Gregor Paul: Southern recipe secures All Black lineout success

Adam Thomson. Photo / Sarah Ivey

It can't have been much fun for Adam Thomson and Tom Donnelly playing for the Highlanders these past two seasons. Yet it was their strength of character, shaped by the constant adversity they endured at the troubled franchise, upon which the All Blacks built their victory in Tokyo.

Thomson and Donnelly know a thing or two about how pressure works; how it can seep into an opponent's psyche, slowly, slowly until it has prised open a few cracks and then - BOOM.

On Saturday, those two were given a treasured opportunity to sit on the other side of the fence; to be the men applying, not absorbing the pressure. They were the stars of a vastly improved lineout showing.

Finally, it seemed, someone within the All Black camp had sat down with a plan to fix their infamously awful lineout. To those watching it has never appeared to be a dramatically complex process - throw it in, lift, jump and catch. Somehow the All Blacks this year have complicated the process.

What Thomson and Donnelly did was strip it back to those basics. There were subtle shifts in strategy, too. The first was the advanced thinking. When the All Black lineout was really bad, there was an infuriating adherence to chronology. It was plod to the lineout, get set-up and then think about where on Earth to throw the ball.

In Tokyo, the All Blacks arrived at the lineout with a plan. They knew where they wanted to throw the ball well in advance of setting up.

It might not seem much but at this level, it makes all the difference. Someone of Mark Chisholm's experience can read the body language all too easily. The eyes, the twitch of the shoulders - all the cues are easier to read the longer it takes to get the ball in. With Donnelly in charge there was a rather pleasing lack of ceremony.

The second shift was the relentless desire to attack the Wallabies' ball in the air. The Australians are not a side that like to take clean ball and then pick and drive through the forwards. They are like the All Blacks - they want it off the top and then into Matt Giteau's hands. It makes more sense to go for the ball rather than prepare to defend a ploy the opposition barely use.

Donnelly jumped for almost every throw, cleverly positioning himself at two on occasion just to let Wallaby hooker Stephen Moore know he was there. When a hooker is not sure of his darts, a man thrown up at number two can be a real distraction; a superb tool for applying pressure. Moore knew he had to get the ball over Donnelly but down in time to hit his man jumping in the middle. There were plenty of occasions where he just couldn't do it and the constant stuff-ups at the lineout got to the Australians.

Donnelly and Thomson know how it works; they know from their own painful experience with the Highlanders that consistent execution of the basics is what it takes to grind an opponent; to destroy their belief and self confidence.

And just as the battle on the touchline sapped the confidence of the Wallabies, it gave the All Blacks that little mental energy boost that can make a big difference.

As the game wore on, it was clear the All Blacks believed they were in control. The outside backs hit the ball with the pace and timing that comes only when there is absolute conviction the ploy is the right one; that the men working the magic in the midfield are going to pull it off.

It wasn't the perfect performance by any means but it was good enough to be convinced that the All Blacks on this tour are going to give at least one side a hiding and for Thomson and Donnelly that would be just reward.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY