History to heartbreak

When Handre Pollard’s booming right foot kicked the ball high into the Yokohama Stadium stand at the end of 80 minutes to begin the serious business of South Africa’s Rugby World Cup celebrations, virtually the whole world, minus maybe England, was united behind them.

Until kick-off they were the outsiders, the team that lost to the All Blacks and kicked their way past Japan and Wales into the final with what appeared to be an aging team and a gameplan that just couldn’t cut it. England were in the ascendancy and the red and white tsunami of their supporters took their seats almost in the expectation of a victory lap.

What a wonderful thing sport can be; even the most cynical must have felt something positive when watching Siya Kolisi lift the trophy and speak about what it meant to him and the nation.

But what of the defending champions - the All Blacks - the team who came here to attack their way to a third consecutive triumph but instead fell to an inspired England in their semifinal?

The All Blacks hoped to change the game itself but against the men in white on that surreal night in Yokohama they might as well have tried to change the law of gravity.

The following is an attempt to put it all into context; how the All Blacks failed but succeeded in something else at a first World Cup in Asia which began in sweltering heat and humidity and finished on a night as cool as Lukhanyo Am’s pass to Makazole Mapimpi for South Africa’s first ever try in a World Cup final.

There were many of the usual themes; “dirty” All Blacks who were taken apart on social media due to some random collisions in their first game against South Africa, collisions that happen in every test and which look far worse when taken out of context. 

The haka was bashed again, a theme that will never grow old for some aging white crackpots living in the Northern Hemisphere who seem to get a strange kick out of deciding which part of New Zealand’s culture is okay for the All Blacks to celebrate and which is best to leave alone.

Ardie Savea’s rugby goggles came with great fanfare and were quietly thrown to the sideline. Japan’s first run to the quarter-finals electrified one nation in particular and won players such as Kotaro Matsushima and Kenki Fukuoka new fans in many others.

Typhoon Hagibis threatened to ruin it all and created its own storm as threats were made by Scotland’s administrators towards the organisers, serves that were hit straight back.

Red and yellow cards were initially thrown around like confetti by referees before the serious business of the playoffs was underway, as if that required a slightly different stance by the officials suddenly conscious of a huge and growing television audience.

And, for the defending champions, the high of the quarter-final victory over Ireland – one of their best performances in four years (along with the demolition of South Africa at North Harbour in 2017 and August’s Bledisloe Cup thrashing of the Wallabies at Eden Park) – was followed seven days later by England’s shutout in the semifinal; the best of times followed by the worst of times.

Their recovery to beat Wales was meritorious and came via a tour de force from Ben Smith, a 33-year-old on his way out who clearly has more to give and more than a bronze medal which he gladly handed to his young daughter Annabelle.

Hansen, like many of his players, was wobbly emotionally before he recovered sufficiently to insert humour in his final post-test press conference. He even found the strength to have a dig at the Six Nations and rival Warren Gatland on his way out. It was vintage Hansen along with new-age Hansen.

Did the way in which his players reacted to their disappointment help the nation’s? It may have. They were open and honest and in the case of Dane Coles shed a tear in public. It showed that talking about your feelings is okay and even cathartic.

The All Blacks came to win three World Cups in a row but failed, but it’s possible they succeeded in something completely different and possibly more important. They showed how to lose with grace and humility and that it’s okay to be vulnerable at times.

They arrived here two months ago for a training camp in Kashiwa, just north of Tokyo, with a pioneering spirit and associated optimism which saw them through the harsh days of training in conditions that were so hot and humid they ought to have carried a health warning.

It was an attitude underlined by Hansen, who made no attempt to hide from the scale of the challenge. If ever there is an elephant in the room you can generally rely on Hansen to address it directly, as was the case four years earlier as his team defended their title in the United Kingdom.

Hansen said back in the second week of September as they began to prepare in earnest for the first game against the Springboks and everything beyond that: “We came away from the home shores and settled in a country at the bottom of the earth. We had to find ways to live in isolation when life wasn't like it is today.

“They become pioneers. What's important in life, and particularly in sport, is that you've got to strive to be leaders rather than followers. We have an opportunity that no one else at the tournament gets; we can shy away from it or get really excited about it. We are really excited about it.” 

And so to the Boks, a test which would show exactly where the All Blacks were in terms of their preparation and quality and which would dictate their path through the rest of the tournament. The assumption was that the winners would have an easier route as they would face the runners up in Pool A; Scotland, presumably.

