All Blacks v England: Scott Robertson’s delight as bench finally come to 2024 party

Gregor Paul in London

There remains no great sense that the All Blacks are rugby’s emerging super force.

But having dug to the depths of themselves to eke out a brave victory at Twickenham, there is at least a growing feeling they are slowly coming to terms with how they want to play and are learning the art of what it takes to win the knife-edge encounters.

It was an 80-minute performance at Twickenham that had memorable and mad moments in just about equal measure – the lineout a shambles after Codie Taylor was forced off in the fifth minute, but the scrum coming into its own in the final quarter to squeeze out critical penalties.

At no stage did New Zealand look like they had the measure of England’s rush defence, but they also showed that they remain the world’s best team at playing unstructured rugby, and that if they are given half a chance to play in a bit of space, they will find a way to score.

Their defence was relentless, but so too was it at times wildly ill-disciplined, and while they had a 10-minute period of supreme calm and composure to turn a 22-17 deficit into a 24-22 victory, they had prolonged periods where they were jittery and hurried.

This is how things rolled at Twickenham – for every little bit the All Blacks got right, they also got another piece wrong, and the upshot was they couldn’t control territory or possession, but could stay in the fight and produce ultra-clinical moments to score three tries.

What helped them to stay in the fight was the contribution off the bench, where both props Pasilio Tosi and Ofa Tu’ungafasi – and Patrick Tuipulotu – made enormous contributions.

The killer weapon in the end turned out to be their scrum, which was a touch challenged for 50 minutes as Tamaiti Williams wasn’t out-scrummaged but was outwitted by the wily Will Stuart, who knew how to present the referee with the illusion of England being dominant.

But come the final quarter, once both sides had changed their props, the All Blacks were able to win penalties, kick deep and put England under pressure in their own 22.

It was from a scrum penalty that the winning try was initially constructed, and while it could be said it was only possible because of a miracle finish by Mark Tele’a, who twisted and wriggled his way through four tackles, it was a try that has to be notched up to astute leadership to instil calm and clarity at a time when momentum was swinging away from the All Blacks, and precise execution to maximise the opportunity.

So too did it signal that there is a deepening understanding within the team about the game plan they are trying to implement, and with that greater certainty there were periods of greater attacking flow because the attack felt intuitive rather than forced.

New Zealand, compared with England, had a greater willingness – and ability – to trust their soft skills and to take risks.

Ultimately, it was the All Blacks’ bravery in taking risks, of making passes such as the one Wallace Sititi threw out the back of his hand to set up Tele’a’s first try, which separated them from England.

There were plenty of mistakes made in the name of adventure but the All Blacks didn’t back away from playing when they felt there were half chances to exploit.

“We potentially played a little bit more rugby than them for the majority of the game,” said All Blacks captain Scott Barrett.

“There were a few arm wrestles but I was pleased with our endeavour to play and that created an opportunity for Mark [Tele’a].”

The signs are all there, then, that something is building – that the team are settling into the new coaching regime, building belief and confidence in it.

And so too were there signs that the coaching group are growing into the international game.

For a team that couldn’t get an ounce of value out of their bench for much of this year, the breakthrough at Twickenham was significant and perhaps the most compelling sign that the coaching group are coming to grips with how to select and utilise their reserves.

“It’s a good story,” head coach Scott Robertson said about the impact of the bench.

“It is nice to see them come on and make an impact. Paddy Toups [Tuipulotu] was exceptional and the two props – that swung a little bit of momentum our way.”

The win will breed confidence, but it can’t be used to mask the fact that amongst the good, there was still an alarming amount of bad.

There was no great firing of the imagination in the way the All Blacks structured their attack off set piece: no cleverness borne from previous exposure to suggest the coaching panel had hyper-analysed their previous encounters in July and worked out all of England’s weak points.

Much of what New Zealand offered was hurried, there was a lot of ball movement but not so much forward movement.

There were too many penalties conceded, too many lineouts that were either wobbly or just plain bad, too much possession coughed up because ball retention was poor – and while the All Blacks delivered enough to get past England, a similarly mixed effort in six days may not deliver the same result against Ireland.

“We need to tidy up our discipline, some execution errors, but keep being brave and looking to play,” said Robertson.

“We will have to be better for sure.”

Gregor Paul is one of New Zealand’s most respected rugby writers and columnists. He has won multiple awards for journalism and written several books about sport.