The gulf between the no. 1 and no. 2 sides in the world is as wide as ever as the All Blacks comprehensively outplayed the Wallabies 20-6 in tonight’s RWC semi final.
The natural order of things has been askew of late, with the ABs not winning the Tri Nations Trophy, or a NZ team the Super Rugby Championship this year.
But that was just a facade — a faux gold medal to the Australian winners because in reality the only free cheese is in the mousetrap. And weren’t we suckered in….
We were actually beginning to think that we’d be good enough to defeat the All Blacks at Eden Park for RWC glory. Wrong!
The Wallabies were beaten in every single department tonight — breakdown, scrum, intensity, kicking game, defence, territory, possession and the list goes on.
The All Blacks were simply the best. They started with a hiss and a roar and never let up. The only team that choked was the Wallabies. We just couldn’t handle the constant pressure.
Our scrum has been a liability for ten years and nothing has changed. The All Blacks put the pressure on and we folded. The All Blacks counter-rucked and we succumbed. What we wouldn’t give for a Tony Woodcock, Owen Franks or Brad Thorn?
The Wallabies didn’t even look like scoring a try. That’s not surprising when we only pick ‘defensive’ players in the midfield. The team we did select actually missed a heap of tackles, especially in that first half and we never recovered from it.
The traditional expansive Wallaby play was nowhere to be seen. Well, it was actually — with the All Blacks. Their ball skills, ability to find a gap and running angles were something to behold. Dagg, Nonu and Jane carved them up.
The battle of the halves was won by Weepu and Cruden by a country mile. If the no. 3 All Black five-eighth pick can slot in as easily as young Aaron did then Dan Carter really is no loss at all. He might only have one ball but crikey it’s a biggie!!!!
The concern over Quade Cooper’s form continued to be realised. He’s had a poor tournament by his standards and today’s match was no different. He kicked out on the full right from the start, dropped high balls and generally looked like a player low on confidence. He was by no means alone and did improve in the second half.
But, the story remains the same every time we play them over their. Their enthusiasm and will to win was driven by four million rabid Kiwis. They seemed to want it more. They were technically far more efficient than the Wallabies and their execution was on a different level.
This has been the case since 2001 when we last won a Bledisloe Cup over there. Nothing has changed. The only hope we’ve got to look forward to is that our team is relatively young and can significantly improve, and theirs probably can’t, although their depth of talent is never to be underestimated.
The old adage is whoever wins the breakdown wins the match. The All Blacks won the breakdown comprehensively and none was better than captain Richie McCaw. There was no evidence of a dodgy foot as he played a classic no. 7’s match — living life on the edge but hey, that’s the natural order of things. So did David Pocock, who got pinged a few times.
There’ll be the whingers who blame referee Craig Joubert for the Wallaby ills but that’s not how it should be. The dominant side got the rub of the green and rightly so.
The one and only try was scored by Ma’a Nonu early in the first half. Weepu kicked four penalties and Cruden a drop goal. O’Connor kicked a penalty for the Wallabies and QC a dropped goal. The stats were — Territory: 62% NZ 38% Australia, Possession: 51% NZ 49% Australia.
It’s not that the Wallabies didn’t try, they gave it everything but it wasn’t anywhere near good enough. Squeaky Moore and James Horwill were the pick of the forwards, Digby Ioane and James O’Connor the backs.
We were hampered to some extent by injuries to Kepu, McCabe and Vickerman, all being replaced. I don’t think any of the reserves made a noticeable impact.
Our RWC campaign hasn’t been a classic although an improvement on 2007. If we had won all our pool matches then things may have been different.
Unfortunately, we’re missing four or five quality players to be able to take that next step. I think we’re most vulnerable at prop and centre. Berrick Barnes may have been a better option at no. 10 in this type of encounter but hindsight is a wonderful thing. It was essentially won and lost in the forwards.
As expected, the All Blacks will win the 2011 RWC next Saturday. We’re due to play Wales on Friday for the 3rd/4th play-off.
