All Black Haka during the Rugby test match between the All Blacks and Ireland. 02 July 2022 New Zealand Herald photograph by Dean Purcell.
All Black Haka during the Rugby test match between the All Blacks and Ireland. 02 July 2022 New Zealand Herald photograph by Dean Purcell.
OPINION:
It's a shame that everyone is in such a hurry to ditch the July test window as we know it and usher in a new, shiny global competition which would see three separate countries come to New Zealand in winter.
This desire to revamp July is based on anexaggerated belief that the current set-up is broken. Which it's not, as a three-test series can be compelling, a fact which is dawning on everyone now that the Irish have shown themselves to be every bit as resilient and tricky as they appeared to be last November.
Who honestly, after the final whistle blew in Auckland last week, wasn't immediately looking forward to the next clash, knowing that the second test of a three-test series is always the one where the tension and intrigue are at their greatest.
Dunedin this Saturday will tell us more about the All Blacks than Eden Park did. Last week was relatively simple for the All Blacks.
They'd spent the better part of eight months brooding and stewing over their two last performances in November 2021.
They'd been waiting for the chance to play Ireland again and no one needed any help understanding what was on the line.
The All Blacks were under all sorts of additional, external pressure. Ireland had been talked up, New Zealand talked down and the mission was straightforward – smash Ireland in every way they could to beat them.
(L-R) Rieko Ioane, Beauden Barrett, and Quinn Tupaea of New Zealand during the International test Match in the series between the New Zealand All Blacks and Ireland. Photo / Getty Images.
But now that both sides have learned something about each other and the series could be won in Dunedin, the pressure points have changed.
Ireland have that sense of desperation that they are playing to keep the series alive. They will also have a foundation of confidence having been able to breach the All Blacks frontline as often as they did in Auckland and will know that the absence of Sam Whitelock reduces the lineout threat and scrummaging power of their opponent.
Ireland therefore have the greater organic source of mental energy this week. But what makes a second test so fascinating is seeing how both teams react and adapt to the new circumstances that have arisen as a result of having played each other just seven days ago.
For the All Blacks, the essence of what they have to do in Dunedin is find a way to subtly shift the key battlegrounds on which this test will be won or lost upon.
All Black Sevu Reece in for a try during the Rugby test match between the All Blacks and Ireland. Photo / Dean Purcell.
In Auckland, they targeted Ireland's scrum and lineout and tried to deny them quality possession at source.
But with no Whitelock and a back row that is effectively composed of three opensides, they are going to have to try to play faster and wider. The arrival of Dalton Papalii in the No 6 jersey doesn't mean they can't still pressure Ireland's set-piece, but his skill-set is better suited to a higher tempo, more open gameplan.
The All Blacks want to play to their strengths and the composition of the side they have picked screams high tempo, pass and catch rugby. It wouldn't serve New Zealand's best interests to get bogged down in a set-piece, breakdown slog with the Irish this weekend – not when they have so many on-top-of-the-ground athletes who have the speed and aerobic capacity to shift the ball away from contact into space.
But the balance can't shift entirely. The set-piece can be considered less important, but not unimportant. The All Blacks can't abandon their physical approach of last week and commit to a totally different style of game where they try to play wide and fast for 80 minutes.
That hasn't worked for them in the past and that's why the shift to a quicker, more open brand of football has to be subtle rather than wholesale.
Maybe the All Blacks will surprise Ireland and give them the tail of the lineout – something they didn't do last week – and effectively encourage them to attack wider in the hope it will create more turnover opportunities and generate an element of fatigue that we didn't get last week because the game never really flowed.
This is the beauty of second tests – they become chess-like, with the two coaching teams having to find ways to leave their opponent second guessing.
There is a depth of thinking, planning and adapting inherent in a series that doesn't come with one-off tests and the undeniable value of a three-test series can be evidenced by ticket sales.
All three venues have sold out and that's because what creates interest is a heightened sense of anticipation that only comes when there is genuine sense of the two teams being capable of producing a surprising outcome.