Instead it was Ireland; Japan, the brilliant Brave Blossoms, went through their pool undefeated and Scotland, after threatening legal action should their final pool match against the hosts be cancelled due to the lingering effects of Typhoon Hagibis, failed to qualify.

Rarely has a nation left a World Cup in such ignominy but the allegations of pomposity and overwhelming sense of hubris (probably fair) should be aimed at Scotland’s administrators rather than their players, who attacked with a verve and hunger in the second half against Japan to suddenly elevate what had appeared to be a straightforward defeat into one of the matches of the tournament.

In those early, almost carefree, days of the initial pool stages, the All Blacks had emerged as front-runners once again because of what they did to the South Africans in a five-minute first-half burst when George Bridge and Scott Barrett scored converted tries.

In hindsight, the ease at which the All Blacks moved away from the Boks after a tight opening quarter at Yokohama Stadium was helped by the “pictures”, as they are called these days, the opposition presented. Hansen and company knew what they would get, they planned accordingly, and they weren’t disappointed.

The All Blacks took away the Boks’ attempts at defensive pressure by cleverly angling in their big ball carriers towards the ruck – to use as runners or decoys – and space suddenly opened up on the outside that was exploited superbly by Richie Mo’unga and Beauden Barrett. Wing Sevu Reece and midfielder Anton Lienert-Brown were too hot to handle and both played with a freedom they wouldn’t get in the semifinal.

The All Blacks’ defence was very good, too. First-five Mo’unga’s scrambling tackle on a flying Cheslin Kolbe in the final quarter was a “match winner probably, or close to it”, Hansen said. “I thought our scrambling defence was very good. It was a big moment. That’s what rugby’s about, isn’t it, trying to win the big moments that matter.”

It was the attack, though, which everyone else was probably more concerned about. “It’s only going to get better,” Barrett, who looked fresh despite a torrid 80 minutes against the old foe, said of his partnership with Mo’unga. “I love playing with Rich, he’s a super talent and hopefully for this team we can figure out how we get the best out of each other and do what’s best for this team.

The tone was set: the All Blacks would attempt to win the World Cup and thus escape the clutches of the defensive linespeed now so in vogue at the top level by playing with depth and width, by backing youth, pace and fearlessness.

So to Beppu, on Japan’s southern island of Kyushu, and a change of pace from the metropolis of Tokyo. The All Blacks had 10 days before their next pool match against Canada in nearby Oita but no days off as such as they readied themselves among the hot springs in the more familiar conditions of Rotorua’s sister city.

“Steve has laid out that it will be a pretty tough week,” flanker Matt Todd said. “There will be a lot of hard work going in. There’s a slightly longer turnaround so we can put more work in. There’s four days after this game to the next so we won’t be able to do too much.”

‘The humidity is unbelievable - whilst people at home will be wondering why they're dropping a few balls, it's very, very difficult," said Hansen on the pitch straight afterwards.

That’s what this match will probably be remembered for. That, and replacement halfback Brad Weber’s sparkling performance off the bench when he scored two tries in seven second-half minutes. And Mo’unga’s flawless goalkicking: he was successful with all eight conversions. And maybe prop Atu Moli playing the whole 80 minutes, a rare achievement these days for a front rower. 

“So I went and I think I was knackered at halftime,” Moli said. “I don’t know where the other energy came from.”

Beauden Barrett’s all-action performance was impressive, too, considering he was operating with a leg niggle he would reveal a few days later. “Beauden is an exceptional footballer,” Hansen said. “I can’t wait to see the GPS numbers on how far he ran tonight. The only reason he didn’t get that last try was because fatigue got him. He covered some huge miles, I would suggest, and at high pace.”

The Canadians got a few gains late in the match, but the All Blacks were completely dominant all over the park. They set the tone by attempting a pushover scrum try after five minutes and succeeded with a penalty try awarded by referee Romain Poite and thoughts were quickly heading to the All Blacks’ next pool game against Namibia at Tokyo Stadium four days later.

High-tackle yellow cards for All Blacks props Nepo Laulala and Ofa Tuungafasi, the first at the end of the first half and the second almost 40 minutes later, a stormer of a game from Namibia hooker Torsten van Jaarsveld, and an epic halftime tune-up from Hansen. TJ Perenara’s classic try in the left corner.

After 30 minutes at Tokyo Stadium, the scoreline read: defending champion All Blacks 10 Namibia 9. The Africans are ranked 23rd in the world. It was a performance from the men in black which would be attended to in the dressing room at the break.

