Just like a World Cup final Angry All Blacks embrace high stakes
Hurt. Angered. Frustrated. You name it, the All Blacks are ready to mine the emotions for a week they’re happy to say already has a World Cup final feel about it.
A shock 24-21 defeat to the numerically and tactically superior British and Irish Lions in Wellington on Saturday night has thrust Steve Hansen’s All Blacks into that most unusual of positions – coming off a defeat to enter a defining test match.
With the series locked at a win apiece, the All Blacks have to extend their 23-year, 38-test win streak at Eden Park on Saturday night to avoid the fate of becoming just the second New Zealand team to go down to the Lions. That’s created a surprisingly monumental final week of this tour, which the All Blacks were embracing as they launched preparations in Auckland yesterday with a gym session and no-holds-barred game review.
The New Zealanders have only lost four times previously on Hansen’s watch, and on each occasion bounced back immediately with a victory.
All Blacks halfback Aaron Smith and lock Brodie Retallick made it clear that Saturday’s loss was still stinging as they reset for the third and final test of the series, even grudgingly accepting the rather selective notion from Lions coach Warren Gatland that they had yet to be ‘‘stressed’’ by the New Zealanders.
‘‘This is the best team in the world and, for two test matches, they really haven’t stressed us. They have squeezed us . . . but we haven’t seen the expansive rugby the All Blacks are known for,’’ Gatland said as his team decamped to Queenstown to start its own preparations.
That clearly hurt Smith. You could see it in his eyes. ‘‘After Saturday’s effort you’d have to [agree with] that,’’ he said. ‘‘But I’m really excited about what we can do this week back at Eden Park. They really fronted up on defence and closed up that tight space [in Wellington] and we didn’t react well to that.
‘‘He [Gatland] can say all those things, but we’re focused on what we’re going to do this week. We showed glimpses of what we can do in week one, and we need to get back to that.’’
Smith is adamant the All Blacks have a breakout display in them, a feeling he said was reinforced by a quick review of Saturday’s game tape.
‘‘Conditions suited the game they wanted to play,’’ said Smith. ‘‘They wanted to make it a struggle at the ruck, and we weren’t able to be assertive with our carries. But we didn’t help ourselves and we didn’t attack where they weren’t, and that’s something we’re going to fix this week.’’
Smith was fuming that a ‘‘massive effort’’ from the under-manned All Blacks forwards (down a player for the final 56 minutes) went wasted in Wellington, but that had now created a week with very much a World Cup final feel about it.
‘‘The one-all factor, it’s what you play rugby for,’’ the chirpy halfback added. ‘‘I could play today, that’s how ready I am.’’
Retallick talked about being both frustrated and angered by the events of Saturday, and agreed the stakes were ratcheted as high as they could get for the decisive contest.
‘‘There’s a lot riding on it. The physicality and intensity of the first two matches have been huge, and I thought they were a lot more physical and confrontational on Saturday. We need to sort that out and make sure we’re going back at it this Saturday because we can’t let it happen again.’’