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We are going to ride the rollercoaster with this All Blacks team

Richie Mo'unga and Jordie Barrett. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

The All Blacks under Ian Foster are a talent-based team.

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On certain days, that talent alone will be enough to prevail. On others it won’t.

I was listening to famed AFL coach Paul Roos talk the other day.

Roos is revered for turning the Sydney Swans into a juggernaut.

Since 1996, no team has appeared in more AFL grand finals than the Swans. This weekend they play in their seventh decider, still using the blueprint that Roos put in place in the early 2000s.

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Seven grand finals is a fair effort, in a sport with a salary cap and draft system.

Roos built, what he calls, a behaviour-based club. A club built on culture and leadership and values that are lived every day. He chuckles at the idea of trying to succeed as a talent-based club.

Coaches and support staff aren’t spared criticism at the Swans. Players are asked to evaluate the coaching and management group’s performance on a continual basis.

It’s never anonymous, but face-to-face. Everyone has to be accountable, everyone is expected to improve.

The standards required of the players have to be met by everyone at the club as well.

I’d defy anyone to tell us what New Zealand Rugby (NZR) stands for or to claim the All Blacks are well led.

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There’s no clear direction anywhere, no signs of cohesion and, therefore, no consistency in performances on the paddock.

I wrote before the first Bledisloe Cup test of the season that I feared referee Mathieu Raynal might be the main talking point afterwards.

Not because I have any insight into his refereeing or propensity for a brain explosion, but because of the power we have placed in the hands of officials.

Raynal’s time-wasting ruling has dominated discussion since and obscured much of what occurred at Marvel Stadium.

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Do I admire what Raynal did? Of course not. Would I like to see referees rule in that fashion again? No way.

But Bernard Foley had ample opportunity to kick that ball to touch and didn’t. The outcome is on him.

But what about the All Blacks? Brilliant one minute, abysmal the next. To me, they personify the idea of the talent-based team.

How many guys are playing in their best position, for instance? We simply pick our most-talented players and then try and find a spot for them.

Scott Barrett is doing a decent job at blindside flanker, but is a lock. The same for Ardie Savea, who obviously goes pretty well at No.8 but would be better at openside.

David Havili is not a second-five-eighth, Rieko Ioane is not a centre, Will Jordan is not a wing and Beauden Barrett (when he plays there) is not a fullback.

The fullback we do have, in Jordie Barrett, would prefer to play at 12.

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Hell, even Caleb Clarke, who’s doing well on the wing, grew up a centre and in his heart of hearts would probably still like to be one.

We simply throw them all out there and hope for the best.

What kind of leadership is that? What kind of thinking? Is anyone involved with NZR or the All Blacks capable of putting square pegs in square holes?

I reckon the All Blacks will win handsomely at Eden Park on Saturday, because Australia boast neither talent nor behaviour. At least New Zealand has quite a lot of the former.

But we are going to ride the rollercoaster with this All Blacks team, from match-to-match, half-to-half and minute-to-minute because they simply don’t possess true leadership or a defined culture.

No-one can properly articulate who “The Bloods’’ are or what it means to be one. But everyone in the AFL knows that’s who the Swans identify as and buy into being.

It emcompasses all the values they believe in and adhere to. It keeps them all honest and accountable.

When games or seasons are going badly, it’s what the Swans fall back on.

What do the All Blacks have, beyond talent?

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Comments

3 Comments
D
Dennsi 775 days ago

A bit exagerated, but may be the reason why I cant figure out these current allblacks on and off performance.

M
Mark 776 days ago

Thank you Hamish. Agree 💯.

W
Willie 776 days ago

Nailed it.

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F
Flankly 53 minutes ago
'Absolute madness': Clive Woodward rips into Borthwick in wake of NZ loss

Borthwick is supposed to be the archetypical conservative coach, the guy that might not deliver a sparkling, high-risk attacking style, but whose teams execute the basics flawlessly. And that's OK, because it can be really hard to beat teams that are rock solid and consistent in the rugby equivalent of "blocking and tackling".


But this is why the performance against NZ is hard to defend. You can forgive a conservative, back-to-basics team for failing to score tons of tries, because teams like that make up for it with reliability in the simple things. They can defend well, apply territorial pressure, win the set piece battles, and take their scoring chances with metronomic goal kicking, maul tries and pick-and-go goal line attacks.


The reason why the English rugby administrators should be on high alert is not that the English team looked unable to score tries, but that they were repeatedly unable to close out a game by executing basic, coachable skills. Regardless of how they got to the point of being in control of their destiny, they did get to that point. All that was needed was to be world class at things that require more training than talent. But that training was apparently missing, and the finger has to point at the coach.


Borthwick has been in the job for nearly two years, a period that includes two 6N programs and an RWC campaign. So where are the solid foundations that he has been building?

4 Go to comments
N
Nickers 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

Very poor understanding of what's going on and 0 ability to read. When I say playing behind the gain line you take this to mean all off-loads and site times we are playing in front of the gain line???


Every time we play a lot of rugby behind the gain line (for clarity, meaning trying to build an attack and use width without front foot ball 5m+ behind the most recent breakdown) we go backwards and turn the ball over in some way. Every time a player is tackled behind the most recent breakdown you need more and more people to clear out because your forwards have to go back around the corner, whereas opposition players can keep moving forward. Eventually you run out of either players to clear out or players to pass to and the result in a big net loss of territory and often a turnover. You may have witnessed that 20+ times in the game against England. This is a particularly dumb idea inside your own 40m which is where, for some reason, we are most likely to employ it.


The very best ABs teams never built an identity around attacking from poor positions. The DC era team was known for being the team that kicked the most. To engineer field position and apply pressure, and create broken play to counter attack. This current team is not differentiating between when a defence has lost it's structure and there are opportunities, and when they are completely set and there is nothing on. The reason they are going for 30 minute + periods in every game without scoring a single point, even against Japan and a poor Australian team, is because they are playing most of their rugby on the back foot in the wrong half.

43 Go to comments
N
Nickers 1 hour ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I thought we made a lot of progress against that type of defence by the WC last year. Lots of direct running and punching holes rather than using width. Against that type of defence I think you have to be looking to kick on first phase when you have front foot ball which we did relatively successfully. We are playing a lot of rugby behind the gain line at the moment. They are looking for those little interchanges for soft shoulders and fast ball or off loads but it regularly turns into them battering away with slow ball and going backwards, then putting in a very rushed kick under huge pressure.


JB brought that dimension when he first moved into 12 a couple of years ago but he's definitely not been at his best this year. I don't know if it is because he is being asked to play a narrow role, or carrying a niggle or two, but he does not look confident to me. He had that clean break on the weekend and stood there like he was a prop who found himself in open space and didn't know what to do with the ball. He is still a good first phase ball carrier though, they use him a lot off the line out to set up fast clean ball, but I don't think anyone is particularly clear on what they are supposed to do at that point. He was used really successfully as a second playmaker last year but I don't think he's been at that role once this year. He is a triple threat player but playing a very 1 dimensional role at the moment. He and Reiko have been absolutely rock solid on defence which is why I don't think there will be too much experimentation or changes there.

43 Go to comments
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