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All Blacks player ratings vs Japan | Autumn Internationals

(Photo by Koki Nagahama/Getty Images)

The All Blacks travelled to Tokyo to take on Japan in the first match of their Northern tour and were met by a plucky Brave Blossoms side that never gave up.

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A tight game in the opening twenty minutes gave way as Japan’s discipline faded deep in the first half. Three All Black tries by the half hour point put the home side under pressure but they bounced back with two quick tries to head to the sheds down by four points, 21-17.

The All Blacks kept the lead in the second half but never looked completely convincing in their 38-31 win. Here’s how they rated.

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All Blacks player ratings vs Japan:

1. George Bower – 4/10

Scrum platform was solid early. Pushed the pass a couple of times and missed a couple of tackles. Not Bower’s most imposing performance. Off after 54.

2. Samisoni Taukei’aho – 6.5

A late injury to Dane Coles meant Taukei’aho took over the starting role, but first few lineouts were troublesome. He burst through the Japanese line in the 10th minute on a set-piece play to set up the first try for Retallick and didn’t look back, fixing the lineout woes and dominating Japan in the carry.

Off after 54 mins in another typical Taukei’aho performance.

3. Nepo Laulala – 5

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Strong defence early and was asked to carry in close a bit. A couple of sloppy tackle errors but overall an okay performance. Off after 54.

4. Brodie Retallick – 4

Scored the opening try after a Taukei’aho bust up the middle and helped rectify the lineout after early wobbles, becoming the All Blacks main target on the night.

His night turned for the worse when he was called up for a low cleanout leading with the shoulder on the back of Himeno’s neck in the second half, deemed to be a red card by the officials. Gave Japan a one man advantage which they used to storm back into the game.

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5. Tupou Vaa’i – 5

Lineout wobbles early with two messy grabs, one of which led to a knock-on. A few errors with ball-in-hand including an attempted round the back offload gone wrong which was indicative of his night. Ruck work rather inefficient at times, but the positive for Vaa’i was his workrate with nine carries and 10 tackles.

Moved to No 6 for final twenty and played the entire match.

6. Shannon Frizell – 5

Got involved with the lineout as a third option, was asked to do a lot of cleaning work around the rucks. A couple of passes from the blindside flanker hit the turf. The pack struggled to keep efficient cleaning as second half went on. Off for Tuipulotu in the 62nd.

7. Sam Cane (c) – 6.5

Used as a running option in the midfield off short lineouts. Contested well at the ruck at times and won the All Blacks first breakdown penalty, got through 12 tackles, the most of any All Black.

Cane’s off the ball work a little less than his best with some inefficient angles at times as part of a pack that failed to handle the ruck as the game wore on. For the pack as a whole, despite a strong scrum, the maul was ineffective and handled by Japan rather well until the reserves came on.

8. Hoskins Sotutu – 6

Took the job as one of the All Blacks primary ball carriers. Got caught out on the edge in defence when Japan went wide early and turned the ball over reaching out for the All Blacks first try after a five metre scrum.

Tired out in the second half a little, but his carries were mostly effective. He bagged a try spinning over for a try to give the All Blacks a key buffer. Off in 65th.

9. Finlay Christie – 3

Had a poor first box kick to start his afternoon. Had overall good speed and delivery around the fast dry track in the first half. However, he had couple of key involvements leading to Japan’s tries. He made a bad read on Nagare’s try, getting caught out by Dylan Riley’s offload. Had a kick charged/intercepted for a try by Japan’s lock Warner Dearns.

10. Richie Mo’unga – 6.5

His first kick charged but he quickly recovered. Made a great cover tackle in the backfield after an early Japan break. Territorial management was good, Mo’unga varied his kicks giving All Blacks contestable opportunities but they didn’t take them, lacking aerial effort from the chase often.

Had a great nudge in behind the line midway through the first half caught by Braydon Ennor on the full but the centre was held up over the line. Produced some Mo’unga magic in the lead up to Ennor’s try with a skillful pass to Tuivasa-Sheck. Combination with Perofeta started to flourish as two pivots in sync.

Defensively a few hiccups, tried his best but got shaken off by Japan’s power winger Fifita. Almost intercepted by Yamanaka but the Japanese wing dropped it.

Some magic but not a total performance.

