Rugby: Romano at heart of pack revival

Luke Romano of the New Zealand All Blacks charges forward during The Rugby Championship match between the New Zealand All Blacks and Argentina at AMI Stadium. Photo / Getty Images

Not as much was said in the aftermath of the All Blacks' satisfying victory over the Pumas but in preparing for the test, the coaches left the pack with a clear message following their performance against Manu Samoa.

That was to lift their game in all areas — whether in the set piece, at the breakdown or in the contact areas. The difference was plain to see. Whereas in Apia, there were some occasionally good scrums or impact in the tackle, in Christchurch, the performance of the pack was of a consistently high standard.

Those among the 17,500 crowd perched near the AMI Stadium pitch — and most of them are in this rugby-specific stadium — were treated to an often ruthless performance from the men in black.

At the heart of it was lock Luke Romano, having his best game of the year after a season at the Crusaders troubled by injury and a lack of spark.

He admitted his disappointment at the All Blacks letting in two tries to lineout drives but Romano also spoke of his satisfaction of being part of a team which made a big step up.

"Just after reviewing the Samoa game, individually we knew we weren't quite there and obviously we take great pride in [performance]. The coaches obviously do the review and point out things where if we'd done the things we said we were going to do, we'd have scored a few more points," he said.

"The coaches give you a prod but a lot of it is driven by the players because we're a very proud team.

"We hung on to the ball more, which allowed us to get into the game and run through our structures and patterns. That helped a lot."

In Apia, Dan Carter spoke of the All Blacks' inability to apply sustained pressure to the opposition, generally an area of strength for an All Black team which is the fittest in world rugby.

This time, the All Blacks bundled the Pumas into the hurt locker and kept them there until midway through the second half when, after several substitutions and the match safe, the visitors drove over twice through hooker Agustin Creevy.

Countering lineout drives is often as much mental as physical, so the All Blacks will be well aware of their vulnerability in this area ahead of their test against the Springboks at Ellis Park, just as the Boks will be.

Look for the All Blacks to either compete for the ball on their own line in a bid to disrupt the South Africans, or set their defence earlier.

Another battle to look forward to will be at scrum time where the All Blacks got the better of Argentina's vaunted set piece. Setting the tone was a fiercely contested first scrum, with the All Blacks later securing two tightheads.

"We knew that's where they would try to put a lot of heat on us," Romano said. "We knew having watched a few of their games against the French Barbarians, they were having some scrums that were staying up for up to 20 seconds. We did a lot of work during the week to withstand that pressure and exert our own pressure back. I guess when you have a good scrum, you come out feeling good and it flows through to the rest of the game."