I suppose I'll comment on the AB's because naturally it's where I focus most of my attention. Essentially, as is the general consensus, they were a bit rusty. What helped was dominance in both the set pieces, great defence/poor Australian attack and the forwards just being better all round.
The line out was occasionally tested by the Wallabies resulting in quite a bit of spilled ball early on. I think the fundamentals were fine though and they sharpened up in the 2nd half. Brodie Retallick came on and did a fine job. There was a lot of talk about the scrum's being a lottery with Rolland, and I think they were but it was painfully clear who was the dominant scrum. Very rarely was the AB's feed upset and the AB's made havoc for the Wallabies, both legally and not so (this is the way of rugby of course).
I eat my earlier words about Mealamu having to earn back his spot, he had an absolute cracker. Good line out ball, work rate round the field and a ridiculous number of turnovers. Playing like he did two years ago minus a few barnstorming runs. Speaking of which, Richie McCaw, had two terrific busts through the line carrying defenders 10m or so in the second half. At the moment he's playing like an all round 6,7,8. Doing a bit of everything, great stuff. Back to the hookers, Andrew Hore came on with 5-10 minutes to go, and contributed his own vital turnover. Can't go wrong with those two, only concern is age and lack of an upcoming talented hooker.
The rest of the pack did very well, had more mongrel, fitness (don't know what Waylon was seeing) and most importantly technique. It was a bit baffling watching the AB's completely obliterate one ruck pushing it back so far and finally falling over and Rolland giving the penalty to the Wallabies. Technically he may be right (that the AB's fell on the wrong side of the ruck, lol) but what may I ask of the Australians that fell under them on the way through? Technically they were on their ass on the wrong side as well, lol. I dunno.
The centres were wrapped up nicely like I suspected they would, pity they were a decoy for Dagg. Backline performed well, no real problems bar rustiness. Carter's all round kicking was excellent, high ball, restart, goals. Plenty to like and plenty to improve on.
Can't see the Wallabies challenging in Auckland. They shot themselves in the foot really but the fundamentals were against them anyway. Oh and once again, Barnes is a good player but will NEVER be good enough to challenge the AB's, a bit too plain really. Maybe you could play him at 12, trust in him to tackle. Tough to throw in Quade now but honestly, he needs to say 'fk it' and back him. Move AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) to 13 ffs. Have a crack in the future. Oh and sack Deans already, seriously. You'll have to wait to the end of TRC. It's hard to tell whether the poor ball skills can be blamed on him but surely a more confident side wouldn't be making those errors. Doesn't seem like he could possibly motivate an Aussie side by his demeanour. Still doesn't use his bench. It's hard on him because the AB's are on top of everyone at the moment but still, you should try something else.
tldr