11. Caleb Clarke – 7

Strong ball carries as usual. Had a great aerial take under a Perofeta bomb but overall the All Blacks kick chase didn’t get many contests. A bursting run in the second half through five Japanese players announced his arrival in Tokyo with Godzilla-level path of destruction. Caught out on defence a few times as Japan stretched the All Blacks but provided impact through his 14 carries for over 100 running metres.

12. Roger Tuivasa-Sheck – 8

The All Blacks’ best performer in his first start at No 12. Solid first-up tackle on Japan’s first set-piece launch, carried hard on kickoff receipts and set-piece. Looked threatening with most of his carries. Had a beautiful set play from a planned lineout overthrow, providing a quick catch and pass inside to Sevu Reece who burst up the lineout seam and scored from 40-metres out.

Had some deft offloads to compliment his footwork, linking well with Mo’unga and Perofeta on multiple occasions. Put Caleb Clarke into a half-gap early in the second half and watched his Blues teammate break away for a try. Had five offloads and six defenders beaten and had a hand in multiple tries.

13. Braydon Ennor – 4

A smart kick in behind on a counter attack gave the All Blacks a five metre scrum. He was tested on defence with Japan’s screen plays, an awkward tackle and failure to roll away led to Japan’s first three points. Bagged a try after some smart lead-up work from Mo’unga, Tuivasa-Sheck and Perofeta.

14. Sevu Reece – 6

Kicked one out of the full after a blind side play from the scrum. Provided good kick chase pressure but didn’t get up in the air much. Got into the game half an hour in with a beautiful line inside Tuivasa-Sheck to break away for a scintillating try. Pressured in behind quite a lot by Japan’s kicking game.

Had some half chances but Japan’s defence covered well on his edge. Reece had a busy game and got through a ton of work.

15. Stephen Perofeta – 6

Some nice early touches injecting into the line and was prepared to have a run from the back returning Japan’s kicks. Had some golden touches, one in the lead-up to Ennor’s try and another half-break linking with Tuivasa-Sheck. Another from a scrum play put a gorgeous pass on the chest of Reece but the All Black wing ran out of space.

Some mixed moments, a drop trying to field a low Japan kick in the backfield led to the Brave Blossoms first try.

Reserves

16. Codie Taylor – 5 – On after 54 mins. A couple of lineout miscues with a new pack on the park. Got penalised for rolling forward too much.
17. Ofa Tu’ungafasi – 5 – On after 54 mins and did his job, got through five tackles as the All Blacks tried to weather the late storm.
18. Tyrel Lomax – 6 – On after 54 mins. A strong carry to start and good effort in defence.
19. Patrick Tuipulotu – on after 62 mins for Frizell in a reshuffle. Brought energy in defence and helped close out the game.
20. Dalton Papali’i – 6.5 – on in 65th. Brought good speed in defence and looked for a couple ruck contests. Got through an astounding nine tackles in 15 minutes and got the crucial penalty to end the game and save the All Blacks from embarrassment.
21. Aaron Smith – N/A – on in 62nd. Added stability that was missing from Christie at times.
22. David Havili – N/A – Had a nice intercept to stop a Japanese wide movement but was promptly turned over a moment later.
23. Anton Lienert-Brown – 5 – made a key cover tackled on Matsushima that saved the All Blacks on one occasion. Some nice touches to free up the outside man on attack. A bad switch with Sam Cane on the goal line gave Himeno an easy barge over and give the visitors a scare.

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Comments

7 Comments
A
Al 737 days ago

Foster is charge of the tour the games results will only get worse until the Big L comes if not two . The World cup sadly which we will not win because of that current coach

M
Michael Röbbins (academic and writer extraordinair 737 days ago

“Plucky” Japanese? More excrement from BS who evidently didn’t actually “watch” the match, at best glanced at it while already preparing his lampoon of SA’s performance in a week’s time. Too funny if it wasn’t so darn sad; almost as sad as Richie grabs-a-lot going for three extra points in dead time—will always and anon be the half-life, or worsely decayed, version of DC.

J
Jay 737 days ago

Where is the article for Japanese player ratings? It’s pretty disrespectful that RugbyPass frequently doesn’t bother to make these articles for Japan when they will for whoever Japan is facing.

L
Laurence 737 days ago

RTS an 8? What game were you watching? 5 would be generous!

