Been a bad week down with a mysterious illness.
Glad that there's a good weekend of rugby ahead, starting with a historic Irish win. It hurts that my team lost, but congrats to the Irish, well-deserved.
Rugby, like all sports, has its narratives driven by results. Last week, we were slightly better, but the narrative was that this was a strong NZ win, and our past woes are behind us. This is simply not true.
On attack - just compare the Irish and the AB attack. The Irish have layers of deception, with the ball carrier having options inside and outside. Sometimes, this is off 9, sometimes off 10. There is variation, and we always look like we struggle to cope with the easy metres they carved us up on. In contrast, the ABs' attack is telegraphed. It is often a one-off ball-runner, with the hope of getting quick ball. Everyone knows what is going to happen. This year, we have introduced a slight variation. Aaron Smith almost never hits the first man, but the 2nd or 3rd, checking the defence. It's not a bad strategy, but it's not enough. There needs to be more variation, more deception, more strategy. It can't just be players figuring things out themselves.
On defence - you can't fault grit today. The ABs defended short-handed for long periods, and did a decent job. I have stressed multiple times that there is only 1 way to defend at the highest level, and that is a rush defence. It looks like the ABs will never adopt this, but there are glimpses of greater line-speed. If we look at Peter O'Mahoney's reaction near the end of the game, I thought that's the difference. We had the same commitment, but we do not have the same aggression. When Australia played England with 14 man, Dave Rennie's very first point at the half time speech was "Brutality" - mentally, we are not wired to be brutal. Players like Ofa, George, Codie, Patrick - they are committed, but placid. Ofa gets one-two big hits when someone runs at him, but on the goal line , on desperation, he shows no urgency nor aggression. It's just about making the tackle (and sometimes on the wrong fella).
It is the patterns of play that coaches look for, because patterns indicate replicability. The ABs score a lot of tries off individual brilliance, intercepts, turnovers, kick-receives, and sometimes, sheer good fortune, like BB's first which ricocheted off his shin. But we do not convince with our ability to build up to tries. Conversely, we just do not show the ability to cope with variations or brutality of opponent attack.
Great teams rise from being able to recognise, and not gloss over weaknesses. These are weaknesses that have sadly remained for some time now.
For mine, Scott Barrett was good. Sam Cane was ok.
Quinn was poor, especially with his hands. Leicester, one of my favourite players, completely lost track of what to do defensively several times. Folau was messy when he came on. Ofa was poor, but in the latter stage was clearly tired. The maul went well. The scrums was ok with 7. The lineout was pretty good. But the structures in general play weren't. Finally, discipline boys. What was Codie Taylor doing giving away that ruck penalty? We give away too many penalties for no good reason.
Alot of commentators here say Ardie Savea is just a show-pony who can't tackle and doesnt make metres at the highest level. This is objectively incorrect becuase he always makes the most metres of any forward in the worst of our games. I thought today highlighted the difference - he remains our best ball carrier, and the momentum from his go-forward sometimes shifts the game.