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The All Blacks looked like Ireland against Argentina

Emoni Narawa of New Zealand holds the trophy as teammates celebrate after winning a Rugby Championship match between Argentina Pumas and New Zealand All Blacks at Estadio Malvinas Argentinas on July 08, 2023 in Mendoza, Argentina. (Photo by Daniel Jayo/Getty Images)

Don’t know about you, but I’m definitely enthused.

The start of The Rugby Championship served as a timely reminder of why we love Test match footy.

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With due respect to all involved, we haven’t really enjoyed a scintillating start to the rugby season.

Super Rugby Pacific was fine. Not appointment viewing necessarily, but definitely something to keep tabs on.

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But you wouldn’t miss this Saturday’s clash between New Zealand and South Africa for quids.

The All Blacks look all right. I sort of want to say that quietly, for fear of going too hard, too early.

But Sunday morning’s 41-12 win over Argentina was as encouraging as I’ve seen in a long time.

Kickoff receptions weren’t perfect and the lineout occasionally fallible, but there was vigour and guile and pace about everything else.

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What a joy to see the All Blacks using the ball to beat the man and to have attackers committing defenders before offloading. It felt like I was watching Ireland, during their series-winning tour of New Zealand a year ago.

And maybe I was.

Plan A for many All Blacks backs of recent vintage has been to try and run over defenders. If that works, great. If not, Plan B has been to shuffle the ball sideways.

Plan C inevitably involved a crossfield kick of some sort.

Neither B nor C ever committed a defender, while A always came unstuck against opponents who were prepared to tackle.

But Sunday was different. Sunday saw the All Blacks use a sleight of hand and a degree of thought and awareness that I wasn’t sure the team was capable of.

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For that – and, again, I’m going to whisper it – I credit Joe Schmidt.

The former Ireland head coach was always the intangible, when assessing the Rugby World Cup chances of this team.

If he had an impact, after joining New Zealand’s coaching staff last year, it wasn’t immediately evident.

But you always assumed, rightly or wrongly, that he had the nous to fundamentally change how the All Blacks attacked.

Sunday was a very small sample size, but the signs for 2023 are promising.

Lots of little things stood out: the tackling of props Tyrel Lomax and Ethan de Groot for instance, centre Rieko Ioane actually passing the ball, hooker Dane Coles not pulling a calf muscle.

Heck, even fullback Beauden Barrett took the ball into contact a couple of times.

Actually, I shouldn’t be flippant about that.

I mentioned Barrett and New Zealand Warriors halfback Shaun Johnson in the same sentence, a few weeks back.

Johnson is a playmaker transformed in 2023, in large part because he has stopped shying away from physicality. As Johnson’s confidence in the contact areas has grown, so has his command of the game.

I still believe Barrett is capable of making a similar impact with the All Blacks.

South Africa, meanwhile, were just as impressive in disposing of Australia 43-12.

We don’t know how travelling back from Argentina will affect the All Blacks. Just as we’re not sure whether the Springboks’ decision to send an advanced party to Auckland was the right one.

But we’re all counting down the days till kickoff and it’s nice to feel optimistic and excited about watching the All Blacks again.

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Comments

20 Comments
N
Nickers 476 days ago

It's taken them a while but they have finally graduated from "creating space" to punching holes. The latter worked great for many years but was built for different players in a different time.

They have made huge improvements all around the park (breakdown accuracy in particular - allowing us to actually retain the ball) but seeing the offensive line up flat and providing the 9/10 with multiple viable passing options has put some life back into an attack that has been faltering badly since 2017.

F
Francois 481 days ago

Lets see how the AB's fare against a patchwork Bok side without their regular captain, their first choice 10, possibly without Etzebeth, and a lightweight loosie combo. At home.
If they lose this one, Fozzie really just needs to tie a stone around his neck and go jump off his tinny in the deep stuff around the Noises- he has great talent at his disposal and new assistants he can blame now, so really would be a catastrophe if they munt this one. Lets see some mana and mongrel, boys!

F
Francois 481 days ago

"It felt like I was watching Ireland...."
You we're mate. Pure copy and paste from Fozzie- totally bereft of his own ideas.

c
conor 482 days ago

I’ll wait to pass judgment till I see them take on an aggressive rush defence and on form world class team e.g France, Ireland, South Africa

r
rod 482 days ago

I’m not sure which coach has the most affect but Schmidt has definitely made his mark with forwards running & passing short balls after contact & having DMac flat on the line to create havoc for the defence! Finally we have big forwards ( sorry Savea who should be a seven ) to play a fast tempo game! Yes Ireland should be thankful that Schmidt was coach but now he has the ABS to work with & Jason Ryan and some decent players the ABS are still under the radar come World Cup!

G
Guy 482 days ago

I find it funny to see that the NZ discover that rugby is a game of contact AND avoidance. The teams that currently dominate rugby (Ireland, France & SA) are those that manage to master and alternate the two.

G
Greg 482 days ago

the Joe Schmidt philosophy is all about finding gaps. It's the same concept Wayne Smith, Fred Allen, Wayne Bennet, José Mourinho emphasized. Finding holes. It's the underlying principle of all running ball sports.

C
Chris 482 days ago

What a compliment, the All Blacks look like Ireland! Never thought I'd see the day! But yes Ireland is world number one after playing all the big teams at home.

f
frandinand 482 days ago

I believe the biggest change has been made by Jason Ryan as forwards coach and selector.

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JWH 38 minutes ago
Are the All Blacks doomed to a 70% flatline?

Interesting take, crazy to see the amount of delulu NZ fans here. I am an NZ fan, but this is atrocious.


I am fine with 75%+, in fact I think that is excellent, but the main point of anguish is not IF we win or lose, it is how. I think that Razor has finally got us playing to our identity again; flowing, simple, and brutally decisive & efficient.


There are certainly some issues that the stats reflect, like the scrum and lineout. However, at scrum time, there isn't really much variation, in terms of attack, you can put on that. So at the end of the day, not much to do differently apart from 'scrum better'.


However, the lineout is quite interesting. As Ryan said earlier this week, the ABs have added a lot of depth and combinations to their lineout, with FOUR lineout options (Barrett, Vaai, Savea, Sititi). While they did only retain 80% possession from lineouts (not great), the stat line is actually 12/15, which is pretty good, considering Aumua did all those lineout with limited experience and tiredness after playing 75 minutes at Twickenham.


There are also some really good stats to back up the ABs. They managed to stay out of their own 22 for a lot of the game, however they also didn't set up camp in the opp 22 often either. They are also passing the ball a lot, clocking in at 211 passes, double that of England. These stats show a return to attacking, flowing rugby, and not playing your own 22, which is the ABs style.


What I think Razor wants to do is make effective use of draw and pass, simple rugby. This can be pre or post contact, but you have to draw more than 1 player. For example, that Sititi offload to Telea, or BB to Jordan. Those were excellent, yet overall simple passages of rugby This can be risky at times (just watch DMac play), but it is a medium risk high reward gameplan.


What we Kiwis want is exciting rugby. We want hard defense, big hits, cool plays, and quick linebreaks. I cannot imagine being an SA fan between 2018-2021, which was one of the most boring rugby teams of all time (respectfully). I also cannot imagine being an England fan right now, so dull. But the ABs are making rugby exciting again, playing like Scotland and Fiji, but better.

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