Chris Rattue: All Blacks win shows test rugby in rotten state

All Blacks Sam Cane (left), Finlay Christie, and Richie Mo'unga stop Italy's Renato Giammaroli in Rome yesterday. Photo / AP

OPINION:

Yes, one of those rare times in All Black history has arrived.

It's time to panic, or at least think along those lines.

The All Blacks rolled out their B team against Italy and they were diabolical.

No, not Italy, although yes, they too were diabolical.

The All Black hopefuls were a shambles. They didn't even look desperate.

Wales B-plus lost heavily to the All Blacks last week, but they would have beaten the New Zealand mob which stumbled around in the Eternal City on Sunday morning.

TV pundit Jeff Wilson wanted to know at halftime which players among this hapless lot would turn the game around in putting their hand up for the All Black A team against Ireland and France.

The answer was a big fat zero, apart from the sprightly almost 35-year-old Dane Coles, who was surely in the A team anyway.

I've thought for a while that the All Blacks are playing with fire, hanging on to the oft-injured although wondrous Coles. He's going to be pushing past the normal use by date come the next World Cup.

But the bloke has serious attitude, along with still-amazing bursts of energy.

Coles exudes a traditional All Black arrogance, or let's call it inner confidence, which has scared the opposition off or extricated them from tight spots over the years.

New Zealand's Quinn Tupaea (right), is tackled by Italy's Sebastian Negri during the international between Italy and the All Blacks. Photo / AP

He also knows how to organise a rolling maul. If he hadn't been in the cheerless Stadio Olimpico who knows what would have happened against an Italian team which has lost 32 straight Six Nations games?

Test rugby is in a rotten state when a really bad All Black performance sees them end up "crushing" Italy by nearly 40 points.

Italy didn't launch one proper attack, which wasn't much less than the All Blacks managed.

These All Blacks were fanciful, as if muscling their way into form against a poor Italian outfit was beneath them. Ian Foster might be wondering if his development plan is on the skids.

Or to put it another way ... said it before, and will say it again: the All Blacks will be in major trouble when Brodie Retallick and Sam Whitelock have gone.

Italy's Matteo Minozzi (left), tries to stop New Zealand's Sevu Reece on his way to score during the international between Italy and the All Blacks. Photo / AP

Onto the big test of the weekend - Wales v South Africa at Cardiff's magnificent sporting temple.

The singing in the rain was glorious, being interspersed with a powerful din.

The crowd cheered the Welsh defence on, because they didn't have much else to cheer about. It almost brought a Welsh team minus their finest warrior - Alun Wyn Jones - a victory.

The game wasn't that great, and involved just one try, but helped by that crowd and the close margin the trench warfare was gripping.

Rugby like this can gnaw away at the emotions in an incredible way, even if the head says the game is substandard. By the end, you feel drained.

There were eight tries across the tests in Rome and Cardiff, and five were scored by hookers.

There are hookers like Coles who fly off the back of mauls to score, and there are those like Springbok Malcolm Marx who prefer to trample straight through the crowd.

The bottom line is the same. The rolling maul is the increasing centrepiece of test rugby, a low-risk way of attacking the tryline.

It will probably decide who lives and dies at the 2023 World Cup.