J
Jamie 2 737 days ago

Carlos Spencer said it all after this warm up test versus Japan, it's not the time to be going back to the drawing board.
The fumbling inconsistency that has been the hallmark of poor AB performances this year is not a sporadic occurrence, but is becoming a bit too commonplace, the fallback commentary about 'we were prepared for this", isn't what teams at the peak of their game make because they make sure they have the winning edge is maintained, no matter how long the break between games.

C
CRZ38L 737 days ago

8 for RTS is a wee bit generous.

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O
Oh no, not him again? 2 hours ago
England internationals disagree on final play execution vs All Blacks

Okay, so we blew it big time on Saturday. So rather than repeating what most people have all ready said, what do I want to see from Borthwick going forward?


Let's keep Marcus Smith on the pitch if he's fit and playing well. I was really pleased with his goal kicking. It used to be his weakness. I feel sympathy for George Ford who hadn't kicked all match and then had a kick to win the game. You hear pundits and commentators commend kickers who have come off the bench and pulled that off. Its not easy. If Steve B continues to substitute players with no clear reason then he is going to get criticised.


On paper I thought England would beat NZ if they played to their potential and didn't show NZ too much respect. Okay, the off the ball tackles certainly stopped England scoring tries, but I would have liked to see more smashing over gainlines and less kicking for position. Yes, I also know it's the Springbok endorsed world cup double winning formula but the Kiwi defence isn't the Bok defence, is it. If you have the power to put Smith on the front foot then why muzzle him? I guess what I'm saying is back, yourself. Why give the momentum to a team like NZ? Why feed the beast? Don't give the ball to NZ. Well d'uh.


Our scrum is a long term weakness. If you are going to play Itoje then he needs an ogre next door and a decent front row. Where is our third world class lock? Where are are realible front row bench replacements? The England scrum has been flakey for a while now. It blows hot and cold. Our front five bench is not world class.


On the positive side I love our starting backrow right now. I'd like to see them stick together through to the next world cup.


Anyway, there is always another Saturday.

7 Go to comments
C
CO 2 hours ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Robertson is more a manager of coaches than a coach so it comes down to intent of outcomes at a high level. I like his intent, I like the fact his Allblacks are really driving the outcomes however as he's pointed out the high error rates are not test level and their control of the game is driving both wins and losses. England didn't have to play a lot of rugby, they made far fewer mistakes and were extremely unlucky not to win.


In fact the English team were very early in their season and should've been comfortably beaten by an Allblacks team that had played multiple tests together.


Razor has himself recognised that to be the best they'll have to sort out the crisis levels of mistakes that have really increased since the first two tests against England.


Early tackles were a classic example of hyper enthusiasm to not give an inch, that passion that Razor has achieved is going to be formidable once the unforced errors are eliminated.


That's his secret, he's already rebuilt the passion and that's the most important aspect, its inevitable that he'll now eradicate the unforced errors. When that happens a fellow tier one nation is going to get thrashed. I don't think it will be until 2025 though.


The Allblacks will lose both tests against Ireland and France if they play high error rates rugby like they did against England.


To get the unforced errors under control he's going to be needing to handover the number eight role to Sititi and reset expectations of what loose forwards do. Establish a clear distinction with a large, swarthy lineout jumper at six that is a feared runner and dominant tackler and a turnover specialist at seven that is abrasive in contact. He'll then need to build depth behind the three starters and ruthlessly select for that group to be peaking in 2027 in hit Australian conditions on firm, dry grounds.


It's going to help him that Savea is shifting to the worst super rugby franchise where he's going to struggle behind a beaten pack every week.


The under performing loose forward trio is the key driver of the high error rates and unacceptable turn overs due to awol link work. Sititi is looking like he's superman compared to his openside and eight.


At this late stage in the season they shouldn't be operating with just the one outstanding loose forward out of four selected for the English test. That's an abject failure but I think Robertson's sacrificing link quality on purpose to build passion amongst the junior Allblacks as they see the reverential treatment the old warhorses are receiving for their long term hard graft.


It's unfortunately losing test matches and making what should be comfortable wins into nail biters but it's early in the world cup cycle so perhaps it's a sacrifice worth making.


However if this was F1 then Sam Cane would be Riccardo and Ardie would be heading into Perez territory so the loose forwards desperately need revitalisation through a rebuild over the next season to complement the formidable tight five.

28 Go to comments
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