Australian Schools beat Fiji Schools

NZ Schools 36 — Australia A Schools 0

In the curtain-raiser Australian A Schools was well-beaten by New Zealand Schools.

First half

It was evident early that the Kiwis were playing at a faster pace and with more rugby nous, which meant the Aussies had to infringe to compete. Add in the odd intercept and NZ was parked inside Oz territory early and often, despite playing against a strong wind.

At eight minutes NZ 10. McKenzie scored easily from a scrum move against a staggered defence, and ten minutes later he was in again after brushing off non-tackles. He converted both tries and at 18 minutes the score was McKenzie 14 – Australian A Schools 0.

The Aussies had phases of promise but one always knew that they would stuff something up. What was remarkable was the range of errors they made.

NZ used the kicking directly into touch error by the Aussies for their third try. Instead of a long gain using the wind, the ball was thrown to the lineout about 25 metres from the Oz goal-line and the Kiwis calmly walked a maul in for a lead of 19-0 at half-time.

Second half

After oranges Aussie 10 Jack Clancy, launched a raid from his own 22 for the best period of play for the home team—a good five minutes. They were able to stay in the NZ 22 for a while but they turned over their own scrum ball and then 19. Ioane broke out for NZ to travel into the Aussie 22.

Soon afterwards 11. Te Tamiki did a fast wriggle against a familiarly staggered defence and NZ led 26-0 at 13 minutes after the break.

As reserves came on Oz were able to handle the Kiwis better and winger Tyson Davis scooted down touch. 5. Angus Crichton threatened to score but was was pinged for a double-movement and the chance was lost.

That was their last chance to score but NZ scored two in the last three minutes, both to poor goal-line defence. Final score: NZ Schools 36 — Australian A Schools 0.

The Teams

Australia A

The Aussie lads played their best but they did not have the basic rugby skills to play well with players they had not played with before, nor did they deal with the wind as well as the canny Kiwis did, nor with the pressure that the visitors put on them, whichever team had the ball.

Their defence in the inside channels and their midfield generally, was poor. It was hard to judge the back three because they got little decent ball.

Even if the Aussies had parity in those areas, their mistake rate was too high for them to be competitive.

New Zealand

Apart from what is mentioned above, NZ were better across the park in set pieces, semi-set pieces and at the breakdown. They were strong over the ball and got to rucks early enough to make a difference.

Best Players

New Zealand (points): 3. Damian McKenzie; 2. Mitchell Jacobsen; 1. Sam Chongkit.

Flyhalf McKenzie was the player of the match, especially in the first quarter of the game. Blindside flanker and skipper Jacobsen was reminiscent of new All Black Luatua in his style of play, and lock Chongkit was peerless in the lineout and not bad around the park either.

Australia (points): 3. Olly Kamp; 2. Josh Bowyer-Boyer; 1. David Morris

All the Aussie players had deficiencies, especially playing in team units, but flanker Kamp was one of the most diligent around the ruck. Morris made a difference when he came off the bench and although fullback Bowyer-Boyer didn’t make a major difference, he showed a few touches of class when he got a chance, which was not often.

Summary

I heard comments from three different people that the performance was like the Wallabies playing South Africa in the last two tests against them: men against boys. The Aussies had a lot of withdrawals from their selected team but should have done better anyway.

The boys will be better for the run but they will have to pull their fingers out against Fiji if they want to get selected for the end of year tour.

New Zealand looked dominant but their handlers will know that they also thrashed Australian A Schools two years ago at St. Marys yet were beaten by the main Australian Schools team at Knox a few days later.

They will not be over-confident in a game which should be a cracker – be there.

Photos by Lee Grant

Below is a gallery of photos – Australian A Schools v. NZ Schools