Denial is not just a river in Egypt
ByLeave it to The Dom Post’s Toby Robson to be the level headed voice of sanity for both the All Blacks and the media.
The most worrying aspect of the All Blacks in the wake of the Durban debacle is the chorus of denial coming out of the camp.Richie McCaw and Graham Henry think the game plan was fine? Steve Hansen doesn’t want to call in a specialist to help with the lineouts? Wayne Smith believes long kicks are a waste of time?
Publicly the coaches are putting on a brave face, privately I’m hoping they are taking a good look at themselves and what they can do to improve. Then again, this is the same group who couldn’t figure out what went wrong against France in 2007.
It has the same delusional tone as comments this season on the form of wing Joe Rokocoko and the “international class” of first-five Stephen Donald.
Simply put Rokocoko has to go. Coach Henry threw Liam Messam under the bus for making some errors against Italy and needs to do the same thing to Joe. Stephen Donald is rapidly running out of chances to prove he is anything but a good Super 14 level first five. Personally I think the NZRU brought back the wrong player when they got Luke McAlister back, they should have got Nick Evans.
The All Blacks need to swallow their pride and admit they got it wrong in South Africa.
If it looks like a dog and sounds like a dog, it probably is a dog and the All Blacks’ tactics in Durban were definitely of the four-legged variety.
Ouch! But right on the button.
To invest in trying to score tries from 70 metres out at test level is suicide. Henry says his side created several try-scoring opportunities. He’s right, but he misses the point.
Those opportunities were low percentage ones because they were launched from so deep. Rugby is a game of territory because it’s easier to score points when you are in the opposition’s half. To deny such tenets of the game is dangerous.
By contrast, the Springboks’ game plan was simple, get territory and kick penalty goals, which won them the game.
Previous All Black teams have sought a perfect game where the ball is kept in hand, pressure applied and tries scored. This side has not earned the right to chase such lofty ambitions, yet. Without Dan Carter there are no players of Christian Cullen’s ilk among the current crop yet, although Sitiveni Sivivatu has rare class.
Looking up and down the current 15, there are few who could be considered game breakers in the mould of Carter or Cullen. Perhaps Ma’a Nonu, but he needs good ball inside him and good wingers to finish his breaks, something he isn’t getting right now.
But to simply paw over the All Blacks’ twin losses will achieve little. There is no shame in losing to a South African side at the top of its game.
Exactly, learn from your mistakes.
However, the All Blacks must address their shortcomings before facing the Wallabies in Sydney, and there are three major areas.
The first is the lack of a credible kicking game, their game plan is an admission of that shortfall. It is easy to fix.
Hansen says rushing Carter back would be “panicky”. The truth is it is essential.
Donald has his strengths, but his kicking game is neither long enough nor accurate enough for test rugby. If Carter’s not ready Luke McAlister’s bigger, more accurate boot should be given the nod.
There is of course the worry that McAlister may not be able to run the back line as well as Donald, but on recent outing it’s a punt that the coaches should look to take.
Second, McCaw needs help at the breakdown. The All Blacks were outgunned by the Springboks’ physicality at the tackle and need to beef up their presence over the ball.
They have struggled with the new rule that allows players to hold on to the ball at the breakdown. Pesky opponents are proving difficult to legally remove. McCaw gets his hands on the pill, but too often the cavalry is too late to capitalise.
He’s unlikely to get a look-in but Karl Lowe’s huge match for Hawke’s Bay on Saturday provided further evidence of his destructive power and ability to steal turnovers.
Yes and no. Yes McCaw needs help at the breakdown but Lowe is not the answer. I think Toby’s pro Hurricanes streak may be showing through here, personally I think Adam Thomson would be a better choice at number six to help McCaw and So’oialo at the breakdown.
The third big issue is the lineout. The obsession with winning ball at the back of the lineout needs to stop. If the All Blacks cannot back themselves to win ball at the front or middle then they have the wrong locks.
Against arguably the best lineout in the world they struggled, but they have struggled all year regardless of opposition. There’s nothing wrong with the lock pairing, what is needed is better tactics and someone who can throw accurately. It also highlights what we lost when Carl Hayman went overseas as lifters are equally important in the modern game.
Rokocoko’s chances on the wing must have run out. Wellington’s Hosea Gear or Cory Jane are the obvious options.
Can’t argue with that, I thought Jane was unlucky to miss out after getting almost no ball against Australia.
The question now is whether the All Blacks will see their problems in time to address them. Perhaps the long flight back from the republic will clear their thinking.
But one wonders if they need an outside voice? Sometimes it is hard to see clearly when you are so close to your subject.
I vote yes! The coaching staff have been together for six years now and seem to have either run out of ideas or lost perspective entirely.
At the top level of sport there is no room for bloody- mindedness or blind loyalty.
In the short term it will mean a long and frustrating Tri- Nations and, more concerning, in the long term will damage New Zealand’s hopes of winning the 2011 World Cup.
That World Cup is only two years away and I don’t yet see anyone putting up their hands to plug those problem areas. What is needed now is a good hard look at the players and coaches, get rid of those who are coasting by on reputation and replace them with those who are showing potential. Sure some of them, such as Gear or Lowe, who might now be ready yet but surely they can’t do much worse than what we saw on Sunday morning.
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The Denial is not just a river in Egypt by Hamish McBrearty, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
