All Blacks prop Tony Woodcock scores during the Rugby World Cup final. Photo / Brett Phibbs
All Blacks prop Tony Woodcock scores during the Rugby World Cup final. Photo / Brett Phibbs
In the last of three extracts from his autobiography, All Blacks star Jerome Kaino gives an insider's perspective on the epic 2011 Rugby World Cup final - including why the team almost didn't bother with the signature lineout play which set them on the way to victory. He talks Herald sports reporter Patrick McKendry through the game.
Our start is okay but we can't seem to get our hands on the ball. Richie is making tackles all over the place. Conrad makes a big hit. Piri misses a long-range penalty after French No10 Morgan Parra is offside on the blindside. France win the ball back and put the acid on us again. Crudes [Aaron Cruden] gets smashed by Dusautoir but we win possession and Ma'a Nonu clears the danger with a beautiful kick into their corner, but they win the lineout and push back into our territory.
France win a lineout and it's thrown long to Dusautoir, but Richie turns him beautifully in the tackle and referee Craig Joubert gives us the penalty. Piri clears from our 40-metre mark to six metres from their line - a great kick to put us on attack for the first time in the game.
We have two "special" plays we can use, and we call "Special 1", code for the now famous "Teabag" move.
Steve Hansen came up with it. He noticed that when the French defend from a lineout, no matter where they are on the field, they send most of their guys up as jumpers, and Dusautoir at the back stands off and attacks the opposition first-five if France don't succeed in winning the ball. Shag (Steve Hansen) says: "Why don't we send our two pods up for the ball, suck their guys in, and throw the ball from the top of the lineout down into the hole in the middle for Tony Woodcock to run through?" Shag is adamant it will work straight off the top because it takes away the reactions of the opposition and there is only a little halfback trying to stop a prop. It's great in theory, but all kinds of stuff has to go right for it to work. In past tests, it has come off for Woody, but we had never thrown it off the top to him before. It hasn't worked in training in the lead-up to this game, and some of the boys were keen for us to wipe it. "Come on, Shag," they were heard to mutter. "This is the final, we can't just bring in these crazy moves." I think even Richie was getting a bit twitchy about it. The thing that's bothering me about it is that it's all down to me to win the ball and make that pass. When Richie calls it on the way to the lineout, I'm extremely nervous because I have to do a lot of things right - take a step forward, jump, win the ball and time the pass to Woody perfectly.
Well, it works. Kevvy Mealamu's throw is perfect and Woody and I get our timings right. In the end, it's a prop trying to stop him, but Nicolas Mas hardly gets a hand on him and Reado is celebrating before Woody even gets to the line. The big fella looks chuffed and so he should. We can only imagine how it's gone down in the coaches' box until we see it on the replay later. Quiet satisfaction, I suppose you'd call it.
Jerome Kaino and Sonny Bill Williams react after winning the 2011 Rugby World Cup final. Photo / AFP
Ma'a and Crudes look lively from the restart. Reado is having a stormer in the middle of the park rather than on the margins where he usually causes so much damage. It's working nicely, but the clean breaks don't come. The crowd roars at our half-breaks and then settles into an increasingly nervous silence. Richard Kahui on the left wing is busy. Izzy kicks to the left corner. We keep them pinned in their territory and they aren't willing to kick the ball away.
They counterattack but we have too many numbers at the breakdown and push them off the ball, winning the penalty. Damn: Piri - who has become the subject of a personality cult on social media for his cool, calm head and unerring boot in the recent crisis among our goal-kickers - misses to the right after missing an earlier, tougher penalty, and the conversion to Woody's try. We control the ball again and Piri kicks into their right corner. Back it comes to Kahui, who kicks into their goal-area with Richie chasing. They cover it quite comfortably.
Half an hour has gone, and it's still a stand-off, albeit with us leading 5-0.
The French restart from the 22-metre line. The ball hangs and I know it's coming straight to me. I must have been thinking about what I was going to do after I'd caught it because - bugger - it goes right through my hands. Big chance missed. How costly will that be? Don't think about it.
All Blacks coach Graham Henry and Jerome Kaino on the field after the 2011 Rugby World Cup semi-final win over Australia. Photo / AFP
There's no point in dwelling on a mistake - certainly the boys don't say anything negative. Everyone is in the team because they're the best at what they do. I don't think the boys need to come down hard on you. In our environment it's more solution-based than outright criticism. If you make one mistake the guys are all about "next task", but if other guys see that the mistake is bothering you, if you make another one or you drop your head, that's when Richie or one of the senior guys will have a word. Richie will get you to refocus. My mistake here, and it's just a case of flushing it.
Richie doesn't want to be in your face the whole time; he's not that type of leader. He will let you do your thing, but there have been instances where he has had a word to me about a few mistakes I've made, just as he has with others. It's done in a constructive way, though - there's no point in making you feel worse.
It's coming up to halftime and Crudes tries to get through Francois Trinh-Duc and Maxime Mermoz. He doesn't get up from the ruck. The crowd groans at the replay and looking up I can see why. It's a hyperextended right knee. He's not coming back from that. Beaver - Stephen Donald - our fourth-choice No10, trots on. Just how well this has been anticipated is obvious from the No21 jersey that he wears: it's several sizes too small for him. It's his first ever World Cup match, and there has been a lot of noise in recent days about his unsuitability for the big time. There was even a cartoon in the New Zealand Herald depicting a diehard New Zealand rugby fan waking up from a nightmare in which just this scenario comes to pass.
Jerome Kaino celebrates the All Blacks' Rugby World Cup victory with Stephen Donald and Richard Kahui. Photo / Brett Phibbs
Ma'a goes on a run in midfield and the French are penalised at the ruck. It's a kickable penalty - Donald will take it. "Come on, Beaver," our masseur George Duncan yells from the sideline. "Watch the ball," Beaver says to himself, by way of preparation. "Follow through."
He steps forward and kicks and our hopes sail with it. It's through! Sneaking inside the right-hand upright. It's 8-0 - is this where we pull away?
My Story: An event. Jerome Kaino in discussion with Scotty Stevenson, in association with the New Zealand Herald and Paper Plus. Saint Kentigern College, Auckland, August 17. Tickets at eventfinder.co.nz.
