John Drake: Coach should read riot act

The All Black coaches should give their players a rocket after that disappointing display against Wales.

If they play like that against South Africa in the quarter-finals, the All Blacks will be well and truly beaten.

The players are not above getting a blast from John Mitchell and Robbie Deans, and that's what they should get. It certainly won't do any harm.

Publicly, they will put on a brave face. Privately though, the coaches and players will be seething.

It was a tough assignment psychologically because they thought they were playing Wales B, then they scored in the first minute which probably reinforced any views that they were up against sub-standard opposition.

But they will be very disappointed, and it raised the question of whether at least some changes are needed.

For one, Kees Meeuws must be a contender to start, although it is a risk to bring him in for Dave Hewett because he would have to pack at the fairly unfamiliar position of loosehead against the powerful South Africans.

Meeuws was the only front-rower to have any impact against Wales.

Collectively, the front-row had its poorest game all year. Keven Mealamu made a couple of runs and was stopped - he just couldn't get over the advantage line.

The commentators were raving about Ali Williams, but really, he didn't get stuck into the tight stuff. I would retain him, though, alongside Chris Jack, because we need those lineout options - although no-one should underestimate what Brad Thorn has brought to this team.

Obviously it is a wake-up call, but I'm very surprised they didn't play better.

There were other problems maybe beyond the All Blacks' control. Aaron Mauger had not played for months and was obviously rusty. Things were going wrong with the defensive combination alongside Carlos Spencer - an area where the Welsh burst through.

This also raises another major point. The All Blacks should have played their No 1 line-up before this.

They were rusty as a combination, and this is not the time to be rusty. As we saw this year, they started slowly against England then improved into the Tri-Nations.

What was really lacking was aggression at the breakdown, and in defence.

It could be argued that the Welsh went beyond some of the legal limits at ruck time in disrupting the All Blacks' ball. But fair game.

You play to the referee's interpretations, and get away with what you can get away with.

This is what the All Blacks have been so good at down the years. They need more of a killer instinct.

They may need to pile more bodies into the breakdown area as well. This is the way the game is going and Bay of Plenty, for one, used this tactic to great effect in this year's NPC.

South Africa have improved, especially in the backs, although they will be hurt badly by the loss of loose forward Joe van Niekerk.

I am sure we will win the quarter-final. Our team is better than theirs.

I have no doubt that the All Blacks will improve many times over from that performance against Wales - they will need to.