The All Blacks suffered a history-making defeat to Argentina in Buenos Aires
Scott Robertson’s side have accrued five yellow cards in their last two tests
Ill-discipline continues to haunt this All Blacks side
New Zealand, by losing to Argentina in Buenos Aires, have created significant doubt as to whether they are deserving occupants of the world number one ranking they continue to hold, but they have established unequivocally that they are the game’s least disciplined team.
The All Blacks fell totheir fifth defeat under head coach Scott Robertson primarily because they couldn’t live with Argentina’s slick and accurate game plan, which vacillated magnificently between high risk and low risk.
But there was also a significant component of self-sabotage, with the All Blacks finding endless ways to undermine themselves, and none more influential nor damaging than the three yellow cards they were shown for three avoidable acts.
The All Blacks have become rugby’s equivalent of an organised crime syndicate – certain to try their hand at any illegal racket in their quest to dominate their competition, and seemingly convinced their reputation is such that they can intimidate referees into letting them get away with slapping down a few passes, pushing the offside line and flopping over a few rucks.
Why the All Blacks have deluded themselves into thinking they are above the law is a mystery that needs to be solved with some urgency, as their legacy is being eroded spectacularly quickly by a mounting pile of defeats where ill-discipline and multiple yellow cards have been the determining cause.
Bautista Delguy of Argentina is tackled by Tupou Vaa'i. Photo / Getty Images
It was a victory for the Pumas coaching group, who picked perfectly that they could dent the All Blacks with the individual running power of Pablo Matera and Santiago Chocobares, and further pressure them by winning the aerial battle they created with a smart and accurate kicking strategy.
But what gave them an enormous tailwind was the indelible streak of cynicism and stupidity with which the All Blacks were afflicted.
First, Will Jordan needlessly and somewhat brainlessly found a way to impede Mateo Carreras after the Pumas wing had kicked ahead.
A few minutes later, Tupou Vaa’i thrust his oversized mitt out – impulsively trying to slap the ball down. With eight minutes left in the match, Sevu Reece showed the recidivist nature of this All Blacks team and its catastrophic inability to learn and adapt, by also impulsively sticking his hand out to prevent a pass reaching its intended target.
However good Argentina were, and however much they deserved their first home victory against New Zealand, there is no getting away from the fact the All Blacks picking up three yellow cards in a 35-minute spell had an enormous bearing on the outcome.
Equally, there is no doubt that having received up two yellow cards last week, and seven in last year’s Rugby Championship, the All Blacks have a simultaneous claim to be considered both the dumbest and dirtiest team in world rugby.
Once renowned for being able to tread a supremely astute fine line in the grey areas of rugby’s complex lawbook, the All Blacks now simply seem to play with a reptilian brain, unable to resist their basic impulses. They seem incapable of controlling the urge to stray offside, impede kick-chasers and – most maddeningly of all – lunge for ill-advised intercept attempts.
Why this basic lack of control and discipline pervades the All Blacks is perhaps because this instinctive cynicism to shut down opportunities illegally and play on the cusp of the law is endemic in New Zealand rugby at all levels.
Scott Robertson's men picked up three yellow cards in Buenos Aires. Photo / SmartFrame
The All Blacks are merely displaying learned behaviour, serving as proof incarnate that the players are merely products of their wider environments, because from junior club, to First XV, through to Super Rugby, they are coached to push the boundaries and get away with what they can.
The universal mantra has always been to play to the referee and test the limits. It makes for a confused and conflicting culture where one week the player who gets away with being offside all day is a hero, and then they graduate to the All Blacks, do the same thing, but are chastised and blamed for the defeat.
All Blacks coach Scott Robertson is the person being charged with cleaning up the All Blacks’ discipline, but watching how readily and instinctively his players have resorted to needlessly silly or cynical acts in these last two tests, he needs the whole country to help him by adopting a more positive attitude and firmer stance towards encouraging players of all levels to stay within the laws.
New Zealand, as a rugby nation, needs to embrace the idea of aligning 10cm behind the offside line and not lauding those who set up 10cm in front of it, and to collectively realise that one of the core reasons the All Blacks have now lost four of their last seven tests against Argentina, and why their overall win ratio has slipped to 71% over the last three years, is their chronic ill-discipline and enormous collection of yellow cards.
Finding a way to play 80 minutes with 15 men is the first and most pressing problem Robertson needs to fix, but so too does he need to instil a dramatic improvement in the All Blacks’ aerial work, which was again consistently inaccurate.
Jordan might sit alongside Australia’s Tom Wright as the world’s best attacking fullback, but he’s barely caught a high ball in the last two tests. Both Rieko Ioane and Reece – in different ways – were shown up by their counterparts as being totally lacking in a skillset that is now non-negotiable for international wings.
And so too is there a pressing need to instil a better attacking shape and fast-track the players’ understanding of what they are expected to do when they have possession.
It seems a non-viable proposition that the All Blacks can continue to be both the best team in the world and the least disciplined.
