Malakai Fekitoa (right) celebrates scoring a try against Ireland with Israel Dagg and Anton Lienert-Brown in 2016. Photo / Getty Images
Malakai Fekitoa (right) celebrates scoring a try against Ireland with Israel Dagg and Anton Lienert-Brown in 2016. Photo / Getty Images
OPINION:
The dust had nowhere near settled in Dunedin when already Ireland were being asked about what sort of response they expected from the All Blacks this week.
Ireland's captain Johnny Sexton and coach Andy Farrell didn't specify what exactly they thought they would be facing in Wellington, other thanto say they knew it would be something, and something big.
But the specific nature of how the All Blacks respond is hugely important. The insinuation is that "response" in this context, essentially means fury.
We tend to link response with rage and given the passive work of the All Blacks for long periods in Dunedin, controlled anger expressed through thunderous ball carrying, tackling and cleanout work will of course be no bad thing.
But aggression, passion and intensity can't be the extent of how the All Blacks fight back this week.
Malakai Fekitoa (right) celebrates scoring a try against Ireland with Israel Dagg and Anton Lienert-Brown in 2016. Photo / Getty Images
They have made that mistake before: when they met Ireland in Dublin two weeks after they had lost to them in Chicago in 2016.
The All Blacks were angry that day in Ireland six years ago – angry at the way they had prepared so poorly in the USA. Angry at their lack of physicality on the day, for their ill-discipline and lack of accuracy that saw them trail 30-8 after 50 minutes.
They ended up losing 40-29 to hand Ireland their historic first win and so when they arrived in Dublin, they brought the focus and determination that had been missing, but it was laced with brutality.
It was one of the most intense tests played in the last decade – the tackle count for the All Blacks pushing close to 300 and the game was memorable for the ferocity of the collisions.
As defence coach Wayne Smith at the time said in 'Steve Hansen: The Legacy': "That game in Dublin was simply a reaction to Chicago. We had just set a world record of 18 test wins in a row and there was absolutely no doubt that in Chicago there wasn't the same intensity in the build-up. We took our eye off the ball a wee bit and it hurt and if you look back now, we could have set the winning streak at 23 or 24 if we had won that game.
"But we didn't and so that Dublin test there was a heightened sense of revenge. I think we made 283 tackles and that is the most I've ever been involved with and they were brutal."
The All Blacks won 21-9 but the way they left Ireland bruised and bloodied also left a lingering sense of disgruntlement with the home side, with head coach Steve Hansen being asked three times to comment on the style and nature of New Zealand's tackling.
"I'm not sure where you're going with this, do you want me to tell you we're a dirty side or something? Is that what you're saying?" bristled Hansen.
Robbie Henshaw leaves the field on a cart in Dublin, 2016. Photo / Photosport
But his public defence of his team was at odds with his private assessment.
A few years later Sam Cane revealed that the problem of being so brutal that day was that the All Blacks failed to trust their micro-skills: they didn't play with their heads up, looking for ways to exploit space through their slick pass-and-catch which had served them so well that year.
Instead, they had been one-dimensional – all bludgeon and no rapier - and so while the All Blacks did indeed produce a response that day in Dublin, it wasn't one that had enough elements to it.
And this is the mistake that they can't be lulled into making again this week. Yes, the intensity needs to lift, but of considerably greater importance is that their strategic ploys need to be smarter, execution sharper, kicking game more accurate and general awareness of where to attack much greater.
The kicking component is perhaps the single most important element the All Blacks need to bring to Wellington and in this regard the probable return of David Havili to the No 12 jersey is critical.
Bringing him back will give the All Blacks a greater variety of kickers and a more experienced voice to guide Beauden Barrett through the test.
In a litany of things that were wrong, playing too much rugby in their own territory and kicking possession away too easily were among the worst sins in the first half-hour.
Havili, if he is returned to the starting lineup, along with Will Jordan, will be the points of difference from last week and the presence of both men should act as additional incentive for the All Blacks to make sure their response this week is more skills-focused and not simply trying to smack Ireland all over Sky Stadium.
