Samipeni Finau impressed on debut. Photo / photosport.nz
Samipeni Finau impressed on debut. Photo / photosport.nz
Phil Gifford lists seven talking points from this weekend’s rugby.
Look, it’s the cavalry coming
In the wildly vacillating test in Dunedin, the key figures in the second-half All Blacks recovery, and 23-20 victory, were veterans.
Aaron Smith and Richie Mo’unga seized the day, and reminded again why they’re theonly choice to start in every big game at the World Cup. In the forwards Sam Whitelock was colossal, as forceful and energetic at the breakdowns as he was when he played the first of his 144 tests 13 years ago.
Being down 17-3 at halftime was a huge hill to climb, but when the frontline All Blacks arrived, the comeback felt ordained.
Goal-kicking is a great measure of how much self-belief a player has. In the 2011 World Cup final Stephen Donald, a last-minute selection at first-five after injury mowed down the first three choices, grabbed the chance to kick the penalty that won the Cup. His captain, Richie McCaw, was as impressed as the rest of us. “Geez he was composed.”
In the current team, it now feels that Mo’unga has the 10 jersey locked up, and he’s responded with the cool, clear-headed play that’s made him a key man in the reign of the Crusaders.
As with Donald in 2011, mental strength played as big a role in Mo’unga’s 80th-minute match-winning kick in Dunedin as did technique. When the pressure gets intense in France, the All Blacks have the right man at the helm.
Shaun Stevenson of the All Blacks scores a try in the tackle of Andrew Kellaway of Australia. Photo / photosport.co.nz
Horses for courses
Nothing makes a halfback and first-five look worse than playing behind forwards who are consistently being beaten at the breakdown. Add in porous frontline defence, and it’s little wonder Damian McKenzie and Finlay Christie looked rattled.
The biggest issue now is whether McKenzie’s prospects as an impact sub at the World Cup have been damaged. I hope not. Just as Beauden Barrett was a stellar player when injected off the bench at the 2015 Cup, McKenzie still has the speed and elusiveness to shred tiring oppositions late in a game.
Overcoming a nightmare
Every All Black I’ve ever spoken to about his debut test has noted how fast the game felt, compared to Super or provincial rugby.
So spare a thought for Shaun Stevenson. He was faced, two minutes into his first international, with the toughest defensive choice a wing has: does he go infield to try to shut down the ball carrier, or keep marking his opposing wing?
There are only fractions of a second to make the decision. Kill the ball and you’re a hero. But get caught in no-man’s land, and you’re unable to stop, in Stevenson’s case in Dunedin, Aussie wing Marika Koroibete scoring a try.
What was hugely impressive was how, after that devastating start, Stevenson had the backbone to play his way right back into the game, and start the second half with a classy try.
The All Blacks needed a late surge to beat the Wallabies. Photo / Getty Images
Welcome in and welcome back
Flanker Samipeni Finau showed exactly why he’s advanced into the All Blacks frame this year, and, like Stevenson, his try on debut was a reward for a hard-working performance.
It was also good to see wing Leicester Fainga’anuku and prop Fletcher Newell back in black. Newell, all square, hard edges, looks like a time traveller from the 1960s when the best front rowers worked on farms, drove trucks, or dug ditches for a living. Fainga’anuku is also massively physical, and offers potent, ground-grabbing power with the ball.
Credit where it’s due
Amongst the weirdness of the huge switch in fortunes after halftime, a round of applause for Eddie Jones and his Wallabies.
While they lost, in the first half they converted the patches of good form they produced in Melbourne a week ago into 40 minutes of dominant form.
Does it make them a real threat at the World Cup? Yeah, nah, maybe. I applaud Jones for suggesting the pain of defeat will help his team at the Cup, and it will. But they have huge issues at the scrum, and if they reach the knockout stage, the monsters from up north may demolish their forwards.
The phony war
As with the All Blacks, large-scale experimentation was the explanation for some results in Europe that, at first glance, seem extraordinary. Don’t be fooled by Scotland beating France 25-21.
Among many absentees in the French team at Murrayfield were captain Antoine Dupont and first-five Romain Ntamack. When France play the All Blacks in Paris in five weeks, they’ll field their first XV.
