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Watch: Hanigan break sets up Koroibete's momentum-shifting try

By Online Editors
Ned Hangigan of the Wallabies makes a break during the Bledisloe Cup match between the New Zealand All Blacks and the Australian Wallabies at Eden Park on October 18, 2020 in Auckland, New Zealand. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)

The selection of Ned Hanigan at blindside flanker for the Wallabies drew plenty of criticism from the Australian rugby public in the leadup to Bledisloe Two, but the 25-year-old has responded with a momentum-shifting break.

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The All Blacks were playing with plenty of front-foot ball and momentum, and appeared threatening as they look to build on their 10-point lead. Australia had thrown plenty at their opponents throughout the opening 30-minutes, but they couldn’t make it count on the scoreboard until this stage.

The influence of Beauden Barrett and poor discipline from the men in gold saw them trail.

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This changed the game.

Arguably against the run of play, a 20-metre spurt through the heart of the hosts defence set the game alight with a fast and calculated play.

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10 phases into a Wallabies attack, Hanigan broke through tackle attempts from All Blacks captain Sam Cane, and Joe Moody, who left the field with a head knock from the attempt. Running with the ball in plenty of space, Hanigan then drew in the defence of Richie Mo’unga, before passing the ball onto his captain Michael Hooper.

Hanigan then went in and supported Hooper at the breakdown.

The Wallabies then caught the All Blacks short of numbers out wide and made the most of it with a couple of fast phases. Taniela Tupou made some useful metres with a run that also disorganised the All Blacks’ defensive line.

Quick ball from Matt To’omua to Marika Koroibete saw a big gap open between Jordie Barrett and Mo’unga, which allowed the winger to run through from five metres out relatively hassle-free. The five-pointer was the winger’s second in as many weeks after crossing for a try last Sunday in Wellington. James O’Connor converted the try from wide on the right.

The Wallabies went on to trail by just three at the break.

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Flankly 6 hours ago
The AI advantage: How the next two Rugby World Cups will be won

If rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.

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