Phil Gifford: The worst I've ever seen in an All Blacks test

New Zealand's Hoskins Sotutu (right) passes the ball during a rugby union international match between Italy and All Blacks New Zealand at Rome's Olympic Stadium. Photo / AP

OPINION:

The aura of the All Black jersey can be a blessing, but also a curse.

When Justin Marshall was presented with his first All Black jersey, the night before a test with France in Paris he put it on the bed in his hotel room and "stared at it for ages, wondering if I was man enough to put it on."

There were far too many twitchy, all thumbs efforts in much of the test with Italy, and captain Sam Cane probably wasn't joking when he said that while setting up the haka a lot of the players "wanted to be in the back row".

How much can we put down to big game nerves?

I'd suggest stage fright does take a big share of the blame for the nightmare first 25 minutes. But there were also hints of trial rugby fever, some throwback moments to the long-buried amateur era when players would be flung together, and play a dreaded trial match where 80 minutes could decide their All Black future. In Rome that mindset of trying a little too hard to impress before the starting teams for the biggest games, against Ireland and France, are named, wasn't limited to the new boys.

Put it all together and yes, the first quarter, against the team that's forever been the worst in the Six Nations competition, does rate as probably the worst I've ever seen in an All Black test in the last half-century.

If it's some small consolation, it's a close call with the start of the 1994 test in Christchurch against France, when the All Black backline was tackled out of the match, and a teenage kid called Jonah Lomu looked miles out of his depth on the wing.

All Blacks players line-up for the anthems before the rugby union international match between Wales and New Zealand. Photo / AP

Yet just 11 months later the All Blacks were the sensation of the 1995 World Cup, and Lomu would become, quite rightly, the most famous player in the world.

In '94 the All Blacks lost 22-8 to France, so the All Black malaise spread throughout the match. At least this Italian test was won, 47-9, thanks mainly to the wise decision to largely revert to the dour, but effective tactic of kicking for lineouts and driving for tries from them.

Come on down the diamond in the dross

By and large very good hookers share a lot of personality traits with very good halfbacks. They're stroppy and mouthy, but also fearless, fast, and physical.

Dane Coles was electric in his first starting test for three months. With the All Blacks scratching to a 7-0 lead at 27 minutes, and Italy fanatically defending like inspired heroes in a sporting opera libretto, the unthinkable, New Zealand's first loss to Italy, wasn't a completely demented possibility.

Over to you Dane. He made accurate throws to attacking lineouts, then shrewdly marshalled the rolling mauls, and scored twice, in the 31st and 38th minutes from them, to blow the halftime score out to 21-6, and make the win safe. The perfect touch, in a game that until then had been sadly lacking them, was seeing Coles, for his second try, sprinting for the line, like a wind-up toy fired from the world's biggest rubber band.

Maybe it was just a bad day

A lot of British referees (think Wayne Barnes) have the look of a supercilious teacher at a posh school. Karl Dickson, the rookie Englishman in charge of the test in Rome, is different. He looks like a retired, tough, middleweight boxer.

Unfortunately, the man of the people looks didn't translate into a workmanlike, down to earth, largely error-free display. He was badly caught out just 11 minutes into the test when he whistled a penalty to Italy, when playing even a short advantage would have seen Monty Ioane, the dynamic Australian on the Italian left wing, score the first try of the match.

New Zealand's George Bridge (left) is tackled by Italy's Marco Zanon (centre) during a rugby union international match between Italy and All Blacks. Photo / AP

He should be forgiven for that. But while it wasn't by any means the main reason for the mediocrity of much of the game, his rulings at the breakdown were just weird. Players competing for the ball while literally lying on another player, or even while on the ground, were not punished but rewarded with penalties.

Irish eyes, as they say, will be smiling

It feels like it's been a long time coming, but when the All Blacks and Ireland face off in Dublin early next Sunday morning (New Zealand time) we'll finally get a real test on this world tour, against a team in Ireland that impressed with a 60-5 victory over Japan.

Comparisons can be a shaky basis when predicting results, but Japan were hugely competitive against the Wallabies in Oita, with Australia ahead by just four points with four minutes to go, before winning 32-23, so the Irish win wasn't against easybeats.

Ireland are led by an all time great in first-five Johnny Sexton, so expect a lot of aerial work for the All Black back three. And they'll present a defensive line coached by Andy Farrell, the hard-bitten former league international, who was the defence coach for Warren Gatland on two successful Lions' tours, to Australia in 2013 and New Zealand in 2017.

Finding a way to unravel the Irish defensive lines will be a coaching and playing task that rates up there with playing the Springboks.

Nothing more need to be said

As expected, England demolished Tonga 69-3 at Twickenham. Fair play to England's officials, they supported the last attempt by New Zealand back in 2010 to get rules changed so former All Blacks and Wallabies could play for the Pacific Island countries they had family ties with.

Shame on the other European rugby powers if they don't change the rules at the end of this month to level the playing field for all.