All Blacks have skills to leave Lions awestruck
THE group of non-playing Lions reserves who were passing a bag of Haribo around in the stands did not quite know how to react. The game was five minutes young and Beauden Barrett, providing the last line of defence, nonchalantly swooped to pick up a bouncing ball with his right hand.
It was a split-second combination of fearlessness, skill and arrogance.
Some clapped awkwardly, unsure about the etiquette of applauding the opposition, while others turned to their neighbour with expressions of awe.
The All Blacks are blessed with skills that most Lions can only dream of.
Ten minutes later, Codie Taylor, supposedly the dirt-track hooker filling in for Dane Coles, picked the ball off his laces and sprinted down the right wing to score the first try of the series.
‘You grow up making those plays in your back yard,’ said winger Israel Dagg, who provided the final pass.
‘You run around thinking you’re Christian Cullen or Jonah Lomu doing those miracle plays. You just follow your instincts and that’s what happened with the boys. Luckily it came off.’
The try stemmed from Aaron Smith’s tap and go penalty.
Taylor spotted Elliot Daly out of position and his finish epitomised the instinctive skills that make the All Blacks the standard bearers for modern day rugby.
‘Steve Hansen always talks about not playing in your shell,’ said Smith.
‘It was just a simple numbers game: there was three of them and five of us. It was, “We can score here, let’s go”. You don’t say, “Oh it’s Test match rugby, so don’t do what you normally do”. Beauden was pretty adamant it was on and that gave me confidence to tap it so we went.’
It was the ugly work up front that provided the platform for the All Black magic.
Their pack beat the Lions at the set piece and the breakdown, with moments of wizardry providing the point of difference at game-changing moments.
‘I thought our tight-five were very, very good,’ said Hansen. ‘If the tight five do the job, everyone else can play. We won that battle and we’ve got to be extremely proud of what they did.
‘You don’t become the No 1 side in the world without having a quality tight five. I always find it amusing when people tell us they are going to beat us up in the tight five. We can play down-and-dirty rugby, too, if we have to.’
Warren Gatland reluctantly echoed Hansen’s praise for New Zealand’s forwards.
‘The All Blacks didn’t play champagne rugby and throw the ball all over the place,’ said Gatland. ‘They did a good job at stopping our line speed. They came really hard off nine, got some front-foot ball and were very aggressive at the breakdown. They didn’t throw the ball around.’
The second All Blacks try was the result of an attacking scrum.
Their unfancied front-row sent the Lions marching backwards and No 8 Kieran Read had to control a wet and slippery ball at the base. Still wearing heavy strapping from a broken thumb, he managed to spade the ball to Smith with one hand and the hosts broke away to score in the corner.
Lions flanker Sean O’Brien could not quite believe it, either.
He marched over to referee Jaco Peyper and asked him to consult the Television Match Official for a knock-on, but there was no case to answer.
‘I saw him pass it and I thought, “Jeez. How did he get that away?”,’ said Smith. ‘I think it was just a reactional thing. He’s a freak. Outstanding. When I watched the replay, I was buzzing out. It was a beautiful team try. Beautiful scrum, beautiful passing, then Rieko Ioane, the young buck, showed some pace to score in the corner.’
Former All Black Aaron Mauger traces the skills back to barefoot games in school playing fields.
‘Go to any rugby field on a Saturday afternoon and it’s just thriving with kids,’ he said. ‘They all know what the All Blacks are about. Kids play a little bit more freely. The coaches don’t put too many rules on the kids growing up and that helps them develop.’
The Lions had no answer, other than O’Brien’s stunning first-half try.
The reserves watched in awe as supporters filed by for 80 minutes requesting selfies.
‘Go home you p******,’ shouted one spectator.
Fortunately, the Kiwis on the pitch showed more class than those off it.