First-five Richie Mo'unga at the All Blacks media session at the Heritage Hotel, Auckland. 21 May 2018 New Zealand Herald Photograph by Jason Oxenham.
First-five Richie Mo'unga at the All Blacks media session at the Heritage Hotel, Auckland. 21 May 2018 New Zealand Herald Photograph by Jason Oxenham.
What was obviously an uncomfortable second test debrief for the All Blacks collectively may have been specifically more painful for key decision makers Aaron Smith, TJ Perenara and Damian McKenzie.
Uncomfortable because many roads led back to them and their failure to deliver the strategic approach that was being askedfor.
According to Sam Cane and Ben Smith the coaches highlighted a range of basic failings in the review, many of which stemmed, they suspected, from too many players believing the job was virtually done in the wake of France being shown a red card.
That change of attitude was understandable but the senior leadership group say they were aware of the drifting mood and that their communication was designed to refocus the team on trying to go through rather than round the French.
Messages received but not understood judging by the way the All Blacks played.
"Certainly if we had our time again we'd deliver a few different messages…just because there is one man down and there is space out wide let's go through them first until it's really obvious," said Cane.
"There would be a few different messages and we've talked about them." The tactical decision-making was clearly not at the required level and compounding that was the execution which followed. The All Blacks not only chose the wrong attacking options too often, they did so inaccurately and inexpertly.
All Blacks first-five Richie Mo'unga during the All Blacks training session at The Blues base, Alexandra Park, Auckland. Photo / Brett Phibbs.
Smith had one of his most disappointing tests, throwing poor passes and making rash decisions while Perenara did much the same when he came on.
But the former is the best halfback in the world and will inevitably bounce back this week, on his home ground, with a typically smooth and hugely influential performance.
The much bigger question is what does the tactical meltdown in Wellington mean for McKenzie?
He can't be solely blamed for the unstructured rugby that the All Blacks produced but he was, to a reasonable extent, complicit in creating some of the muddle and confusion.
Was what happened in Wellington evidence McKenzie needs more time starting at No 10 to develop his craft at this level or confirmation that he's best suited to a bench role where his instinctive desire to run and challenge the defence can be deadly in the final quarter?
The All Blacks coaches haven't given any hint about how they see things working out selection-wise this week, but the argument for returning McKenzie to the bench and starting Richie Mo'unga in the probable absence of Beauden Barrett may be hard to resist.
The Crusaders No 10 has shown infinite poise and calm throughout the last two years of Super Rugby and has a skills portfolio that is skewed heavily towards him being viewed as a starting test No 10 rather than a bench option.
His key strengths are his game management, much of which is built on his kicking game – facets in which the All Blacks failed to deliver last week in Wellington.
The risk with Mo'unga is that he has not yet played a test and while he's looked ready to graduate to the international game, there is no guarantee he will cope mentally.
But as coach Steve Hansen has said several times in the last few days, the All Blacks have to be willing to take risks this year to find out whether the likes of Mo'unga are good enough to take to the World Cup.
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