Oliver looks to scrum for redemption

By WYNNE GRAY

GENOA - Hooker Anton Oliver, a standout player in both tests against France, wants much more from his scrum. While it held better at Marseilles, the 28-test veteran is not satisfied.

"It was better but we have a long way to go with it," he said yesterday. "There is no hiding from that if we want to be able to dictate sides."

Several times in the tests when the scrum came under pressure, the strain was transferred to No 8 Ron Cribb, who made faulty decisions taking the ball from the back.

He ran the wrong direction and was caught behind the advantage line or isolated, allowing the French to force turnovers.

What also hurt Oliver was the lack of a collective fear of failure among the All Blacks.

"That only seems to kick in when we have our backs against the wall, whereas all the great All Black teams used to play with that concept all the time," he said.

After the Marseilles test, Oliver spoke to his father, former hardman All Blacks lock and captain Frank, who remarked how the French had played like the All Blacks of old - clinical rugby, applying tourniquet pressure when they had a lead, kicking for the corners and building suffocating tension.

By contrast, the All Blacks had scored long-range tries, they had been unable to work their way through setpiece superiority or ball retention into the 22, and had squandered too much possession with kicking.

"We just did not produce it," Anton Oliver said. "The second test was our season. We got to six points up and did not win,"

Victory this Sunday against Italy was the only acceptable consequence. And while coach Wayne Smith has signalled some changes through form, lack of it or the need to give some players a chance, Oliver was not prepared to waive selection.

"That is not even worth thinking about," he said. "I want to play.

"I would like to think our players don't think they need a rest.

"If they are over here for some mercenary thing like a Baabaas game, then that is not on.

"This is a completely different scenario," said Oliver.

"This is a test and you never want to give a cap away."

Another with a similar target, and no sentiment for any rotation selection in his halfback position, was Justin Marshall.

"I want to play Italy as badly as I want to play all the time," he said.

"I don't want to give anyone else a chance. I want to be part of this team when it hits its straps.

"I am driven as much for this game as I am against the Springboks or Wallabies."

Marshall agreed that it would be naive or unrealistic to believe the All Blacks would not beat Italy.

"But we have to put in a good performance after the setback against France. We did not bounce back against the Boks last year in the World Cup playoff and there is no question we have to this weekend."

Italy have concentrated on their tackling screens this week, with coach Brad Johnstone trying to work on a compromise system of drift defence and man-on-man tackling.

The emphasis has been on defence as a two-way method of stopping the All Blacks and launching counter-attacks.

Smith, who coached at Treviso for two years and took the Italian sevens team to the Hong Kong tournament in 1993, and Johnstone will announce their test sides tomorrow.

href="http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=159627&thesection=Story&thesubsection=&reportID=56528">Test schedule/scoreboard