All Blacks 1st-five Beauden Barrett in action against the Lions. Photo / Brett Phibbs
All Blacks 1st-five Beauden Barrett in action against the Lions. Photo / Brett Phibbs
The Herald ranks the All Blacks' 14 tests over 2017 based on each performance.
14. Wallabies 18-23 A defeat to Australia and especially Michael Cheika is a bitter pill to swallow. A total of 26 missed tackles is just unheard of by an All Blacks team who also missed the directionand class of Beauden Barrett.
13. Lions 21-24 Tempted to rank this higher because the All Blacks held on with 14-men for most of the test but a loss is a loss. Sonny Bill Williams' red card turned the match but the All Blacks still held a seven-point lead with 12 minutes to play. First test loss at home since 2009.
Sonny Bill Williams is sent off against the Lions. Photo / Brett Phibbs
12. Lions 15-15 If we were ranking the best tests to watch in 2017, this would be in the top three just because of the occasion but the All Blacks' performance at Eden Park was disappointing. They had chances to put away the Lions but made mistakes throughout the encounter, including a drop by Julian Savea with the line in sight.
ll Blacks captain Kieran Read and Lions captain Sam Warburton with the Lions Series trophy. Photo / Brett Phibbs
11. Scotland 22-17 Credit to the Scots who put in a strong showing however the All Blacks looked flat and tired at Murrayfield and were almost let down by ill-discipline.
10. Argentina 39-22 Will probably be remembered for the barnstorming performance of Vaea Fifita in New Plymouth but Argentina held a halftime lead and were still in the game until two late tries to the All Blacks. Six tries at home against Argentina – probably a par performance these days.
9. Samoa 78-0 These opening games of the season against lower tier nations are often lose-lose situations. You just need to trot out a few debutants, score plenty of tries, keep the opponents to nil and avoid injuries. That's exactly what the All Blacks did.
All Black First Five Beauden Barrett heads towards the try line against Samoa. Photo / Greg Bowker
8. Argentina 36-10 The All Blacks had one quarter of brilliance while the rest of the match was mostly forgettable. Four tries in the opening 26 minutes put the result beyond doubt.
7. France 38-18 Solid but not remarkable. The All Blacks had an impressive 31-5 lead at the break after a four-try first half effort. Maybe they were happy with the bonus point.
Sonny Bill Williams makes a break against France. Photosport
6. Wales 33-18 The best performance of the end-of-year tour. Nice to see the All Blacks finish the year with a really strong second half performance. Even more impressive that it came in the 14th test of the year.
5. Wallabies 54-34 Such a strange performance to judge. The All Blacks were up 54-6 in a near perfect opening 48 minutes but then conceded four tries to none. Still, scoring 54 points against one of your main rivals is always a good day.
4. Wallabies 35-29 Another thriller was far from a complete performance from the All Blacks in Dunedin. The Wallabies did the unthinkable a took a 17-0 lead after 14 minutes before the All Blacks launched a fightback to claim the lead with 18 minutes to play. The lead then changed four more times as Beauden Barrett scored with two minutes to play.
Beauden Barrett celebrates with brother Scott after scoring against the Wallabies. Photo / Photosport
3. South Africa 25-24 Exactly what you want and expect from an All Blacks-South Africa in the Republic. The Springboks bounced back from the Albany annihilation and fronted in Cape Town but the All Blacks met the challenge. Outside of the Lions series it was the biggest test for the All Blacks in 2017 and they didn't shy away from the contest.
2. Lions 30-15 Rose to the occasion and with really strong team effort at Eden Park. Rieko Ioane was superb was the forwards barely took a backward step against a stacked Lions pack. A shame they dropped off as the series went on but the first test win really was a superb outing from the All Blacks.
1. South Africa 57-0 The perfect All Blacks' performance? It's up there with the French 2015 quarter-final victory and the 1996 Bledisloe Cup win at Athletic Park. Eight tries to none and total dominance in all aspects of the field. For good measure Beauden Barrett finished the day nine for nine from the boot.
All Blacks winger Rieko Ioane scores against South Africa. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Scott Robertson has called up five new faces for his first All Blacks class of 2025, with his 35-man squad for next month’s series against France named.
