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‘It worried me’: The world knows the All Blacks ‘aren’t invincible’ anymore
By Finn Morton
The rest of the rugby world will believe that the “vulnerable” All Blacks “aren’t invincible” going into the upcoming Rugby World Cup, according to former New Zealand halfback Justin Marshall.
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Playing in front of more than 80,000 people at Twickenham on Friday, and with millions around the world watching on from home, the All Blacks were dominated by rivals South Africa.
New Zealand were beaten in a way that nobody saw coming, and former All Black Justin Marshall later described the defeat as “worrying” ahead of rugby’s showpiece event.
But the All Blacks, as they’ve shown during an otherwise flawless run under coach Ian Foster in 2023, are “more than capable” of hoisting the Webb Ellis Cup in late October.
“Capability-wise and the way that we can play, I don’t think it’s a big problem,” Marshall said on The Platform.
“The bigger picture is the fact that this side, all of a sudden after one Test match, regardless of how disappointing the performance was, doesn’t become a poor side.
“They are more than capable of winning this Rugby World Cup should they find their feet again. At the moment they shouldn’t be hugely doubting themselves.”
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The All Blacks’ disastrous display against the world champion Springboks saw them fall to their first defeat in five Tests this year.
New Zealand dominated the Springboks, as well as Los Pumas and the Wallabies, during a sensational Rugby Championship campaign last month. The All Blacks claimed that prestigious trophy, as well as the Freedom and Bledisloe Cups.
But that now infamous Test at Twickenham was a wakeup call that the New Zealanders may have needed before the World Cup. They lost, badly, and the world was watching.
“But I think the problem for them… the rest of the world are watching this game. It was the only game on a Friday night,” Marshall added.
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“Every other international side that are looking at the All Blacks… were watching their performance, but they were watching, more importantly, what was frustrating the All Blacks in not allowing them to play. They were gathering information from it.
“They’re all of a sudden getting confidence that the All Blacks aren’t invincible, they are vulnerable.
“It worried me that there was no counter punch over 80 minutes at all, there was nothing.
“The South Africans actually put us into our shell that much that it’s encouraging for the rest of the world to go, ‘We can shut this team down.’
“On the other side of the foot though Marty, the All Blacks will be going, ‘Why did that happen to us?’
“Hopefully they’ll be better for it.”
I have been listening over and over to the clip in this thread with Wilson bleating that there was only 33 minutes of ball in play. Let's have a look at something. The AB gave away 17 penalties 11 in the first half. South Africa kicked for touch on each of those. From the time the whistle goes for the penalty ball ion play stops. The kicker has one minute to take the kick but usually it's about 30 seconds. He kicks the ball into touch and the forwards walk to the lineout - another 30 seconds. The hooker gets the call and prepares to throw in. - another 15 seconds. So from the time the whistle goes for the penalty to the time the ball is back in play it is at least 1 minute 15 seconds - multiply that by 17 that's 21and a half minutes. South Africa score five tries. From the time the try is awarded to the time the ball is kicked from the restart - an average of one and a half minutes - that's another seven minutes. So mistakes by the All Blacks (I'm taking the liberty of saying tries come from mistakes) cost 28 minutes of ball in play time. So Mr Wilson - the answer to getting more time for ball in play is don't give away so many penalties and don't leak so many tries.
No one thought NZ were unbeatable after four loses to three different teams last year (plus the partial choke draw to a fourth). If anything this loss means NZ aren't prematurely overhyped, and teams are just as focused on the rest of the big three. The ABs SHOULD be worried about maybe not being good enough. Otherwise you're not doing it right and you don't stand up in the dark places.
I think we did NZ a massive favour to expose them before the French game. They can fix their forward problems before the France game. Not sure they have the firepower up front though. The French game will be telling.
Get rid of Foster as of now ~!!!! We wont be in the final four of the forth coming Rugger World Cup..The guy is simply not up to the new International requirements needed for a highly capable , fully competitive and super charged coach who 'has it all' !
I say everyone needs to cool their boots. Now I think this ABs team is not the strongest I have ever seen but that is comparing next to a very high bar. But, these games leading up to the RWC are impacted by the intensity of the training currently going on..some teams are clearly playing highly fatigued. So be careful making judgement on these results as I expect certain teams to ay faster and longer when they adjust the training work load.
All Blacks will turn up for the world cup, no doubt about it. We all knew this team wasnt the best All Blacks iteration. This has become obvious over the last 4 years. They have enough to win the title though but teams already know what they have to do to beat them.
The significance of that game has been massively overstated.
Since 2019 we haven't had a great team. I'd say the 2020-2023 AB's are a 7.5/10 team at best. When certain players don't fire they simply don't know how to play.
With the exception of Ardie Savea, Sam Whitelock, Aaron Smith and possibly Richie Mo'unga (on a good day) I wouldn't include any other current members in the conversation of a World XV.
Sometimes a little bit of introspection is required - can the All Blacks still win the 2023 RWC? Yes.
Will it require something very special to happen? Also yes.
Marshy is direct, not always right but he's spot on here. It's all about strategy and turning up on game day. We were sucker punched on the weekend by a VERY hungry and smart Bok team. Yes we can win the Webb Ellis team. On the day the top 5 have a show. The rest are resting on luck and a less whistle happy ref WE had on weekend 😉😀
The All Blacks myth of invincibility died in 2017. It's only Justin Marshall who thought other teams still "fear" the All Blacks and don't think they can beat them.