"It was one of the better ones and rightly so," was how hooker Dane Coles described Hansen’s dressing down.

Coles rated the verbal torrent a nine out of 10 on the dressing room Richter scale, adding he knew what was coming as soon as Hansen uttered his first word. Days later, Hansen wasn’t too pleased that Coles had revealed all, but the front rower was backed up by prop Angus Ta’avao, who said, when asked whether Hansen’s words were strong: "Yes they were... 100 per cent right… we needed that and the boys came out firing in the second half and got back to being direct and looking after the ball.

"Hopefully we shouldn't really need that from Steve again. I haven't seen him [like that] in my short time in the black jersey, but I haven't been in a side where we have started like that.”

The All Blacks were denied their match-up against Italy in Toyota City due to Typhoon Hagibis, the organisers deciding to call off that match along with the England v France fixture and Namibia v Canada game.

Hansen was careful to strike the right tone here because the massive storm which affected outlying areas more than the metropolis of Tokyo claimed many lives. It was an inconvenience for the All Blacks, who obviously put a huge amount of planning into the Italy match and were relying on it to get Brodie Retallick and Jack Goodhue, who were both returning from injury, up to playoff speed, but clearly not a matter of life and death.

They adapted with a training run which, according to Hansen, was the equal of any test in terms of intensity.

“Having a week off is not a bad thing,” Hansen said. “We’re quite excited by that fact. It’s allowed us to work really hard on Friday. Our GPS numbers were equivalent or just above what a normal test match would be. We don’t feel like we’ve lost any opportunity to get ourselves where we need to be.”

Still, Ireland remained a huge challenge in the quarter-final.

And, they were, although the contrast between the two teams was apparent very early. The All Blacks were direct, physical, and perhaps most importantly executed a clever gameplan which took away Ireland’s rush defence - their greatest weapon.

They were also supremely accurate. So much for paying for that cancelled Italy pool game. They missed only one tackle in the first half. And their ball handling was beyond compare.

Ireland, on the other hand, were tentative, put passes down and were continually flummoxed by the All Blacks’ speed of thought and execution. They might as well have tried to hold back a typhoon.

Johnny Sexton, who received a knock early, was way off, with the All Blacks playmakers Mo’unga and Barrett completely bossing the first half.

Skipper Kieran Read was immense, but they all played their part, even down to the ball carrying of Joe Moody and Nepo Laulala.

For all the build-up and the incredible anthems and haka, which was drowned out by a passionate version of the Fields of Athenry, this was not the quarter-final that many predicted. In fact, it wasn’t much of a contest once Aaron Smith scored the second of his two tries, both from darts around attacking rucks.

“We’ve had a really good week and the guys have had a bounce in their step,” Ian Foster said. “It wasn’t a heavy week and they wanted to play. We had to play well up front against Ireland – if you don’t it’s really hard to do some of those special things happening out wide.

“We won the forward battle and that was where the battle overall was won.”

Oh, how that would be reversed a week later.

After the All Black tears in Yokohama, a little bit of joy in Tokyo. This World Cup bronze playoff victory over Wales meant little in the big scheme of things, and it won’t make up for the semifinal devastation at the hands of England, but there was joy nonetheless and pride too.

There was satisfaction that Kieran Read, Matt Todd, Ryan Crotty, Sonny Bill Williams and Ben Smith were farewelled in an appropriate manner. Read, who ran on with a smile on his face and looked as happy as he had all week, led the haka in his 127th and final test, with the others also heavily involved as the All Blacks maintained their winning record over Wales, who last tasted success way back in 1953.

Right wing Smith told the Herald during the build-up to this unloved fixture that he just wanted to do his family proud. He certainly would have done that; his consecutive tries at the end of the first half providing the buffer the All Blacks needed to express themselves in front of the newly-arrived Emperor and Empress after the break.

The 33-year-old, who hasn’t started a test since the World Cup warm-up against Tonga in early September, rediscovered the running lines and sidestep that have made fools of international defences for the last decade. Someone on Twitter compared tackling Smith with trying to kill a spider with an egg whisk. Well played that man.

And well played Ben from Accounts, who finished on the right side of the ledger after 10 years of service to the black jersey, as he deserved to.

History may judge the All Blacks’ 2019 World Cup a little more harshly given they were probably the best team at the tournament but yet couldn’t perform against England when it counted.

But in Japan, a country where respect and honour are not just paramount but virtually stitched into the collective DNA, they left with pride intact and maybe even reputations enhanced.