Richard Loe: Kiwi outfits must add new dimension

Crusaders forward Thomas Waldrom on the attack with Kieran Read, Brad Thorn, Sam Whitelock and Andy Ellis. Photo / Getty Images

It was a much better weekend for New Zealand Super 14 teams and you'd go a long way to see a better game than the Bulls-Crusaders clash - but I came away still worried about the All Blacks, especially up front.

Our props and locks and basics like throwing into the lineouts are all still not working as they should, even in the two leading Kiwi franchises. I am well aware that All Black form does not equal Super 14 form but it is that word "basics" that gives me the most gyp.

The Crusaders were outdone at the scrum and that worries me because I have seen the Bulls under plenty of pressure there this season. They were also outdone in the lineouts, although that is not a new development for any team visiting Loftus Versfeld and having to jump against Victor Matfield, Bakkies Botha and Danie Roussouw.

These are basics which have to be done well if the All Blacks are to win. I have said it before and I am going to say it again - New Zealand scrummaging is now one-dimensional.

Mike Cron has done a great job for New Zealand rugby but his influence at the scrum has now infiltrated everywhere; opponents, once they have packed against one New Zealand scrum, know exactly what to expect from the next one; and the one after that.

For the Crusaders, Wyatt Crockett got into a bit of trouble against the Bulls and was subbed. That seems to be Wyatt's lot at the moment - good one week, not the next. Maybe he should be playing for the Blues. But even the Franks brothers, Ben and Owen, were found out a bit and that set alarm bells off.

I saw the former All Black prop Dave Hewett coming on the field as a water boy and they were obviously trying to put things right in the scrums. But, in New Zealand rugby now, we seem unable to alter things when Plan A isn't working. The opposition try a few things and we don't know what to do except to keep doing what we were.

Again, that could be put right at All Black camp - but we have no Carl Hayman, no Greg Somerville and loosehead prop Tony Woodcock seems to have gone missing this year. Neemia Tialata is in good form for the Hurricanes and just as well - there doesn't seem to be anyone else right now.

Even the Hurricanes, however, didn't look that convincing up front - if they will forgive me for dissing them a bit after a good win and really fine second half where the team scored 31 points and the other blokes didn't score any.

But prop Jacob Ellison can't even get into Jamie Joseph's Wellington provincial team and, I have to say, the Reds looked as though they had done their dash for the season; they had peaked and were on the way down the other side of the hill. The Hurricanes will have a much sterner test in Sydney on Friday night against the Waratahs.

Hooker Andrew Hore joked about it after the match but the lineout throwing was poor and has been across all Kiwi franchises this season. At lock, Brad Thorn is so obviously our leading man, it's not funny. Who his partner will be is anyone's guess; my worry is that we don't seem to have a lineout man/mobile ball player wrapped up in one.

Chris Jack had a good first half against the Bulls and started the movement that led to Brad Thorn's try. But he badly missed a tackle on Bulls' hooker Gary Botha when Matfield scored and, while there's no doubting his experience, we may have to see him play in a test to assess whether he still has it at that level.

Other than him... who? Answers on the back of a postage stamp, please. If Ali Williams or Tom Donnelly were fit, then no problems. But they aren't. And the man we have in charge of the lineout now is Steve Hansen, the man removed from that position last year because of... problems with the lineout.

So, a big challenge there, then.