All Blacks vs Wales
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Not too much to add, except for someone who has hated Taylors form this year, I was happy to see him find some of it. I don't care about tries but lineout accuracy is paramount and only missing one target in his time on the field was good.
All our tight forwards did well setting the tone of this one. Frizell didn't execute at his best and left the gate open in a position that seems when anyone gets the chance to nail it as their own, they let the door ajar.
Loved seeing Smith run again, feels like that also has been a long time absent.
Don't move Jordie back to 15
Think Mounga has a few works on when it comes to running that backline still, but don't really want to criticize anyone when you beat Wales and score over 50 points in doing so.
well done ABs
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@bayimports didnt taylor has some off field disruptions/issues he was dealing with, maybe those have been resolved?
Form is temporary, class is permanent...let's hope he keeps hitting his targets.
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@taniwharugby said in All Blacks vs Wales:
@bayimports didnt taylor has some off field disruptions/issues he was dealing with, maybe those have been resolved?
Form is temporary, class is permanent...let's hope he keeps hitting his targets.
Maybe a Canterbury fan can answer that. He has always been industrious, but when our overall attack becomes more conservative and revolves around our lineout then throwing is crucial. Anyway, well done that man, looked good out there.
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'Rage in the system': The two key factors in ABs demolition job
The All Blacks’ demolition of Wales can be put down to two things.
After their impressive win over Wales, the All Blacks players easily identified two key reasons for the big victory, reports Gregor Paul from Cardiff.
The All Blacks demolition of Wales can be put down to smart on-field tactical management and a controlled harnessing of anger.
These were the two factors universally identified by the players as the key to a victory that was achieved in a style that few imagined the All Blacks had in their repertoire.
It was a performance built on bash and crash – on relentlessly bruising ball carrying by the forwards and a directness that began in the first minute and never stopped.
Such a conservative game plan hadn’t initially been on the agenda for the All Blacks.
The intent was to look to play a little more rugby than they did – to add some creative spice to the staple ingredient of direct running.
But conditions and outcomes changed the thinking. Despite the roof being closed in Cardiff, the heavy rain and relatively warm temperature created a degree of humidity inside the stadium and conditions were heavier and wetter than they may have appeared.slippery,” says Aaron Smith. “It was dewy and it was warm. Everyone was dripping wet after about five minutes. There were a few dropped balls early on so everyone had to adjust.
“We shortened up our passes and our forwards tightened up. At times we were really dominant, getting round the corner to win the collision area, deliver good cleanouts and we were breaking into the 22 a lot.”
How easily and often the All Blacks were able to get into the Welsh 22 should be a worry for the home side, but how ruthless and effective New Zealand were once they got there should be a worry to the rest of the rugby world.
Once the All Blacks were in the red zone, they produced direct, brutal rugby that was clinical and almost unstoppable.
They recycled the ball so quickly, had runners queuing up either side of the ruck, and it was too much for Wales to contend with.
“If we get 10 metres out, we back our big boys to get that last 10 metres,” says Smith.
“When our cleans were good, we were dominant and we got some nice tries in that space. Our loose forwards and our locks are dominant carriers. It was a bit of a big boy game and we had to play that way.
“We picked a lot more because we know we had to respect the Welsh defence.
“When we tried to go wide a couple of times, the way they hold their width and come with line speed, it is pretty hard to attack around. But because they are spread out a lot little bit, there is space around the ruck to punch into.”ed coach Ian Foster was the decision-making by the leadership team to be so committed to the direct approach.
It was a style that was working and so the All Blacks resisted all temptation to try to attack wider inside the Welsh 22 and instead just kept patiently hammering close to the ruck.
“Our drivers who direct our game felt like they were getting gains through that area so that was on them,” says Ardie Savea.
“I think this team when they play on instinct, and they do their prep and play what is in front of them and just do things, that’s when we are at our best and it felt like that.
“We went out of structure a little bit and played what was in front of us and it worked well.”
And the foundation to the intensity of the performance came from some serious rage in the system that had brewed on the back of the underwhelming performance the previous week in Japan.
That had been a sore point all week for the All Blacks as they prepared, the message being hammered home that they had to learn the art of consolidating and building on a big lead.
For the third time this season, the All Blacks let a good lead slip midway through the second half in Tokyo, something they were determined couldn’t happen again in Cardiff.
“We were hard on ourselves all week,” says Dalton Papali’i. “We knew we put a pretty average performance against Japan out on the field. We knew it wasn’t good enough.
