There have been more weird rugby test matches in New Zealand. Think 1975, when at a flooded Eden Park, the water was so deep on the pitch that a collapsed scrum or ruck produced a genuine chance a player might drown.
But the first test with France, won 31-27 by the All Blacks in Dunedin on Saturday night, had a weird, bizarre air to it from start to finish.
Les Baby Bleus, fielding five test rookies, were written off by commentators, the public, and the most cold-eyed examiners of form, the odds-makers at the TAB, who had France at 16 to 1 outsiders. Oops.
So the start to the wild and crazy aspects of the Dunedin test was that there were many moments when it felt as if France might pull off one of the great upsets. Add in so many disallowed tries it seemed the NRL’s nit-picking Bunker was running things off the field, and to say the night was disorienting wildly understated the situation.
We know from past experience at World Cups, including the 2011 final, that writing off a French rugby side is deeply foolish. You could endlessly analyse what happened in Dunedin, but I’d suggest that won’t help predict how the second and third tests of the series will play out.
Why? Because, on the one hand, the All Blacks could easily have been awarded another two, maybe even three, tries. A less pedantic TMO than Damon Murphy in Wellington next weekend and we might see the comfortable New Zealand victory most expected in Dunedin. On the other hand, it’s France the All Blacks will face, and expecting them to be predictable is as silly as betting on who Donald Trump will slap his next tariff on.
Not all the All Blacks’ problems with try-scoring can be blamed on officials.
There were several examples of first-test-of-the-season jitters, too. Which is why Will Jordan, as he often does, basically provided an oasis of calm every time he was passed the ball with a chance to score or at least make ground. Two tries confirmed and a 64th-minute touchdown denied for a very technical call of obstruction illustrated how much Jordan means to this All Blacks side.
New All Blacks lock Fabian Holland’s back story is so charming (he saw the All Blacks sevens team training in his hometown of Castricum in the Netherlands in 2014 when he was 11, and at 16 moved to Christchurch dreaming of becoming an All Black), you sometimes wondered if it influenced how you judged his play for the Highlanders. No need to wonder anymore. Holland is the real deal, proving both his temperament and physicality are up to the demands of international rugby, with a flawless lineout performance. At 2.04m and 124kg, he shapes as the giant lock the All Blacks have missed since Brodie Retallick (also 2.04m) stepped down.
Plenty of candidates, but I’d single out gutsy left wing Gabin Villiere, whose work rate was typical of so many of his backline partners. He produced some brilliant defensive work to prevent what looked like a certain try after a terrific run by All Blacks halfback Cam Roigard. If the All Blacks tighten up their game, Villiere may not see as much ball in Wellington as he did in Dunedin, but give the man any space at all and he’s a danger.
Every damned one of the players starting his first test in blue deserved accolades for playing without what appeared to be a hint of fear. In France, the All Blacks are revered for their ability and toughness, much the way Kiwis regard the Springboks. For the French debutants to put aside what would no doubt have been generations of stories about the fabled All Blacks, and play their own game, was a remarkable achievement.
Online critics had gone hard and strong on a Crusaders bias from the day Scott Robertson took charge of the All Blacks. The anti-Razor group lost one area to criticise, with the squad used in Dunedin including six Crusaders and seven Chiefs. In the process, one of the outstanding players when the Crusaders beat the Chiefs in the Super Rugby Pacific final, Ethan Blackadder, lost his place in the All Blacks.
The search for a blindside flanker to take over the massive gap left by Jerome Kaino has now led to Tupou Vaa’i, the Chiefs’ lock. It’s not the first time the national selectors have moved a mobile lock to the side of the scrum. It happened in the 2019 World Cup semifinal with Scott Barrett playing there against England. It didn’t work. Some things, like lineout work, are the same, but others, especially on defence, need a different set of skills.
It’s far too soon to make any judgment on Vaa’i playing in the No 6 jersey, but it is worth noting that Kaino, vital to the 2011 and 2015 cup-winning sides, was not a converted lock. From his first game for Auckland in 2004, Kaino was either a flanker or a No 8. Vaa’i is a terrific rugby player, and he may well make a successful flanker. If so, he’ll be just the second All Black, after Reuben Thorne, in 30 years of the professional game to do so.
After bagging British myths about the 1971 Lions recently, it only seems fair to debunk a Kiwi legend. The 1986 Baby Blacks did not form the basis of the 1987 World Cup-winning All Blacks.
The Baby Blacks, with nine players making their test debuts (because first-string All Blacks had been banned after a rebel tour of South Africa), stunned a powerful French side 18-9 in Christchurch. As years rolled by, the fable developed that they then dominated the ’87 Cup side.
Wrong. Five Baby Blacks played in the ’87 final. There were nine of the rebel Cavaliers in the All Blacks side, who beat France, 29-9.