15 July 2021 | Damien McKenzie chats sideline as All Blacks prepare for second test against Fiji.
OPINION:
There's no need to be in a desperate rush to cast judgement about the current All Blacks side.
There is a long season ahead, plenty of opportunity to assess how well they are tracking towards their goal of returning to number one in the world rankings.
Two games intothe 2021 campaign is a little premature to be fretting as hard as some obviously are about the readiness of the team and the quality of the coaching.
Memories are most definitely short or selective when it comes to early season All Blacks performances.
The All Blacks didn't play particularly well against Fiji in Dunedin. They were, for 60 minutes or so, outplayed at the tackled ball area. Fiji were more alert and more intense in that area – able to dominate All Blacks ball carriers, while their own ball runners found weak shoulders to attack and holes to explore.
The All Blacks were untidy at kick-off, too, and generally, just a fraction slow to react to the unexpected.
It was hardly catastrophically bad, however, or of such dire quality as to rob everyone of optimism that improvement will be forthcoming.
The final 15 minutes, while not polished or slick, were considerably better than the previous 65 and if nothing else, demonstrated the team's ability to identify, in real time, where they needed to improve and find a way to do it.
There has to be some realisation that scoring 57 points isn't a valid reason to start believing the sky is going to collapse on these All Blacks.
Dane Coles of the All Blacks during the International Test Match between the New Zealand All Blacks and Fiji at Forsyth Barr Stadium. Photo / Photosport.co.nz
It was a performance that certainly had greater elements of bad than good, but what appears to have either been forgotten or conveniently ignored, is that this has been the story during the first few weeks of nearly every All Blacks season of the last decade.
Despite what everyone seemingly thinks or remembers, the All Blacks don't just spring out of the box in July and magically produce cohesive, flowing rugby at the required intensity with unfailing accuracy.
Pick any opening series of the last decade and there will have been at least one test, if not two, where the All Blacks didn't particularly look like All Blacks.
Even the great side of 2012 to 2015 would clunk about for an age before they typically had rid their system of gremlins by the time the Bledisloe series came around.
In 2012, they were clinging on against Ireland in the second test, after delivering a performance that had a Dan Carter last minute drop goal as its sole redeeming feature.
In 2013, they never really got out of third gear in three tests against France and in 2014, their opening game against England was one which head coach Steve Hansen would most definitely have said flush the dunny and move on had he not already coined his favourite one liner five years previously.
Sevu Reece of the All Blacks makes a break during the International Test Match between the New Zealand All Blacks and Fiji at Forsyth Barr Stadium. Photo / Photosport.co.nz
This is how the season typically goes – the All Blacks are much like every other team in that they build throughout the year.
They need time together to find their rhythm and adjust to the intensity, speed and demands of test rugby. They piece their season together and there isn't a year in the last decade where they played better in their first series than they did in the Rugby Championship.
It has always been a start low, finish high type of deal with the All Blacks – where they are almost unrecognisable in the second half of the international season to the one they were in the first.
Which is why, on the same basis that one quarter of strong GDP growth does not an economic recovery make, one mostly unconvincing performance against Fiji does not a rugby disaster make.
For many who started against Fiji, it was not only their first test in a year, it was their first game of rugby in several weeks.
That doesn't excuse some of the sluggishness and inaccuracy, but it does explain it and provide grounds to hold off making stronger judgement until after this weekend at least.
The expectation is that coach Ian Foster will use the second test against Fiji to run out what will be close to the match day 23 he is likely to select against the Wallabies on August 7.
This group doesn't have to deliver a definitive, perfect performance. But they do need to show progress, provide evidence they are tracking towards a higher benchmark.
There has to be greater dynamism and cohesion: more ball carrying crunch, ruthless and effective cleanout work, dominant tackling, more accurate and probably less kicking and a general lift in intensity and speed.
If we see all that, then this All Blacks side, much like every other in recent times, will have reached the end of their first series a better team than when they began, which is the only real expectation we should hold.
