Jason Ryan's 'heated' sessions that paved the way for All Blacks' maul growth

Perhaps the biggest change the All Blacks underwent during their tour of South Africa was their growth at the set-piece – especially at lineout time.

So often a weakness over the past 12 months, the All Blacks were able to effectively nullify the Springboks’ strength at the lineout and driving maul, eliminating one of the world champions’ biggest on-field advantages.

Not coincidentally, Jason Ryan – the man who has underseen the continued rise of the Crusaders’ forward pack over the past five years – joined the New Zealand coaching staff ahead of the trip to Africa and senior second-rower Sam Whitelock has experienced first-hand the changes that Ryan has instigated in the All Blacks set-up – and observed some changes in the coach himself.

“He is coaching differently,” Whitelock said this week when asked how Ryan was handling the step up from coaching the Crusaders to coaching the NZ national side. “He’s coaching at an All Blacks level at the moment and that’s what we want, that’s what we need.

“Obviously [I] have a relationship with Jase over the last five or six years and it’s great having that so we can talk about things quickly and adjust on the run when we need. But at the same time, he’s definitely upping his game; he’s demanding more of people that he knows pretty well so it’s a great thing to have him in here demanding that we grow and get better.”

Said changes paid dividends in a big way in Mbombela and Johanessburg, with the All Blacks able to gain parity with the Springboks at lineout time, with Whitelock and Scott Barrett both snagging ball off opposition deliveries.

“I’d love to claim it was all me,” Whitelock joked. “I know Scott took one in a pretty critical moment. We’re all looking to get better … and we do have to get better. It’s quite nice when we’re putting time and energy into something and then all of a sudden you’re getting a little bit of a reward from it.

“I know for myself it’s easier defending a lineout rather than defending 20-plus phases so it’s quite nice to get the odd lineout at source. Argentina’s got a good smart lineout, they’ve got some good options there so it’ll be interesting to see what options they bring at the weekend.”

Whitelock acknowledged ahead of this weekend’s clash with Los Pumas that the maul had been a major work-on for the side in recent times after struggling against Ireland in July and also having issues competing with the Springboks forwards during last year’s Rugby Championship. All things going to plan, the All Blacks intend to deliver another strong showing in Christchurch.

“That’s one area that we’ve definitely been looking at and working at,” he said. “The boys have enjoyed a few extra mauls at training and you can see the growth that’s starting to come through individuals. When you grow as an individual it definitely helps the team.

“I think when we were away the last couple of weeks in Africa, we had a couple of sessions that were pretty heated and we were getting stuck into each other but I think the way the non-23 set us up to go out there and perform was definitely something that helped and that’s something that again this week’s going to be very important.

“Attitude’s definitely a key part of [defending the driving maul] but you’ve also got to have the skill set to go with it. There’s no point just banging your head against a brick wall, you’ve got to actually know what you’re trying to do and how to do it. Sometimes it’s actually just getting alignment through the whole forward pack of what it looks like and the key areas you’re trying to exploit.”

The All Blacks will this weekend field an unchanged forward pack from the one that got the better of the Springboks at Ellis Park two weekends ago, with Saturday’s match set to kick off at 7:45pm NZT.