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'They're very passive': Italy win reinforces where teams can 'exploit' the All Blacks
By Ned Lester
New Zealand’s giant win over Italy certainly ran up a scoreline that would convince the average pundit that the All Blacks are in dangerous form as the knockout stages approach, but not all pundits are convinced it was as comprehensive of a performance as that scoreboard would suggest.
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On paper, the All Blacks’ tally of 96 points would imply complete dominance in the match, but Ireland’s 95-Test veteran Rob Kearney highlighted Italy’s 17 points as a significant takeaway from the contest.
Seven of those points came after the 80 minutes had expired, but that try to Monty Ioane was perhaps the most telling moment of the game for New Zealand as the team’s defensive flaws were exposed.
Earlier in the week, Another Irish legend, Ronan O’Gara, had identified defence as New Zealand’s biggest weakness.
“I think where teams have probably gone beyond them is on the defensive side,” the La Rochelle coach told The Breakdown.
“Their attack has always been top-notch, but I think defensively it seems like they’re still defending the man, which nowadays, with teams’ capacity to retain the ball, if you keep pushing them towards the sideline, the opposition is going to have too much possession and be able to fire too many shots and they probably have to defend a lot of players with X-factor.
“I think if they’re very aggressive with their defence, they could surprise people and go all the way.”
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That aggression was missing against Italy in Kearney’s eyes. While the All Blacks completed ten more dominant tackles than the Italians, their line speed allowed the ball to be spread through the hands of the Italian backline, causing problems in the wider channels.
Around the ruck, the Kiwi forwards pressed the issue and found success catching their opponents behind the gain line. But, when the ball was distributed to the Italian backs, there was open space to run into.
While next weekend’s results will confirm the seedings, as it stands, the All Blacks would play Ireland in the quarter-finals.
“I think if there’s one weakness to this New Zealand team it’s their defence,” Kearney said on Virgin Media Sport.
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“They’re very passive, they give the opposition a lot of time and space on the ball that the Irish attackers will love.
“They are not nearly as aggressive as South Africa or France.
“We saw Italy going around them three or four times tonight, they did it quite early on, in the first five minutes, they just didn’t have the skill set to be able to do anything with that space that they manipulated up the edge.
“But certainly, defensively for this All Blacks team, I think Ireland, should we get there in the quarterfinal, will be able to exploit quite a bit of space on the edges.”
It’s a painfully familiar criticism for the All Blacks, who were knocked out of the 2019 Rugby World Cup by England after struggling to adapt to the era of the rush defence.
While the team have made strides in attacking the tactic since then, failing to adopt it is beginning to become the story of this year’s campaign.
Foxtrot Oscar !
Green Kearney is upping his anti NZ speculation - the truth is he and his co conspirators are getting very nervous looking over at NZs progress NZ will tighten up their outside channels - but Ireland will need 30 players on the park to plug the holes the ABs will exploit - hey Rob its going to be another 4 years to wait for another shot Ireland are going home early NZ DO NOT FEAR IRELAND just look at the record books
I've gotta say that the Irish have quickly become the most arrogant rugby nation in such a short time. I should be rooting for them, a year ago I was hoping that if NZ didn't win Ireland would but the sheer lack of anything resembling humility has quickly turned them into the antagonists, I don't see Dan Carter coming out and saying "Ireland's greatest weakness is that they apparently get minor hamstring injuries every 5 minutes", Italy put 17 and 20 points on Ireland this year so I guess Ireland has shit defence too but worse attack.
Ireland does not know deal with pressure when it comes in 1/4 . All blacks know do it and they have psychological advantage vs Ireland in 1/4.
It is no coincidence that people conveniently forget that the ABs beat the Boks during the RC with the same forward pack (minus Cane). This is the first time since that win the ABs have included those 3 forwards - Retalic, Fritzel and Taylor. One could also include S Barrett, since he was red carded. That is the forward pack that will win against Ireland.
Reiko was caught out horribly for one of those tries. If he had rushed up M.Ioane never gets the ball, if he hangs back he can cover him and push him towards the sideline shutting down the space, but he hesitated, got caught in no man's land and got done by a good player. There might only be two or three tries in a QF, those sort of basic individual defensive errors will cost the ABs dearly.
Ireland had Havili and Ioane in absolute disarray during their successful tour last year. Sexton, Aki, Ringrose and Keenan will have a field day if NZ bring that defence to the QF.
Kearney's remarks only confirm what everyone else knows, the Irish are feeling the pressure now it's coming to knockout time and they know deep down they are not good enough to win the RWC because they cannot cope with having to play 3 top teams back to back.
To counter Kearney, the ABs and others will target the 10, 12, 13 channel as Sexton, Aki and Ringrose are weak defensively and Aki will ultimately do a high hit and risk a red card.
I agree with the Bok comment Kevin, remember the ABs have only just got back 3 injured players that didn’t play the French game then have Ethan De Groot back for the quarters! Also they have changed their strategy when going forward into rucks to speed the tempo up and not get isolated. Add to that complete lineout & scrum dominance I think they are a building towards a complete performance! if anyone thinks the ABs are there for the taking well their dreaming
OMFG our defence was crap and Ireland will destroy us if we don't sort it out. Lowe and Hansen will be overjoyed watching that. Luckily we will finally be rid of foster at QF time. Good luck Ireland-i hope you win the whole bloody thing. SA with 4 cups would be unbearable to listen to for the next 4 years as much as I admire their rugby!
Would be nice to see the forwards dominate the centre which negates rush defence and will create space on the outside. Having watched the sa vs Ireland game both teams just shovelled the ball out wide thus leaving it to the referee to decide the winner by penalties