Stu Wilson: SBW stands out in strong performance

Sonny Bill Williams proved his worth on attack and in defence. Photo / Getty Images

Former All Black captain Stu Wilson shares his thoughts on the All Blacks' impressive win over Scotland.

After a mistake-ridden performance last week the All Blacks reached the high standard they set earlier in the season during their impressive Tri-Nations run.

Clinical is the key word to describe the performance against and Scotland side I was hoping would offer much more.

Scotland got first points and that was the only three points they got. 75 minutes later they had nothing for it. The pace of the game just caught them off guard.

It all started at the breakdown where the All Blacks were at their best. The clean ball hurt Scotland as the All Blacks got a roll on and provided the backline with plenty of space and they of course made the most of it with all seven tries scored by backs.

It doesn't matter which backline that runs out in black at the moment they still manage to run the ball with ease. We know what South Africa and England can do and it seems there are really only two backlines out there at the moment in New Zealand and Australia that can run the ball.

The difference between this week's match and last Sunday's win over England was the decision making. There was no 50-50 passes that were frequent at Twickenham.

There was a passage in the game that seemed to go for more than three minutes where we held onto the ball, guys made the right decisions, got in a tackle and correctly went to ground and recycled the ball or made the decision to off load.

Sonny Bill Williams absolutely deserved man of the match honours. The first two tries he was involved in, Hosea Gear's try was from a nice little offload, and the Carter try came about when Conrad Smith and Sonny Bill turned the ball over and that allowed the All Blacks to free up down the short side and coast away for a try.

He was involved in a lot today, his defence was much better then we saw against England. He also got more physically involved which is great as he's certainly an imposing creature. Second-five best suits him than centre especially with Conrad Smith outside him who was outstanding.

Smith lead the way in defence. He doesn't miss too many tackles and he was just right around the ankles and legs all day. Scotland tried to punch holes with their big numbers coming through the midfield but we had two or three guys there that stopped them every time.
Did Scotland ever break the line once?

The performance puts pressure on the rest of the squad especially Ma'a Nonu who's regular playing days in the black jersey might be coming to an end. With Cory Jane coming back there is a healthy fight for spots in both the backs and forwards.

Hika Elliot dropped a ball early on but had a solid performance in his first test. Obviously he's not going to get the space and time that you get in ITM Cup, you go from that to a test match and often guys get caught out. But after a few teething problems he stepped up to the mark.

With Andrew Hore returning there will be three hookers fighting for a spot in the final test match. A tough decision to make.

It's a great problem to have and one that puts smiles on All Blacks selectors where suddenly there's two or three guys in one position. One guy's going to be happy and one is going to be disappointed and that's the way is got to be.

Apart from Sonny Bill the other performance which really stood out was that of Kieran Read. He's a leader and makes the right decision all the time. He knows when to truck it up, he knows when to start looking for guys when the tackle is around his legs and not getting hit around the chest. He just needs a little bit more work at the back of the scrum.

Isaia Toeava had a bit of heat on him going into the game on the wing but he didn't look out of position and suited the style of play where the wingers were used more tactically.

What they did today, and haven't done a lot, was use their wingers to be the first receiver of every set piece just to cart it up. And when you've got Gear and Toeava, who are both over 100kgs, it just gets you over that advantage line quickly.

We know how good Gear is with the ball in hand but his involvement in getting touches, taking the ball from a lineout or from a scrum and then getting off the deck and looking for another touch was good to see.

That's the key for these All Blacks. The more touches you have the more the selectors pick your name.

Stu Wilson was talking to nzherald.co.nz sports editor Cameron McMillan.

- Herald online