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'World-class finisher' offers All Blacks selection solution

Mark tele'a score the All Blacks try. Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

In a game of fine margins, the All Blacks right winger Mark Tele’a slipped his way to the try line twice to give the Kiwis an important 24-22 victory against England.

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The Blues winger has struggled to solidify his starting spot this year under head coach Scott Robertson, with Sevu Reece and Will Jordan starting many of the games at the right-wing position.

Telea’s performance at Allianz Stadium has likely earned him a chance in Dublin next week, where the All Blacks will have to improve their execution and discipline to manufacture a result against Ireland.

Robertson was impressed with Telea’s ability to break tackles and find the try line.

“Mark Tele’a can score a try can’t he, he can finish, he’s just a world-class finisher who just knows how to get to the try line, slip and beat a couple of people and put the ball down, it’s a gift that he’s got,” Robertson said to media after the Test match at Allianz Stadium.

Tele’a burst onto the scene in 2022 for the All Blacks, after impressive seasons with the Blues in Super Rugby Pacific.

In 2023, Tele’a was named World Breakthrough Player of the Year, capping off a solid year in the All Blacks that included scoring two tries in the opening World Cup game against France.

Tele’a puts his two tries against England down to his teammates finding space for him.

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“It’s massive for us and mostly what we were trying to achieve with this tour that we are on, just credit to the boys finding the space for me and I was just trying to utilize it,” Tele’a said to reporters after the All Blacks victory.

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It was All Blacks standout loose forward Wallace Sititi who proved the winger with an offload for his first try, one of Sititi’s four offloads in the tight contest.  Tele’a highlighted after the game that when Sititi has the ball, it’s always important to be ready.

“He’s skilful man, all of them are really skilful, when you get offloads like that as a winger you just try to finish it off.

“You just got to stay on around them, credits to Wallace (Sititi) and all of the other boys who are able to do that”.

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The All Blacks leadership group urged their team to stay calm and stick to the game plan set by head coach Scott Robertson when England were leading by eight points with 15 minutes to go.

“Don’t go into our shells, try and play, we were doing some good stuff out there, just some missed passes and knock-ons, so it was just keeping the boys’ confidence up and just trying to play the rugby we play.”

Damian McKenzie came on to replace Tele’a after 60 minutes, but after a Beauden Barrett HIA minutes later, Tele’a was back on the right wing before scoring the match-winning try in the 75th minute.

Tele’a knew he had to stay ready, in case anything was to happen to an All Black back.

“They said to stay ready, I didn’t know what was happening upstairs, but I went off and got told to get back on so I was going with the punches”.

Watch the exclusive reveal-all episode of Walk the Talk with Ardie Savea as he chats to Jim Hamilton about the RWC 2023 experience, life in Japan, playing for the All Blacks and what the future holds. Watch now for free on RugbyPass TV

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Comments

15 Comments
J
JW 1 day ago

Tele’a puts his two tries against England down to his teammates finding space for him.

The second one was with another great run by Dmac. He did it several times against Japan, for multiple lines, he draws the defence by running at them and then he also delayed the pass beautifully so that Jordan had enough time to make his man commit and then change his line late just as the Dmac made the second pass. That outside threat Jordan made gave Tele'a just enough room to get his shrug and swivel going.


Four tries to on 14 point try by England, it was a whitewash basically.

N
Nickers 1 day ago

He was very generous giving credit to anyone else for his second try. Absolute freak of an effort in no space. If Reece was there he just gets bundled into touch or cuts back in.

R
RW 1 day ago

It seems Marcus Smith was trying to do the same, just not with the same apomb.

Telea is a special winger

j
johnz 1 day ago

The best sub Razor made was the HIA of BB. If BB stays at 10 and Tele'a is on the bench, I don't think we win that game. The attack noticeably improved with DMac and Roigard, who was also excellent. BB was going into meltdown mode in the second half, getting frustrated with the lack of space and attempting to pull of his miracle kicks.

U
Utiku Old Boy 1 day ago

Telea had a good game - safe under the high ball and of course, scoring freakish tries. His credit balance was substantially boosted!

I
Icefarrow 1 day ago

They must've really worked on that high ball with him, because earlier this year he just kept fumbling them.

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Oh no, not him again? 1 hour 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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