The Stats Don't Lie: The one area of concern for All Blacks

Opinion

Stats guru Tracey Nelson looks at the All Blacks' 30-0 victory over France and points out one part of the game where the men in black need to pick up their game.

The All Blacks celebrated their 500th test match, and their 50th test match played in Christchurch, by keeping France scoreless - a feat they had never achieved in the previous 52 test matches. It was also the fifth time they have kept France from crossing the tryline.

The All Blacks had to make 128 tackles and 35 tackle assists. Of those, 62 tackles and 14 assists had to be made in their own 22. In total the All Blacks missed 19 tackles.

Sam Cane was the top tackler for the All Blacks with 20 tackles, two assists, and two misses. Sam Whitelock made 13 tackles and seven assists, with no misses. Wyatt Crockett missed the most tackles with four, although he still managed seven tackles and five assists.

Four minutes into the second half the All Blacks defended 20 phases of play from a French attacking lineout for a period of almost four minutes in their own 22. During that time they had to make 28 tackles, 10 assists, and missed just three tackles.

From the resulting charge down of Frederic Michalak's attempted drop goal, the All Blacks' counter-attack took just 24 seconds to clear two rucks and make four passes to put Ben Smith in under the posts. That try brought up 500 points for the All Blacks under coach Steve Hansen.

Cane had the highest workrate amongst the All Black pack, being in the first three to the breakdown on 19 occasions. The next best were Crockett and Owen Franks, both with 14 arrivals. Conrad Smith and Israel Dagg topped the breakdown arrivals for the backs, with 11 and 10 respectively.

The one area of concern for the All Blacks remains the breakdown, this week conceding possession in two tackles and one ruck along with four penalties for tackled players not releasing the ball.

There was no shortage of kicking in this game, with the All Blacks making 42 kicks from hand and France 32.

France had a staggering 27 lineouts in this game, and lost seven of them. Whitelock, Crockett, Luke Romano and Cane all stole a throw, while the remaining three lost lineouts were a result of overthrows (two) and not a straight throw.

The All Blacks won all but one of their 13 lineout throws. Kieran Read was their top jumper winning all six of his throws, followed by Luke Romano with 3 from 3.

Beauden Barrett scored his first test try when he ran in the All Blacks' third try of the night, and it came just one minute and 30 seconds after he came off the bench. That try was also the All Blacks' 150th try against France.

Aaron Cruden brought up 100 test points with his third penalty goal of the night, and his 15 point haul in this game now sees him with 108 test points.