All Blacks tie with England 25-all. Video / Sky Sport
OPINION:
By Gregor Paul in London
It was entirely fitting that the most unpredictable season of the modern age should end with the All Blacks drawing at Twickenham and providing mixed feelings about their prospects in 2023.
At Twickenham they were good, bad, indifferent. They beat England up at times,out-thought them, out-smarted them and somehow blew up in the final 10 minutes to hand them a free pass back into the game.
How England managed to finish up with a spoil of the shares will be something for the All Blacks to think about on repeat all the way back to New Zealand and for the rest of the summer.
They were guilty of a stunning collapse: of having the game won and then contriving a way to lose it.
And the reason they didn’t manage to secure the win after being 25-6 up with 25 minutes to go is because there was an element of needless inaccuracy that blighted their performance.
It was there even in the first 20 minutes when they were running England ragged. They were in control of the game, enjoying time on the ball, but there were little mistakes that kept letting England back into the game.
There were missed kicks to touch. There were needless offsides. A neck roll by Rieko Ioane saw his own try disallowed – one that would have put the All Blacks 21-0 up after 20 minutes.
The same pattern continued in the second half. New Zealand felt like they had the game where they needed it, but there was little moments of carelessness and finally, in the last 10 minutes England came storming home and looked to be easily the best team in the world.
There was no question the All Blacks were happy to get off the park with a draw in the end, because they were being stampeded and yet, this was absolutely not the story of the game.
Rieko Ioane on the break. Photo / Photosport
Not even close. Until those last 10 minutes, the All Blacks were the big brother on the field. They had England beaten for physicality.
They had them beaten for invention and their homework had been done – as they continually cross-kicked for Caleb Clarke to compete against the shorter Jack Nowell.
And it worked, and so on balance this was a performance that suggested that a season that was once shaping as darkly and oddly as a Tim Burton movie, has now finished with a Disney-like optimism for the All Blacks.
The All Blacks are still guilty of mental black spots: of drifting out of games and not slamming the door shut as evidence in London, and indeed Melbourne earlier in the year.
But where they have grown and become a different proposition is in their ability to front physically.
The rejuvenation of the All Blacks pack is the story of the year. It’s a big thing that they have reconnected with their nastier selves and learned the art of muscling up.
It’s not so much part of the game these days as the whole game, and when the All Blacks were getting duffed up and pushed around last year, their prospects of winning big tests were middling to low.
Now they look like a contender at least and nothing better illustrated the new-found crunch of the All Blacks than seeing them drive a lineout maul almost 40 metres down the hallowed turf of Twickenham midway through the second half.
Dalton Papali'i celebrates with Rieko Ioane. Photo / Photosport
Equally, it was significant that England, the recognised masters of the maul, couldn’t get their one going at all. They barely made an inch the few times they tried early in the game and gave up the ghost quickly enough, deciding not to bother. It wasn’t worth the effort.
England, who at times were a bit of a confused and erratic mess, still at least had the size and mentality to inflict a high degree of physical carnage.
What they lacked in brain, they made up for in brawn and they came at the All Blacks with plenty of big bodies packed with ample horsepower.
The direct approach certainly worked for them the last time these two sides met in 2019 when England were like a tidal wave – surging relentlessly.
But not only did the All Blacks seem to have a better idea of what was coming at this time, they also had the means to repel it and the defensive effort would be a contender for best of the year.
What made them effective was not just the heat they put into their tackling, but their ability to time when to get over the ball and win legal turnovers or penalties on their own goalline.
There was a lottery element to it all as referee Mathieu Raynal was at his unpredictable best at the tackled ball area, but New Zealand probably read him better – or got luckier.
Either way, the All Blacks were able to make themselves effective at the collision areas and prevent England from mounting wave after wave of attack with forwards coming round the corner at pace to build almost unstoppable momentum.
Until those last 10 minutes - and so the curtain comes down on 2022 with no one sure what the All Blacks next act will look like.
