All Blacks steal Deans' tactic
* Bret Harris
* From: The Australian
* August 02, 2010 12:00AM
GALLING as it must be for Kiwi Robbie Deans to lose to his countrymen eight Tests in a row, even more so he came undone by his own game.
New Zealanders instinctively understand that the most important moment in a game is when the ball changes hands, which explains why Kiwi teams at Super rugby and Test level score so many tries from turnovers.
One of the best exponents of this tactic was the Deans-coached Crusaders.
So you could only imagine what was going through Deans' mind as he watched the All Blacks score all seven of their tries in Melbourne on Saturday night almost immediately after turnovers.
Five-eighth Dan Carter's try in the ninth minute came from a charge-down of Wallabies inside centre Berrick Barnes's clearing kick.
Fullback Mils Muliaina's first try in the 12th minute originated from Wallabies winger Drew Mitchell's turnover at a breakdown.
Two consecutive turnovers led to All Black captain Richie McCaw's try in the 25th minute, the first at a lineout and the second at a ruck.
Winger Cory Jane's try in the 36th minute could be traced to Wallabies outside centre Rob Horne being penalised for holding on to the ball in a tackle.
It was these four tries in the space of 27 minutes that won the game for the All Blacks, but they scored another three in the second half to ward off any Wallabies' comeback.
Muliaina's second try, in the 46th minute, came directly from the All Blacks winning a tighthead scrum in the Wallabies' quarter.
Winger Joe Rokocoko's try in the 59th minute followed the All Blacks winning yet another kickoff.
Reserve hooker Corey Flynn scored on fulltime after Australian winger James O'Connor's chip kick was fielded by Muliaina, who launched a counter-attack.
The All Blacks also used the successful Deans tactic of contestable kicking against the Wallabies.
Both the All Blacks and the Wallabies played a ball-in-hand game to beat the Springboks in the first three Tests of the Tri-Nations tournament, but New Zealand subtly changed its style against Australia.
The All Blacks adopted a run-kick approach in attack. They would run the ball, and if they noticed the Australian back three coming up in defence, they would put a contestable kick behind the line.
It was a tactic often employed by Deans' Crusaders and the Wallabies themselves when they have run the All Blacks close in recent years.
The Wallabies stuck to a ball-in-hand approach, which had been successful against the Springboks.
The Wallabies may have taken note of the fact that South African referee Craig Joubert had awarded 83 per cent of his penalties in the Super 14 to the team in possession.
Joubert penalised the All Blacks seven times while the Wallabies were in the attacking zone, but did not send anyone to the bin for slowing the ball until Drew Mitchell was sent off for slapping the ball down to prevent a quick lineout throw.
So, while the Wallabies were accumulating three points at a time, the All Blacks were increasing by seven.
The result could have been a real blowout, but Wallabies captain Rocky Elsom held the team together well.
The Wallabies played poorly for much of the match, but they showed what they were capable of when Adam Ashley-Cooper and Elsom scored -- and David Pocock was denied by the video official -- in the second half with 14 men, and they will need to carry this courage into the Test in Christchurch on Saturday.
