Tracey Nelson is the stats guru for haka.co.nz and will provide statistical analysis of the All Blacks' matches during their end of year tour.
The All Blacks 38-18 win over Ireland saw some major milestones reached with Richie McCaw and Mils Muliaina becoming the most capped All Blacks playing in their 93rd tests, while Graham Henry racked up 100 test wins as a coach.
Henry's wins include 77 with the All Blacks, 22 with
Wales and one with the British and Irish Lions. Should the All Blacks beat Wales next week (and who would bet against that) he will also have coached the All Blacks to three Grand Slam wins.
The All Blacks kept up their average points and means of scoring against Ireland running in four tries, although this week they all went to the forwards as opposed to last week against Scotland when it was the backline crossing the chalk.
Kieran Read scored two tries in the second half and he now has three tries under his belt on this end of year tour as just reward for his efforts around the field. This week Read was the 4th ranked forward for getting to the breakdown, and was 2nd ranked for both ball carries (9) and tackles made (13).
Top ball carrier this week was Jerome Kaino with 10, while the top tackler was McCaw with 14 tackles and 2 assists. Kaino also excelled on defence making 10 tackles while missing none, and was only marginally behind Read when it came to hitting breakdowns.
Anthony Boric made every post a winner as a late replacement in the starting lineup for Brad Thorn. He led the charge around the field and was the topped ranked All Black for ruck arrivals (being in the first three to arrive 32 times), he made 9 tackles and also carted the ball up 7 times.
Add in the two steals he took off the Irish lineout to compliment the two he won on the All Blacks' throw, plus a try in the first half and Boric can sit back and feel pretty chuffed by his efforts.
While it wasn't the backs' week to score tries they certainly helped set them up.
Hosea Gear and Mils Muliaina both made two line breaks each this week, and helped create tries for Whitelock and Read. Once again Conrad Smith was the leading tackler in the backline, with six.
In some ways it was quite fitting that Dan Carter missed his final kick at goal that would have seen him equal Jonny Wilkinson's record for test points - it is a feat that shouldn't be overshadowed by the other records that came against Ireland, and so he will get his chance against Wales next week. Carter did kick 7 out of 8 kicks to come away with a tally of 18 points from this test.
A much better outcome in the penalty count this week with only 10 conceded - and better yet, only one when it came to scrums. Turnovers were also lower with only 14 conceded, the majority of those handling errors (9).
Heroes: Hard to go past Kieran Read with two tries and his work rate around the field but I will - for me nobody played better than Anthony Boric, and in this current All Black side the bar is being set very high.
Villains: Nobody really deserves finger pointing this week, except perhaps the match officials who seemed to have a very lenient view on what constituted a forward pass - but at least they were consistent and let both sides away with it.
Full stats can be found at haka.co.nz
- Herald online
