All Blacks: All Blacks leaky defence goes under microscope

Aaron Smith looks on, New Zealand All Blacks v Australia. Photo /Joe Allison / www.photosport.nz

A leakier than usual All Blacks defence, perhaps glossed over in the aftermath of the Bledisloe Cup series win over Australia, is one area which will be put under the microscope this week by the coaches.

Last year the All Blacks conceded only 84 points in six tests on their way to winning the Rugby Championship. This year, after two tests against the Wallabies, they have leaked 63 and have shown a worrying trend to give up quick back-to-back tries.

In Dunedin last weekend, the All Blacks gave up three tries in the first 14 minutes. And once they overtook the Wallabies in the second half they conceded the lead twice as the visitors scored through Will Genia and Kurtley Beale, only for skipper Kieran Read's late heroics in turning the test.

The week before in Sydney, the All Blacks conceded four tries in 16 minutes in the second half, an alarming run for Steve Hansen's men in what was a bizarrely topsy-turvy test.

Argentina won't have the attacking ability of the Wallabies when they take on the All Blacks in New Plymouth on Saturday, but they do have the ability to create pressure and capitalise on mistakes.

The Crusaders, Hurricanes and Chiefs all went deep into the recent Super Rugby championship through a counterattacking, free-running style. The goal for the All Blacks after two recent uneven performances will be to improve their option taking and execution on attack. What works in Super Rugby doesn't necessarily transfer to the level above.

"We've conceded more than we would like but we have also scored a lot and some of that attacking attitude has also gifted the opposition some of those tries," assistant coach Ian Foster said today.

In Dunedin, a Damian McKenzie pass was intercepted for Israel Folau's try in the opening minute, and there were obvious defensive shortcomings in the lead-up to the tries scored by Michael Hooper and Bernard Foley.

"When you take away an intercept pass last week and a dominant scrum we didn't shut down properly - there are some things there [to improve] - it's nothing really to do with the defence," Foster said.

"Some of [the issues] are to do with our execution on attack and not gifting the opposition stuff, and some of it is getting better in our [defensive] systems just like we do on attack.

"It's a work in progress but clearly we have been making it too easy by gifting the opposition tries through our own handling errors and we've got to work on that part of it."

Previously, the work the opposition have put in to stop the early and relentless All Black attacks has paid off for Hansen's men in the second half. It takes physical and mental effort to make multiple tackles and the All Blacks have cashed in through their superior fitness and reserves bench, but that hasn't transpired this year.

Part of that has been sub-standard skill execution which is letting teams off the hook, but the All Blacks were ordinary by their standards in the final quarters of the three British & Irish Lions tests, poor there in Sydney, and had Read, TJ Perenara and Beauden Barrett to thank for their late and dramatic revival in Dunedin.