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The All Blacks biggest issues were on show well before red card
By Ben Smith
The All Blacks‘ stunning reversal in the second test against Ireland was influenced in some part by being down a man, but even with a full complement of 15, they were under the pump less than two minutes into proceedings.
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A Johnny Sexton-led Irish attack cut through the black defensive line multiple times very early, highlighting defensive concerns for this All Blacks team.
There is no denying that when Sexton has been on the park in this series, Ireland have been in control and looked the better side. On fast dry track under the roof, it suited their game perfectly.
While the All Blacks fought valiantly for long periods while multiple defenders down late in the first half, the way that Ireland opened the scoring in Dunedin showed that New Zealand’s defence has problems to fix.
They could not react quickly enough to what was being thrown at them, while players were pressured into reacting outside of any cohesive scheme. The lack of pressure at the breakdown cost the home side as Ireland’s rapid quick ball laid the platform.
Basic fundamentals were not adhered to as All Blacks players could not align, took bad angles and slipped off too many tackles. Once under pressure, they went off script and rarely played in unison.
In the lead-up to Ireland’s first try, a basic tip ball from Caelan Doris to Josh van der Flier (7) pierced the All Blacks’ line between Codie Taylor (2) and George Bower (1) to create some front-foot momentum for the next phase.
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Taylor brought pressure up the middle but the Crusaders prop slipped off the tackle coming from a side angle which allowed Van der Flier to punch over the halfway line.
Sexton stepped up to play flat in the next phase to attack another member of the tight five with the All Blacks on the back foot.
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The speed of Jamison Gibson-Park’s recycle created headaches for the All Blacks defence all night.
They were caught still fanning out after the ball had already left his fingertips, creating a lateral-moving defensive line for Sexton to pick apart.
In the second phase, the All Blacks had numbers crowded around the ruck, still struggling to get around the corner, while Sam Cane (7) had no alignment on Sexton, defending inside-out .
This in itself is not a problem, but when a sharp line is used against the grain on a defender where a mismatch can be had, it is a problem.
The man outside Cane, prop Ofa Tuungafasi (3), was the target who couldn’t change his angle as quickly as others. Angus Ta’avao demonstrated the worst that can happen in this situation later on in the half.
Tadhg Beirne (4) changed his direction to hit underneath the big prop who was sliding out trying to defend inside-out. Sexton executed the pass perfectly and the Irish lock burst through an arms tackle from Tuungafasi, who ended up over-pursuing.
The All Blacks’ line was never set properly to begin with and poor alignment was exploited by a fast-moving Irish attack.
Once they had breached the line, the All Blacks struggled to deal with Ireland’s shapes, even when the visitors didn’t execute perfectly.
After five phases, Ireland ran the ‘out the back, inside ball’ combination using James Lowe (11) inside Robbie Henshaw (12).
The block runners Van der Flier (7) and Tadhg Furlong (3) weren’t perfectly placed on this occasion, risking obstruction. Henshaw had to push the inside pass earlier than expected and couldn’t draw any defenders.
The read should have been made easier due to the mistiming and misplacement of Ireland’s running lines, but Scott Barrett (5) somehow ended up switching from Van der Flier onto Furlong, the other block runner and the same man that Dalton Papalii (6) was marking.
Barrett may have been trying to draw an obstruction call, but it allowed Lowe to punch through when it should have been an easy assignment for Barrett to punish Ireland behind the gain line.
Instead, Bower had to cover from inside and make a low tackle on Lowe.
The following phase, Barrett was stuck on the opposite side of the ruck after his missed tackle. Papalii tried to compete at the ruck and was cleaned out.
The All Blacks are caught thin as Ireland go the same way, with Sexton flattened up ready to strike.
Faced with an overlap, Beauden Barrett (10) tried to pull off a heads up intercept, but Sexton was up to the challenge, playing a double pump and threading the needle behind his back to Mack Hansen (14).
Ireland should have had a try on this phase with a draw-and-pass back inside against fullback Jordie Barrett, but Hansen made the mistake of trying to take him one-on-one with footwork.
Hansen’s bad decision does not excuse the All Blacks defence, which was shot to bits after the lead-up work by Sexton and three to four execution errors.
The lack of discipline was apparent as the passage wore on, with Ireland’s shapes continuing to draw bad reads and commit decisions.
Papalii (6) is the first man to be drawn into contact, playing James Ryan after the ball has gone.
Bower (1) was next. He made a play for Sexton and committed to contact after the ball was moved on, while Barrett (5) and Savea (7) took the same man in Van der Flier.
Hansen slipped inside Savea, who recovered to make the eventual tackle after Barrett’s second miss, but the recycle is so fast that Gibson-Park is able to hit the next runner at rapid speed, right on top of the backpedalling All Black line.
Ireland scored on the next phase through Andrew Porter, with New Zealand’s defence left reeling.
The tempo Ireland were running was at a level that the All Blacks could not handle less than three minutes into the contest.
Having three opensides across the All Blacks’ back row did little to poach ball from or pressure Ireland’s ruck, which remains a massive flaw in the Kiwi defence at the moment. The back row finished with zero turnovers, although Ardie Savea sat on the bench for most of the game.
Ireland’s attack can reload a shape with a planned strike faster than the All Blacks can form an organised straight line, which is saying something.
That should not be possible, but with Sexton pulling the strings, Ireland have the world’s best-structured attack. If a defence is not operating on the same page, it will get torn to shreds.
Some of the tempo can be attributed to the pitch, which Dunedin allowed as an indoor stadium, so Ireland’s effectiveness will be negated somewhat by the conditions in the third test in Wellington.
But All Blacks players are used to blaise defence in Super Rugby against attack that does not have the same level of detail that is run by Ireland.
Some of the habits they have – slow reads and poor commitment decisions – are exposed at international level where they remain hidden on the trans-Tasman scene.
They have to be far more sharper in every thing they do to keep connected, stay alive and move with the ball instead of clattering players without it.
Remarkably, the All Blacks defended better with less men when they were forced to be desperate, but the weight of the one man disadvantage proved too much in the second half.
They need to slow down Irish ball to prevent their defensive system breaking down. Ireland proved that if they are allowed to play at their speed, the men in black cannot match, which is exactly what happened in Dublin last November.
The All Blacks have to slow down the ruck speed in the third test to have more time to set a line and bring more accuracy with the forward press they want to achieve, or risk losing the series to a brilliant Ireland side.
Ofa just missed the tackle plain and simple, reading far too much into that.
Sexton had a blinder though and shows how much NZ miss having a first rate 10 behind a well functioning forward pack
This is an embarrassing indictment of where the ABs are as a team. If they are unable to make reads against attacks like this, even when the plays are executed poorly, it would stand to reason that they a very long way off be able to run moves like this themselves, which explains a lot about why the ABs attack has been such easy target for the last 4 or 5 years. Imagine the Irish defenders training against their own players running these complex dynamic moves, then defending against the ABs who are completely static and telegraph simple plays three phases in advance.
The crazy thing is the ABs still manage to give away so many penalties when they don't have a genuine poacher whose job it is to test the limits of the rules. They are literally not even trying to turn the ball over and still manage to ship significant territory and points through defensive penalties.
Can't attack, can't defend, what is actually going on in this team?