78 good reasons why All Blacks should be feared
JUST how stiff a task the Lions face against New Zealand was reinforced when the All Blacks racked up 12 tries at almost a point-a-minute during their thrashing of Samoa at Auckland’s Eden Park.
Steve Hansen’s men were unstoppable in the final 50 minutes after being on the back-foot during the opening half-hour.
So, have Warren Gatland’s Lions got any chance of stopping them in the three Tests?
ANDY HOWELL runs the rule over New Zealand’s dynamite display against Samoa... The Lions defence will be tested by the All Blacks New Zealand are the most lethal finishers in world rugby with some of their scores against Samoa being sublime.
There’s nothing fancy about what they do: they run hard, attack space, have support players and allow the ball to do the work with often the opposition running out of defenders.
Once they get in behind opponents, it usually results in a touchdown so the message is clear for the Lions, they must stop the Kiwis from getting over the gainline. Nullifying New Zealand’s attack by putting them under pressure at the scrum A number of the All Blacks’ tries came from their ascendancy at the scrum with them cleverly wheeling it a touch to put the Samoa back-row out of the game.
That meant New Zealand No.8 Ardie Savea – captain Kieran Read hopes to return for the opening Test with the Lions after being sidelined by a broken thumb – used his speed to burst away.
And replacement scrum-half TJ Perenara caused havoc with his darts. It will be interesting to see if he ousts Aaron Smith from the No.9 jersey for the Tests. There will be a clash of styles Dane Coles, the world’s best hooker, is unlikely to be ready for the opening rubber, if at all any of the series, after being out for three months with concussion. While that would be a blow to most countries, deputy Codie Taylor is a decent player in his own right and hit his intended targets while throwing to the line-out with unerring accuracy.
The ball was in and out in the blink of the eye with Sam Whitelock, Brodie Retallick and Jerome Kaino providing prime possession off the top.
New Zealand used set-pieces as a means to restart the match, not grind down the opposition and it’s clear from the tactics they employed against Samoa, even in damp and greasy conditions, they will want to move the ball at pace and stretch the Lions.
It will be the other way around with the Lions wanting scrums and line-outs, when the All Blacks are putting or throwing in, to drag on and it to become a war of attrition. The Lions could struggle to contain the All Blacks’ midfield There just doesn’t seem to be any way of stopping Beauden Barrett with even his goal-kicking having improved.
It was notoriously dodgy, but he has put over 15 of his last 16 attempts in all matches.
But he also touched down twice against Samoa which, added to his seven successful conversions, saw him rack up 24 points and become only the fifth All Black in history to move past 300 points in Test rugby.
New Zealand had a new midfield triangle of Barrett, Sonny Bill Williams and Anton Lienert-Brown, who showed, last year for the Chiefs and on-debut for the All Blacks against Wales, what a prospect he is.
The Lions will have to find a formula to prevent those three off-loading out of the tackle, whether it’s through a smother tackle or a second defender coming in with a pincer movement in an attempt to shut down the pass or nail the recipient.
Nevertheless, Samoa did provide some hope of a way through the All Blacks defence despite not scoring a try. They penetrated midfield with some smart footwork but their handling let them down. Bossing the breakdown would help Samoa may have conceded 78 points but they were hugely competitive for the opening 30 minutes and had some success at the breakdown.
New Zealand had problems coping with their physicality and strength over and around the ball when it was an arm-wrestle.
Read, who’s a specialist No.8 and a master of smashing into rucks, would improve the play of the All Blacks at the breakdown if he is declared fit and starts.
But it’s an area the Lions must target because it’s essential, at a minimum, they slow down the speed of New Zealand’s recycling of possession and draw more opponents into rucks and contact. The Lions will certainly be massive underdogs Any of the Lions squad who watched New Zealand’s demolition job on Samoa would surely having had trouble getting off to sleep or woke up in the night suffering nightmares because that’s what the Test series could turn out to be if they aren’t on their mettle.
The All Blacks are deadly but the Lions can push them if they do the basics – scrum, line-out, defence and tactical kicking – correctly.
In other words, the Lions need to employ dour northern hemisphere tactics against the daring dash of the World Cup holders. New Zealand: Tries: Lienart-Brown, B Barrett (2), A Savea (2), Williams, Dagg, J Savea, Taylor, Fifita, Perenara, Cane; cons: B Barrett (7), Sopoaga (2).
NEW ZEALAND .............. 78 SAMOA ............................... 0