All Blacks rue late meltdown At a glance
Nine lousy minutes. And, from a New Zealand perspective, they were very lousy. That was the difference between the All Blacks signing off their rollercoaster season in style, and Ian Foster’s men trudging off Twickenham with those familiar doubts swirling over their heads.
But in the end those nine minutes laid bare the shortcomings of this All Blacks side as it coughed up a 19-point lead inside the final 10 minutes to tumble to a 25-25 draw against a limited but gritty England side yesterday.
This was an All Blacks choke of the highest order, no matter the attempts to paint it otherwise by a head coach in denial.
The New Zealanders avoided a similar meltdown in Melbourne by the skin of their teeth; but here there was no sidestepping the reality of a team that lacked the mental strength and physical wherewithal to finish the job in a big-time test.
Think about it. All Blacks sides just don’t fold like a pessimistic poker player. The 1999 World Cup semifinal loss to France featured a similar reversal of fortune, but that played out over a longer period. In Melbourne in September they actually lost an 18-point advantage in the final quarter, only to get out of jail late via an outrageous referee decision.
In so many ways this was the All Blacks’ season in a nutshell. Long stretches of quality marred by moments of ineptitude. Those four defeats from earlier in the campaign are now joined by a draw that will in no way be celebrated.
When Beauden Barrett coolly slotted a dropped goal in the 71st minute for a 25-6 lead, it looked a formality they would kick on to conclude an emphatic rebuild of their season with a seventh consecutive victory in a match marred by referee Mathieu Raynal’s incessant whistle (there were 30 penalties dished out).
Good teams don’t lose 19-point leads inside the final 10 minutes in tests as important as this. Good sides don’t invite their opponents back into the contest the way the All Blacks did. Good rugby players simply do not allow opponents to grasp a lifeline the way Foster’s men did.
Despite his protestations otherwise – Foster later claimed his team was ‘‘growing an arm and a leg’’ and that he was ‘‘pretty proud’’ of a lot of the rugby played – this is not yet an All Blacks team of true quality. Even during the six-test win streak hitherto there have been numerous examples of that.
But this one hurt, because such a strong foundation had been laid through the first three quarters. The New Zealanders had dominated the first spell to lead 17-3 at the break. Their scrum was bossing, their clever kicking game testing England and they were on top at the breakdown. And a magical 50th-minute try to Rieko Ioane off a pinpoint piece of crossfield execution appeared to put them in an unbeatable position.
But midway through the second spell momentum changed sides. England began creating breaks and chances. The All Blacks hit backtrack mode. Johnny May started hitting holes. Marcus
Smith too. Their team-mates finally realised they could compete.
So when Beauden Barrett, soon after his neatly taken dropped goal, was yellow carded for his defensive play on Smith on the line from a brilliant break, the fuse was lit.
Replacement prop Will Stuart powered over after Smith’s break, fullback Freddie Steward finished a surging move soon after and in the dying minutes Stuart added a second when he just dotted down in Richie Mo’unga’s tackle to level the scores.
At Twickenham, London: All Blacks
(Dalton Papali’i, Codie Taylor, Rieko Ioane tries; Jordie Barrett pen, 2 con, Beauden Barrett drop goal) England 25
(Will Stuart 2, Freddie Steward tries; Marcus Smith pen, 2 con, Owen Farrell pen). HT: 17-3