A NZ-centric analysis of the game

A few threads here have focused on the Irish performance, so I thought I'd set up a thread to have a look at the performance of the All Blacks.

Well, my overall impression of the game was that in parts we looked like we were setting up nicely to score a try, without really ever hitting the Irish 10 mtr line. Says a lot about the Irish defence and our own composure really. When the ball went wide, there were too many handling errors early on and this quietened the AB's a fair bit. Took a bit of sting out of the attack I would say. The Irish swarmed superbly which played a part. Julian Savea had nothing to do or probably zoned out a bit due to his inexperience. It'd be a tough call but he needs to work on his catching before he can expect a fulltime starting role. I'd say he might be overlooked for next week. SBW played a little like last week, but made a few good half breaks to keep the Irish guessing. He needs to take an authoritive role when the team goes into its shell, take the bull byt he horns as he is that sort of player.

Our forwards were ouytplayed for most of the match. McCaw had probably one of his worst games in a Black shirt tonight, had about 4-5 knockons which is not good enough at this level whatever the conditions. Sam Cane made a great impact when he came on, looked really busy and made some great tackles but went a bit quiet when the pressure ramped up. I thought our scrum was superb until Owen and Ben swapped and then Ireland took control. Not a good sign for NZ depth in the front row...perhaps Hayman might want to come home now and sit on the bench? (joking!) I think the absence of Thorn and Kaino is taking its toll at the moment, but replacements need time to bed in. We got a win, the kids will learn from the experience and that's all that matters I guess.

Carter was a bit hit and miss at times. He tried to run NZ back into the game but too often ran into the Irish defence but he kept us in the game and eventually won it for us.

It's hard to really gauge how well/bad we played. Ireland were superb and have definitely shown a lot of areas where NZ can improve for next week and the 4N. This game will undoubtedly benefit NZ more than it will do harm and I expect NZ to come out with fire and brimstone in Hamilton next week.

My top NZ player - Aaron Smith; great crisp service and one of the few who didn't sway in the face of the Irish pressure

Worst player - Julian Savea/Israel Dagg; Maybe harsh but in Savea's case NZ do not tolerate passengers. He needs to up his work rate. Again maybe harsh on Dagg who unleashed a couple of monster kicks but was ineffective at times and gave away a stupid penalty and yellow card when we needed all hands to the pump. They'll both learn and come back stronger

Last word on the Irish. Superb and magnificent. Maybe condescending as they lost the game but after last week's towelling that was one hell of a response. Don't be happy with the loss though because this was a gilt-edged chance gone missing. I'm sure Rodders will agree that the days of pride in defeat can no longer be tolerated if Ireland wants to be a world force. I for one agree with what he says, Ireland had the chance to win this and blew it really. Don't be happy with the loss, expect better next week. O'Driscoll was heroic, he was taking on the NZ line like a seasoned second rower in the NRL tonight. Fearless, leading by example. It's just that the stars weren't quite aligned tonight. Bad luck Ireland, well done NZ.

Bring on next week!

Thank you mintie, getting a bit of a pasting so appreciate the nod

Pretty much agree. Very surprised by McCaw, was expecting a huge game from him after last week but he was worse....

The AB's looked very emotional at the anthems...did the occaision get to them?

Yeah McCaw was poor,I though Read was immense and to lose him at half time was a big blow for you guys.Carter kicked well but seemed to struggle a bit towards the end,2 missed drop goals,missed touch with a penalty and his restarts became just decent compared to the inch perfection of the 1st game and the 1st half today.

Savea struggled under the high ball but I don't want to see Ireland target him if he's picked again as the kicks need to be inch perfect or you guys can still cut us apart.

NZ are still class we made them look beatable today but it took a massive performance from everyone and we still didn't manage it,that's the difference you guys can't be beat unless everyone plays their best and even then it only gives us a chance.

Well done New Zealand.

Hopefully your red neck journos will wind those red necks in and give respect where it's due in the future and your soccer like fans will cease from creating offensive and sterotypical / racist banners. Shows no class.

I must send Owens a copy of "how to ref the scrum" though.

Do tell Boyne....where were the racist signs?

I felt Owens had a fair game, Ireland were penalised fairly for wheeling the scrum. You even heard him saying the back 5 were going sideways, defintely not pushing forward squarely!

The thing that annoys me about Owens is when he treats the players like little children. Like when there was the little scuffle and he makes it out to be a huge deal. He then tells the captains to talk to their players, they walk away and don't talk to their players and rightly so, because it wasn't anything in the first place.

I think the wobbles in the scrum started before Ben Franks came on Mintie. I didn't catch why Read went off. Was he injured? The scrum is an 8 man job and we were made to look exposed in that area pretty much right from the second half and it got worse admittedly when Franks came on for his brother.

I think it was silly from Dagg and I can't argue with the yellow. He was committed in the air though but the use of the elbow saw him get a yellow. I think though someone should've seen yellow when we were on the Irish line and there was cynical diving off the feet to stop our momentum. A try looked very likely there and 3 points instead of 5 or 7 kept Ireland in the game. That said, I wouldn't have been surprised to see Owens call a scrum or indeed a penalty for Ireland and that could well have turned the game for Ireland. Another call from an AB point of view was the first penalty after the Irish try. An Irish player seemed to take out an AB player from the side and then was lying over the ball and then the ABs got pinged for coming in from the side. That said, at least Owens communicates why he is giving the penalties and though I question his policing of the offside lines for both sides I think he is consistent. I do sympathise though when Weepu wasn't pinged for a free kick for not putting the ball in like Reddan was.

