ABs are good
The All Blacks are good, and becoming better, but they are still no more than a preliminary sketch of the masterpiece that they could become. No other team in the world has even half the talent that New Zealand currently possesses. Against Argentina there were tantalising glimpses of just how beautiful the game of rugby could become in the hands of this special group of players.
Astonishingly the All Blacks did not play particularly well. Steve Hansen was right when he said that Richie Mo’unga knows he can play better. But there were plenty of other aspects of the All Blacks game that could considerably improve.
The kick chase wasn’t very good, particularly by Waisake Naholo who will be getting absolutely torched by the coaches this week. Some of the first-up tackling was not great either.
Shannon Frizell and Ardie Savea carried well when they had half a gap to target, but defensively they did not dominate in the way that Sam Cane and Liam Squire do. Unexpectedly two of the best tackles of the night were made by Tim Perry.
The All Blacks’ exits from restarts were generally poor and cost them 10 points and their own restarts were not much better. The lineout did not function particularly well, with three throws lost and other scrappy possession batted back. The back three struggled in the air at times, particularly in the second half. The amount of possession the All Blacks chucked away was scandalous.
Mo’unga referenced that straight after the match when he said: ‘‘We keep swinging the ball and giving them possession and we’re back in our 22.’’
Nehe Milner-Skudder forced three passes that cost possession, Ben Smith pushed two that turned over the ball, Mo’unga lost the ball trying to offload, so did Frizell, Scott Barrett spat one out in the tackle, and TJ Perenara and Naholo also each threw a pass back to the opposition. That is 10 pieces of prime possession the All Blacks gave back to Argentina.
And yet despite all that the All Blacks scored more points than in either of their previous two matches in the Rugby Championship. They played consistently flatter than they have for a while and they torched Argentina on the gain line. With more ball, goodness only knows how many points they would have scored.
It was an absolute pleasure to see the lines that Jack Goodhue and Anton Lienert-Brown were running off Mo’unga. It was an absolute pleasure to watch space being created by the quality of the pass. It was an absolute pleasure to watch Ben Smith and Lienert-Brown and Damian McKenzie coming from deep and hitting the first receiver position at the last moment.
There were a number of things that Mo’unga did not do well in the game. He might have been forgiven for missing touch from his first