A quiet word, please Michael

Mark Reason has some helpful advice for Michael Cheika, while Ben Strang suggests the Wallabies coach had good reason to complain about the refereeing in Saturday’s test.

‘‘Mate, I’ll give you my comment. The All Blacks are too good for us right now. I’d like to buy Steve Hansen and Kieran Read a beer to say well done on the record. Good on you for kicking the ball out at the end of the game and not rubbing our clown noses in it. It’s way too early to call these All Blacks the greatest. They need some serious oppo and that’s what we want to provide. But they are a helluva team and the whole world is loving the rugby that they play.’’

Maybe even Michael Cheika now wishes he had said those words on Saturday night. He was right about some of the other stuff, but it could wait for another day. It should have been a moment of grace. Cheika needed to act the big man. He needed to shake hands, look New Zealand in the eye and congratulate the country on their achievement.

And while we are at it, here are a few of the other things that the Australian could have praised the All Blacks for. C’mon Michael, throw those curtains wide, one day like this a year would see you right. Time to say the right thing.

FITNESS AND ATTITUDE

Call it sweet FA. I love the way that this All Black team never stays down. Every player is like the goalkeeper who has just made a save and springs back up to his feet to make the next one. In the opening minutes a high ball bounced loose, Anton LienertBrown dived to the ground and popped up the pass for TJ Perenara.

The halfback, then Brodie Retallick, then Ben Smith each pulled in a defender. Any kid who wants to know the value of straightening the line, just watch the All Blacks’ magic fullback. Each man had engaged the defence to create the hole that LienertBrown, who a few seconds earlier had been down on the ground, now surged through. It finished with a try.

Newly selected All Black Rieko Ioane – of whom Hansen says: ‘‘We think we can make him a better all-round athlete than what we’ve got’’ – could look at the standard set by Dane Coles in the final quarter of the game. In the 68th minute Coles had given the scoring pass for the Julian Savea demolition derby. For his pains he had been dumped by Michael Hooper. When Coles went to get back up, Hooper shoved him to the ground again. Big mistake.

A couple of minutes late Dean Mumm intercepted Tawera KerrBarlow. Mumm had a big start on Coles, but the hooker ran him down, knocked the ball out of his hand and rubbed his face in the dirt. Coles got straight back up to his feet, took Aaron Cruden’s pass, sidestepped David Pocock and threw a long ball to Liam Squire.

On and on went the All Blacks. They briefly lost possession when Rob Simmons was able to bat down the scoring pass, but they countered off the clearing kick, and there was Coles again, still running, pumped with fitness and attitude, to take the ball off Julian Savea and dot it down over the line.

SMARTS

A lot was made about the TMO decision not to award the Henry Speight try and rightly so. It was a farce, not least because Julian Savea and Read had both impeded Dane Haylett-Petty in the buildup. But Bernard Foley had 40 seconds to get his conversion away before the intervention. By then the home-town producers had blazed two partial replays up on the big screen. The Aussies gave the officials the time to nit-pick.

The All Blacks did not make the same mistake. Their ensuing try should not have been awarded. Apart from the fact that fat Nigel, off the pace again, called ‘‘advantage over’’ after Speight had knocked on the ball (hello?), there was also the matter of Cruden clipping Scott Sio’s heels.

Of course the Aussies appealed. Indeed captain Stephen Moore could be seen talking to Owens on the 22 when Cruden, aware of the potential for an unfavourable TMO intervention, knocked the conversion over. Twenty-three seconds had elapsed since Savea had touched down.

There had been no time to show a replay, even if Kiwi TV had been so minded. Sometimes the All Blacks get decisions because they are smarter than the opposition.

COACHING

The Aussies made a right balls-up of a scrum on their 22 in the first half. They could moan rightly that Owens, unbelievably, briefly got in the way of Nick Phipps’ pass, but the rest was hopeless.

When the All Blacks had a similar defensive scrum in the second half, the contrast could not have been greater. Read picked up and fed Perenara moving right, pulling Phipps across and checking Mumm. When Perenara switched direction to Cruden, he had plenty of time to hoist an attacking defensive kick over the Australian wing despite the fact that Cruden had been standing flat. What a difference in attention to detail. So raise a glass with Cheiks. ‘‘Guys, you have been a joy and an education. Here’s to the All Blacks.’’