“All throughout the week we were hard on each other.”
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@JC said in All Blacks vs Wales:
@canefan said in All Blacks vs Wales:
How good was our clean out. It was exactly what I've been wanting to see for some time. The forwards were clinically brutal shifting any opposition from the breakdown area
And without risking a card too.
Did the Welsh get many turnovers from the ruck or holding on penalties? If there were it was not many and we got a few key ones.
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One thing the Welsh did extremely well was to protect the winger from AS box kicks, it was literally a wall of players going back meaning our chasers simply could not compete for the ball. It appears they have practised and almost perfected the box defence.
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@chimoaus I'm not sure how it's legal. Players definitely change their line. AB players are blocked. It it was on a grubber you would get a different interpretation.
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@chimoaus said in All Blacks vs Wales:
@JC said in All Blacks vs Wales:
@canefan said in All Blacks vs Wales:
How good was our clean out. It was exactly what I've been wanting to see for some time. The forwards were clinically brutal shifting any opposition from the breakdown area
And without risking a card too.
Did the Welsh get many turnovers from the ruck or holding on penalties? If there were it was not many and we got a few key ones.
One where ardie got cute. Stood there. Got folded meaning his cleaner (ioane I think) had no chance when two welsh forwards just drove him.
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@sparky said in All Blacks vs Wales:
@Victor-Meldrew Cotter excellent as ever. I thought Warburton and Gatland were good co-commentators too.
Knowledgeable, adds colour while sticking to what's happening on the screen, gets the excitement over without being emotional. The Dan Carter of commentators for me.
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Despite the high number of points scored, it was far from a fast flowing game. How many times did B. Barrett, Reece, R. Ioane and Clarke got the ball in attacking situations ? The AB management had decided to win it with the forwards, which they did comfortably.
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@mariner4life said in All Blacks vs Wales:
@chimoaus I'm not sure how it's legal. Players definitely change their line. AB players are blocked. It it was on a grubber you would get a different interpretation.
I suspect as it takes forever for the 9 to setup the box kick 4 defenders simply create a line and then jog slowly together towards their winger without changing their line effectively creating a screen. I have to say it was very effective and probably the best I have seen so far in negating the box kick battle.
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@cgrant said in All Blacks vs Wales:
Despite the high number of points scored, it was far from a fast flowing game. How many times did B. Barrett, Reece, R. Ioane and Clarke got the ball in attacking situations ? The AB management had decided to win it with the forwards, which they did comfortably.
It was a game for the fatties for sure, the sweet hold and pass from BB to JB was nice but yes that was one of the best forward displays for awhile. Bloody Reece had just One run the entire game for no metres and CC not much better with 4 runs for 12m. They clearly did not want to go much wider than JB.
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@Victor-Meldrew said in All Blacks vs Wales:
@sparky said in All Blacks vs Wales:
@Victor-Meldrew Cotter excellent as ever. I thought Warburton and Gatland were good co-commentators too.
Knowledgeable, adds colour while sticking to what's happening on the screen, gets the excitement over without being emotional. The Dan Carter of commentators for me.
I was a bit surprised by him in the first 20 or so last night as he was coming across as a Welsh fan and seemed very negative on the ABs. He came right though.
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@chimoaus said in All Blacks vs Wales:
@mariner4life said in All Blacks vs Wales:
@chimoaus I'm not sure how it's legal. Players definitely change their line. AB players are blocked. It it was on a grubber you would get a different interpretation.
I suspect as it takes forever for the 9 to setup the box kick 4 defenders simply create a line and then jog slowly together towards their winger without changing their line effectively creating a screen. I have to say it was very effective and probably the best I have seen so far in negating the box kick battle.
No. From memory they have to hold the defensive line then sort of turn and converge on the approximate point of catch
In thr NRL that's an escort all day. Rugby rules are similar
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But conditions and outcomes changed the thinking. Despite the roof being closed in Cardiff, the heavy rain and relatively warm temperature created a degree of humidity inside the stadium and conditions were heavier and wetter than they may have appeared.slippery,” says Aaron Smith. “It was dewy and it was warm. Everyone was dripping wet after about five minutes. There were a few dropped balls early on so everyone had to adjust.
“We shortened up our passes and our forwards tightened up. At times we were really dominant, getting round the corner to win the collision area, deliver good cleanouts and we were breaking into the 22 a lot.”
