Victor Vito is hit hard in the tackle by Georgia centre Davit Kacharava. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Victor Vito is hit hard in the tackle by Georgia centre Davit Kacharava. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Richie McCaw says relax but the international rugby media are convinced the All Blacks are faltering at this World Cup and in danger of losing their mojo.
New Zealand media has been circumspect since the stuttering 43-10 win over dogged Georgia at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium this morning. But theinternational press, while acknowledging New Zealand has now secured a quarter final start with a third Pool C triumph, they are far from the commanding Cup favourites they appeared when they first flew into the UK.
The feeling was summed up by James Corrigan, writing in the London Daily Telegraph.
"New Zealand became the first team to qualify for the knock-out stages, but did so with the shrug of the frustrated and concerned rather than the swagger of reigning champions," Corrigan told his readers. "On this showing - and, indeed, on the two games before - the tournament favourites are eminently beatable."
Corrigan said All Blacks coach Steve Hansen would be "scribbling furiously" with a list of major concerns headed by Dan Carter's errant goalkicking and handling and New Zealand's "battered" scrum.
"The All Blacks took but 78 seconds to score their first try, 22 minutes to score their fourth and so secure the bonus point; but it was anything but all black on the night. The Georgia scrum had the opposing pack in several shapes of disfigurement, while the repeated knock-ons were as much to do with some of the iron-wall hits coming in from Eastern Europeans as much as the continued New Zealand sloppiness."
Image 1 of 12: All Blacks captain Richie McCaw before the Pool C match between New Zealand and Georgia. Photo / Brett Phibbs
It was a theme running through the British press as they dissected the defending world champions' efforts.
Nik Simon in the London Daily Mail suggested Hansen would be considering banning extra-curricular activities like visits to the golf course in favour of more training sessions.
"The world champions looked well off par as they stuttered past a second-string Georgian side, with serious eyebrows raised over their error count and scrummaging. Despite becoming the first country to secure their place in the quarter-finals, the southern hemisphere powerhouse looked half-baked and Hansen might be tempted to replace his players' trips to Celtic Manor with some extra hours on the training pitch."
Writing for the Times of London, John Westerby was also puzzled by New Zealand's lack of efficiency and speculated they were arriving at the quarter finals "under cooked".
"These games are often awkward for the leading nations, but the All Blacks set themselves the highest standards and they did not meet those expectations," he told his readers.
Westerby did highlight Waisake Naholo's breathtaking opening try as evidence the All Blacks are not done yet and that the Fijian winger could become one of the stories of the tournament.
"Any doubt about his leg remained, it soon disappeared with his first touch of the ball," he said, noting "sales of those healing leaves from Fiji can be expected to soar in the next few weeks."
Matt Majendi, in the Independent, noted "this was supposed to be the first cricket score of the World Cup".
"The M4 had been brought to a standstill by 70,000 fans converging on Cardiff for a vintage All Blacks performance. This was anything but."
Paul Rees, writing in the Guardian, said the All Blacks will be particularly worried about Georgia dominating their scrum.
"Two tries at the end did not mask the errors that had happened throughout and of greatest concern will be a scrum that spent the game going backwards," he wrote. "The All Blacks have in past World Cups fused scoreboards against tier-two teams but the one here appeared to have stopped working for a long time on Friday night. New Zealand's outside-half Dan Carter is one of the game's all-time greats but here he was reduced to the role of a mortal, knocked off his lofty perch along with the rest of his team by opponents who relished every moment.
"If it were not for the colour of their jerseys they would have been unidentifiable from the team that has been some way ahead of the rest since before the 2011 World Cup."
The negative reviews weren't just restricted to British press.
Andrew Baldock in the Sydney Morning Herald wrote that despite a bright start "New Zealand's early class and supremacy was mysteriously replaced by a disjointed, error-strewn display".
"Only when the All Blacks moved possession wide did they look threatening, and Georgia were more than happy to find themselves still firmly in the game midway through the third quarter.....New Zealand know they have much to work on in their quest for a successful world title defence."
South African agency Sport 24 said: "The All Blacks put in a performance to forget."