We have a habit of putting in performances like these when we play in Christchurch. I think it'd have been better if it had been raining and a few degrees warmer. We never seem to play well when there is a lot of dew. Far too many passes spilled and far too many high balls missed.

I watched the match with an Irish friend and I came away feeling as though it had been a loss. That said, I must confess the one thing that pleased me at the end with only 14 men, we played the right tactics. We kept it in the forwards and the players responded to get Carter in the right position. It wasn't pretty but it was effective.

Thomson doesn't convince me and Rettalick had a quiet game. Savea came off his wing a couple of times but never really saw the ball and under the high ball he was a liability tonight. That said, I don't think the ABs played too badly. Ireland just played very well and their tactics worked better than ours. We got the win but I'm sure in training this week the players will be training as if they lost. And that's fine with me.

chewed_mintie wrote:Do tell Boyne....where were the racist signs?

I felt Owens had a fair game, Ireland were penalised fairly for wheeling the scrum. You even heard him saying the back 5 were going sideways, defintely not pushing forward squarely!

I believe he is talking about last week when the tv showed a sign saying Diddle Dee Potato Potato, or words to that effect, personally I found it very funny as did the other 4/5 Irish I was watching the game with. And honestly it wouldn't surprise me if an Irish person actually made it

So guys what will the NZ approach be next week.I imagine had you won comfortably today then Hansen might have rung the changes and given some squad players a run but will that change now?

Read went off with a knock to the head I think,it was the same injury he had last week so if he's missing who comes in,does McCaw play at 8 from the start or is there someone else.Any other news on the injury front yet,I haven't heard anything from our camp yet bar D'Arcy will need his calf assessed on monday.

Read's a huge loss. I don't think McCaw will go to 8 but with Vito out I don't think we have too many options there. I think Thomson got bashed around a lot today but did very little bashing himself. We lack a physically dominating forward with Kaino gone. Personally I'd like to see someone else drafted in like Hoeata but I know that won't happen. Read is a big loss though and I don't want to see us shifting the players who ended the game today.

Yeah he's just in a class of his own at no.8 it was no coincidence that Heaslip had a storming second half.He did okay in the 1st but Read was head and shoulders above him.

Is Read gone for sure?If he is then we migh not have such a problem at the restarts,okay Carter is still pinpoint but it was Reads athleticism combined with Carters kicks that made them so effective.I think that had we managed to combat the restarts we'd have won today,NZ won every kickoff until the 55th minute or so there would definitely be enough possession in that for a 4 point swing had we managed to secure half of them.

Don't know if Read's out. But if it's concussion then normally it's 2 week minimum stand down. But I'm relying on what you said it's a knock to the head so fingers crossed he makes it back.

Im just going on what the commentators said and I read this article http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby/news/article.cfm?c_id=80&objectid=10813521 which says "Whenever the All Blacks needed a runner to smash it up, Read was on hand. Whenever they needed a big tackle, Read would make it.

He didn't return for the second half - suffering a head knock just as he did last week - and there will be a level of concern, not so much about whether he will be fit for next week, but whether he will now be facing an extended stint on the sidelines."

I hope it's nothing major and he gets back on the pitch although if he took a week to rest up that'd be fine too

Ireland looked at the videos and saw what went wrong last week and alsotook the media flack as a stimulus to up there game.Frankly last week was a one of
Ireland were never that bad as the scoreline suggests.Today was a game the Irish love Munster style they like the arm wrestle.Getting away with murder at the breakdown,good on `em play the Ref.Dan Carter missed just one kick at goal at extreme range for him,Owens got in the way of an attempted Droppie.But when given the chance he nailed the vital kick,in the past AB`s would`nt even have attempted it.Savea every one knew was suspect under the high ball,Guildford playing out of position .There was some talk of Read being doubtful prematch with head knock,got another yesterday.Probably taken of as a precaution.Ritchie McCaw had a series of concussions a couple of years back and it was feared his career was over.BUT he is back a bit short of game time and not yet at full test level but he`ll get there.Nonu on any known form would have been a better option than SBW today.Not a day for the backs really typical Irish get stuckin can they replicate it next week?NZ played as well or badly as they were allowed to play against a fired up side and WON.Despite the gnashing and wailing of teeth they still won,with key players long term injured/retired missing..To expect instant results is not realistic until new players bed in,Smith went well.Piri showed why he was there too when it came down to it.Messam is joining as cover I understand probably start at 6,Thomson is comfortable at 8,with RM at 7.Hosae Gear may start for Savea,Ben Smith for Guildford,Nonu for SBW a more defensive format true.Maybe the ABs beleived there own publicity to and were over confident.Put it in perspective both Australia and the Boks were run close.Boks had the match won 5 tries,then bang they concede 4.
4Ns will be much more the traditional stuff IF the Boks want to run the ball fine
because the other SH sides can do that too

It was obvious from Ireland performiing at the breakdown last week that in cold wet weather on soggy turf they would do much better.

NZ miss abrasive 6 and Thompson play to wide and make the gap at the ruck.

Israel Dagg yellow card was a stupid call by referee. He was already commit to this and referee was too weak to a few Ireland fans making boo noise. But is normal for Owens like this.