Over a lifetime of covering rugby, Phil Gifford has seen many of the greatest players to don the black jersey – and the biggest change in that time has been the arrival of professionalism in 1996.
OPINION
“Rugby’s a pretty simple game,” the great unbeaten target="_blank">All Blacks coach Sir Fred Allen used to say, “but people try to bugger it up by complicating things”.
For me, one element towered over all the rest: the All Blacks’ lineout, especially in the first half, was awful.
Put some of that down to the brilliance of Maro Itoje, the great England lock. In Dunedin after the first test, Robertson summed up the lineout problems in one word: “Maro.”
At Eden Park, Itoje was even more dominant, aided by the fact the All Blacks’ efforts on their own throw in the first 40 minutes bordered on farce.
With the first-half penalty count 6-1 in New Zealand’s favour, England should have been under unrelenting pressure, had the All Blacks secured clean and consistent lineout ball.
Defenders have to leave a 10m gap behind the lineout, so if the team with the ball is not setting up a rolling maul, there’s space for backline moves.
But when your own throw becomes at best a 50-50 proposition, a side as capable as England can instead be unsurprisingly leading at halftime.
On the other hand
After some white noise out of Britain last week suggesting Ethan de Groot was illegally boring in at the scrum, the All Blacks answered in the best possible way.
No penalties were awarded against the All Blacks’ front row, and one second-half scrum saw the England pack shoved backwards at such speed, the cheers from the sell-out crowd was at a volume usually reserved for tries.
Come the 50th minute, come the man
Off the field, Beauden Barrett is one of the most grounded, considered thinkers to ever wear the All Blacks jersey.
On the field, he is also razor sharp, as he showed when subbed on in the 50th minute at Eden Park.
His first four touches of the ball involved cagey kicks that turned around England’s defence. The fifth time he got the ball, there was a time-tunnel moment, flashing back to the 2015 World Cup final at Twickenham, when he set the game alight with a blindingly fast solo try.
This time, he split the English defence and timed his pass perfectly for wing Mark Tele’a to score his second try of the test.
“We got what we’d analysed,” Barrett said after the game. “But to find space under [England’s] line speed pressure is easier said than done. But as the game went on, we found little opportunities. It’s sticking with the game plan, and then it’s the energy to pull the strings.”
It somehow felt right that Barrett was also the man buried under England captain Jamie George to save a potential last-minute try. George would later claim the try should have been awarded and the penalty given by referee Nic Berry to the All Blacks for English obstruction was wrong.
Barrett was sure of one thing: he stopped George from scoring.
“I knew I successfully got under the ball and held it up,” he said.
Video evidence backs Barrett. The obstruction rule that led to the penalty?
“I don’t know the rule on that. I just wanted to hold the ball up.”
Beauden Barrett during win over England at Eden Park. Photo / Photosport
Selection issues
With Barrett making two starring cameos, the All Blacks selectors will soon be faced with difficult choices a lot of teams around the world would be delighted to have.
Stephen Perofeta has looked at home at fullback. Does he stay there when Will Jordan has recovered from injury?
Damian McKenzie is under intense critical scrutiny at first five-eighths, a spotlight that will probably only get brighter. Is it fair to Barrett to keep using him as an impact player off the bench?
I’m not one of the chorus lambasting McKenzie, especially after his goal-kicking kept the All Blacks in the test at Eden Park. But it’s hard not to feel the role of impact player may be switched from Barrett to him.
Stunning? As in stunned into a comatose state
A “stunning win” in a “thrilling encounter” was how The Guardian in England described Ireland’s 25-24 win over South Africa in Durban.
Stunning? Thrilling? There was one try, albeit slickly executed, to Ireland halfback Conor Murray.
Handre Pollard kicked eight – that’s right, eight – penalties for the Springboks. Jack Crowley kicked four penalties and a conversion, and Ciaran Frawley dropped two goals for Ireland.
Well done to Ireland for beating the Springboks at home. But as an example of the rot at the top levels of rugby (let’s remember South Africa won last year’s World Cup despite not scoring a try against the All Blacks in the final), 44 of 49 points in a test coming from kicks sums up a grim, dull situation.
Home is where the title is
Having spent my childhood cheering on Waihi Athletic, good on the current team for winning just the second Thames Valley senior title in the club’s history, beating Paeroa 37-19 in the final.
