Wallabies Win Tri Nations - What Can The All Blacks Learn From This?
The Wallabies have deservedly won the Tri Nations by defeating the All Blacks 25-20 in Brisbane, but what can All Black fans take from this match? What did we learn from this match?
1) The All Blacks can't give a quality opposition a 17 point lead and expect to get away with it, but the way they came back and almost won is an encouraging sign moving forward, even if they didn't win.
2) The All Black selectors shouldn't have picked Zac Guildford for the Rugby World Cup. He was a bumbling mess and selectors must be seriously looking at Israel Dagg for the top left wing spot. Where are Sitiveni Sivivatu and Hosea Gear now? I think Sivivatu should be there.
3) The All Blacks have two injury concerns in the loose forwards now that Kieran Read and Adam Thomson are injured. It is hard to know if the selectors should go back to Liam Messam as a replacement.
4) The Wallabies aren't going to be a pushover upfront like we traditionally think of them as. They were mongrels around the rucks and breakdowns and gave as good as they got.
5) The Wallabies have some world class players now that there "brat pack" have got a bit more experience. They have some slippery backs, a mercurial first five, an amazing halfback and I must say that David Pocock is a threat at the breakdown, Rocky Elsom thrives without the captaincy and since when did Radike Samo become such a hard running Number Eight. Their tight forwards are standing up and being counted. They are tough to beat.
6) Teams are going to have to adjust to different referees from all over the world and their areas that they police. Once the All Blacks adapted in the second half things went better for them. The contesting at the breakdowns got intense with people flying in from all angles and in all directions. There were bodies everywhere. It seemed difficult to judge how one team would get pulled up for entering from the side the cleanout when both teams seemed to be doing it all the time.
7) This match showed how much we missed our top players last week like Dan Carter, Richie McCaw, Conrad Smith and Ma'a Nonu especially, although it did take the All Blacks 40 minutes to start gelling tonight. They are definitely the best in the team at their positions and just make test rugby easy by doing the basics well a lot of the time.
8) We also have realised in the last two weeks that some people despite being amazing Super Rugby and ITM Cup players struggle to step up to the next level. This has cost Liam Messam and Hosea Gear their places in the All Blacks and I would also put Zac Guildford, Adam Thomson, John Afoa and Colin Slade in that boat at the moment. It is crazy when you think that some of these guys were better in Super Rugby than other All Blacks but just struggle to raise the bar at the next level. Stephen Donald was another in that boat. I think we take some players for granted until they aren't there.
9) It was great to see the public stacked into bars, lounges and houses watching the All Blacks playing rugby again. It seems that the Rugby World Cup coming is finally getting people back into watching rugby.
10) We have plenty of competition from other teams to win the Rugby World Cup. It isn't going to be the walk in the park that we thought it would be. But in some ways the All Blacks didn't seem as upset to lose as they maybe would have in non Rugby World Cup years. I think they are single mindedly focussed on winning the William Webb Ellis. Was this an elaborate plan to give Australia false hope? Are the All Blacks saving their special moves for the Rugby World Cup final? The team holding the Tri Nations trophy has never won the Rugby World Cup, so maybe it wasn't such a bad thing that the All Blacks didn't win this.
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