Gregor Paul is one of New Zealand’s most respected rugby writers and columnists. He has won multiple awards for journalism and has written several books about sport.
OPINION
While the All Blacks may continue to hide any strong sense of strategic identity, two games into the 2024 season, theircharacter, desire and willingness to fight to the death has been in full view.
And it can’t, not if the victories are to keep coming through a long and arduous year, the only means by which to define the All Blacks.
They need more than guts and determination to win tests and, just as importantly, to win hearts and minds and there is no sense of this All Blacks team being sure of who they are and how they want to play.
All they have shown so far is an ability to win, something that is unlikely to have happened had Beauden Barrett not come off the bench and changed the dynamic of the game entirely with his energy, vision and ability to thump the ball up the field and get his side playing in the right areas.
He was the difference, or at least he was the catalyst to the All Blacks finding some kind of attacking shape and confidence.
Beauden Barrett made a big impact for the All Blacks against England. Photo / Photosport
He was the spark that gave those around him a bit of belief, a bit of direction and a sense of urgency to up the tempo.
Things were a bit of a mess without him. The All Blacks were listless and passive and for the first 25 minutes of the second half they were stuck in a hopeless pattern of playing inside their own territory.
It was a night where the home side failed to convince. The All Blacks may have preserved their Eden Park record but no one would say they were imperious or intimidating in the process.
Their lineout never turned up and England’s Maro Itoje will be roaming around in a few heads for weeks, maybe even months to come, the way he was able to own the touchline and just about make it impossible for the All Blacks to win any of their own throws.
The confidence seeped out of the All Blacks as a result of the shambles on the touchline, and no one, until Barrett stepped up, wanted to take a grip of proceedings.
England must have found it hard to believe that at Eden Park, the All Blacks drifted out of the contest as easily as they did.
Immanuel Feyi-Waboso and Henry Slade celebrate against the All Blacks. Photo / Photosport
Equally, they must be a little distraught that having them on the ropes the way they did for so long, that they didn’t win the test against a side that posed them so little problems.
And this is the mad thing about the series, New Zealand won both games and yet it’s still not clear what style of rugby Scott Robertson wants his All Blacks to adopt.
For the second week in a row, the All Blacks had no discernible attack shape, or definition to signal if they are a pass-and-run team or kick and scrum.
The tactical ensemble at Eden Park was as mixed as it was in Dunedin – a mad mix of contestable kicks that weren’t well executed, one-off forward runners being hit behind the gainline and stilted strike moves that the English blitz defence was able to predict and disrupt.
There was nothing new and innovative – no sense that the coaching team had picked apart everything they had seen the week before and reconstituted a strategic approach that posed England new questions.
The All Blacks would be best described as vague, as if they were a politician’s answer to a simple question – meandering everywhere without quite making sense or telling everyone what they needed to know.
And that’s not sustainable if the ambition is to take back the world No 1 spot. The All Blacks need to hit upon a brand of rugby that is unquestionably theirs and one that gives them far greater control of their own destiny.
One that actually goes about systematically breaking down defences with a cohesive and consistent plan, and not so reliant on luck, opportunism, instinct and sheer bloody-mindedness not to lose.
There was the occasional outbreak of slick counterattack and the odd passage where the game split open and the All Blacks showed their usual sharp instincts to pass, catch and run to telling effect, but those moments seemed to come around by good fortune rather than good management.
And that’s the issue for the All Blacks – their rugby hasn’t appeared to be well managed or designed, and their resilience is only going to get them so far.
