15 but he’s starting to
That game could’ve gone either way. We’ll take that and go and have a quiet beer with the Boks. All Blacks coach Steve Hansen
tell me that might not be right, but we’ll wait and see.”
Kieran Read suggested the All Blacks lacked intensity from the outset, possibly due to a light training week after their long-haul journey from Argentina. The skipper also agreed with Hansen that playing on at the end of the first spell almost proved costly.
“The Boks showed their intent and our egos maybe got in the way of what was, perhaps, a smart decision,” Read said. “Our guys wanted to give it back to them and hold on to the ball. It’s test match footy and it turned into a spectacle but we made ourselves work a bit harder than we should’ve. To not concede in that period probably kept us in that contest.
“In Albany, they were there for maybe 20 or 40 minutes but they kept coming [yesterday]. They are a quality side when they get that roll on and momentum, and it was hard for us to stem that, so we’ll look at how we can do that later on.”