All Blacks win shows team building to a peak in France

The All Blacks’ performance in their victory against Australia on Saturday night was not without its flaws, but it showed that the team is on the right track to peak at the World Cup in France.

The 26 -12 score line does little to underline to dominance which the All Blacks enjoyed throughout the second half, and perhaps in dry conditions the margin could have been much wider, but in all facets of the game, the New Zealanders held the upper hand.

The early signs for the All Blacks were not good, going backwards at the first scrum and losing several line outs. Once the players realized that this game was going to be won in the forwards, the tide soon began to turn. This in itself was a good sign for a team who have not always changed to plan B quickly enough in the past.

The ball rarely went beyond second five Luke McAlister in the back line, instead it was typically kept in close as the forwards pounded away on their opposites. Full back Mills Muliaina and wingers Joe Rokocoko and Doug Howlett saw limited chances through out the game, and most of those came while returning kicks.

The entire forward pack showed that they are not just big and strong, but also extremely mobile and supremely fit. No matter what number forwards had on their back, they all seemed to show up at the break down and do their share of the work.

The pairing of Dan Carter and McAlister performed well as both players controlled the tempo of the game and kicked well for position, turning around the Australian forward pack whenever they looked to be gaining parity. Both players also filled in at half back when required, especially after one of Byron Kelleher’s trademark runs close to the ruck.

As the game worn on it became apparent that the Australian’s were tiring. It was at this point coach Graham Henry brought fresh legs onto the field in the form of hooker Keven Mealamu, who steadied the line out, and half back Brendan Leonard, who almost immediately made a telling break which lead to the game’s only try.

The other truly ominous sign for opponents was the water tight defence of the All Blacks. Every player on the field tackled their hearts out, and there was alway someone there to clean up on the occasional missed tackle. In the past two weeks neither the Springboks nor the Wallabies have been able to cross the New Zealand line, in fact neither team really threatened to score a try.

There are some still unanswered questions as the rugby world turns its attention to France. Isea Toeava saw virtually no ball on Saturday, so it is unclear whether he is the answer to the All Blacks’ issues at centre. There is also the problem of what will happen if captain Richie McCaw suffers an injury, as his understudy Chris Masoe has seen very little action of late.

The All Blacks will go into their first pre-World Cup camp knowing that they have some work to do on some of their set pieces, especially the line outs. But they will also go into France knowing that there is daylight between them and the rest of the teams at the 2007 Rugby World Cup.

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The All Blacks win shows team building to a peak in France by Hamish McBrearty, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.