SBW in doubt for rest of tour
Slowing the game down, through legal means, was required and they did it well, taking their time to form lineouts. Ireland may have taken some notes.
‘‘But they will argue that they were just trying to get their calls, because of the crowd [noise] and that,’’ Hansen said.
‘‘But there is a fine line between doing that and slowing the game down. So it is up to the adjudicator at the time to make sure he has control over it because you don’t want games that are stop, start all the time.’’ All Blacks captain Kieran Read Next thing Beauden Barrett will be discussing recipes for Yorkshire puddings, draining pints of warm beer and discussing the heavy traffic on the M25.
When the All Blacks beat England 16-15 in the rain in London yesterday, it was the home team that scored the most tries. Two to one, in fact.
And get this. Barrett, best known for his brilliant running game, slotted all his shots at goal. A conversion, two penalties – and a drop goal.
It was the drop goal that caught many by surprise. Because when Barrett smacked his right foot into the ball early in the second half he broke new ground. It was his first in 71 tests for the All Blacks.
The fact the All Blacks were Sonny Bill Williams has joined Joe Moody in the All Blacks’ Hard Luck Club.
A shoulder injury forced second fiveeighth Williams to depart the test against England in the 30th minute yesterday, and he may take no further part on the tour.
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen confirmed that Williams, 33, could be unavailable for the remaining tests against Ireland and Italy in Dublin and Rome.
‘‘He’s got a grade one AC shoulder [injury]. He may be [unavailable] for a
‘‘The Irish will be of a similar vein next week. We have to just keep improving.’’
on a penalty advantage meant he could have a crack, knowing if it missed he had the chance for an easy shot off the tee.
‘‘I have been working on it for years,’’ Barrett said with a laugh. ‘‘Fossie [backs coach Ian Foster] is always chipping away. I guess in a game when it is wet you naturally stand a bit deeper.’’
Barrett was criticised by some fans for not attempting a drop goal in the loss to South Africa in Wellington in September. So when he broke his duck at Twickenham, he might have encouraged some of his critics to clam up.
‘‘It was a no brainer, we had an advantage,’’ Barrett added. ‘‘We probably would have kicked a goal anyway. We had a bit of momentum going, we felt pretty good. Felt instinctive, because it was something I have been working on.’’ week, maybe two,’’ Hansen said.
Williams, like prop Moody who was ruled out of the rest of the tour after splitting his eye at training last week, has suffered a multitude of injuries this year.
Ireland have injury problems of their own with back row star Sean O’Brien to miss this week’s All Blacks test with a broken arm, suffered in the win over Argentina. Influential halfback Conor Murray is ‘‘highly unlikely’’ for the New Zealand match.