It takes two to tango and ultimately, the series between New Zealand and England did go down to the wire. Even on the very last play of the game at a wet and giddy Eden Park, England had the chance to score a converted try to bring the scores level. They were denied but it has been a memorable series for all concerned. For both teams and both coaches, there will be more positives than negatives to take away.
Ex-All Blacks second row Ian Jones spoke for the majority of onlookers when he commented on BBC Radio 5 Live:
“Thank you to the England players and everyone involved in the squad for the attitude you brought after a very long year.
“The intent, the way England contributed to this amazing Test series, rugby in this part of the world has come alive again.
“Rugby is the greatest game but it needs two teams [to contribute] and England – I know they will be heartbroken – but they have to be able to build from this.”
Jones played in the second row of the scrum, and as one of the tallest of timbers he had an eagle’s-eye view of events. At the end of 160 minutes of gruelling football, a mere eight points separated the two sides, and both New Zealand and England had scored four tries apiece.
The home team carried 241 times for 729 metres, the visitors 206 times for 764. The home team held an edge in clean breaks made [12 against seven] but the tourists spent more time in the opposition 22 [7:40’ to 3:22’]. New Zealand proved stronger at scrum time but England’s lineout held the upper hand. Every stat had a ready counterplay from the other side of the net.
Another second row, Red Rose forwards chairman Maro Itoje, could not mask the note of rueful disappointment in his voice after the game:
“Second half, we [England] were just not as accurate as we wanted to be.
“We gave their backfield opportunities to run back at us, and [New Zealand replacement full-back] Beauden Barrett and the rest of their [back three] are really good players, so we don’t want to give them the opportunity to run. We live and we learn!
“I think we’ve shown some improvements in the way we are playing the game, but at the end of the day it wasn’t good enough. We are at the start of our journey and we are a young team, and we are only going to get better for these experiences.”
The Saracens veteran put his finger on the pulse of in that second paragraph. The England kicking game gave the All Blacks too many opportunities to counter from the backfield – particularly when Beauden Barrett entered the fray for the final half hour. With the Blues’ 10/15 hybrid on the field, all of Wayne Smith’s advice and Razor Robertson’s coaching came to fruition, and the All Blacks finished with a healthy dividend from kick and turnover returns – one try, two penalties and three other clear try-scoring opportunities, all deriving from the same source.
On the negative side of the ledger, there are two major areas of concern for Razor and his coaching panel: [1] a failure to come to grips fully with the Felix Jones-engineered blitz, and [2] the fragility of own-ball lineout.
Before the World Cup final at the Stade de France in 2023, Ian Foster had the luxury of perming any two from three elite second row operators in the shape of Sam Whitelock, Brodie Retallick and Scott Barrett. That trio had 311 caps between them at the time. Foster could afford to promote ‘Guzzler’ Retallick and drop Whitelock and his 142 caps to bench duty.
Roll the clock forward eight months, and that abundance had turned into something of a drought. The three locks selected for the England series [Barrett, Patrick Tuipulotu and Tupou Vaa’i] share fewer caps between them than Whitelock alone, and two of the most seasoned lineout callers in the world have left the stage completely.
In the previous generation of All Blacks, with Retallick and Whitelock both standing at a ‘lineout-smart’ 6ft 8ins and the outstanding back-row lineout forward of the last decade [Kieran Read] working in harness with them, the New Zealand set-piece was fully geared up to compete with Himalayan South African opponents such as Victor Matfield, Bakkies Botha, and three other back-rowers routinely measuring six feet four inches, or more.
That gilt-edged past seems a distant echo at present. When the lone survivor from the 2023 World Cup trifecta spoke immediately after the match, new captain Scott Barrett might have been talking as much about his set-piece speciality in particular as the game in general:
“Test matches certainly challenge your character and we had to dig deep there, right until the last minute.
“Well done to England, they have had two strong Test matches against us.
“[We can improve] by adapting in-game [better].
“What works at the start of the game doesn’t work as well later on. We adapted well, finally won the kick-battle and got our noses in front.”
New Zealand never really adapted, or got what they wanted from the lineout. A comparison of the basic second-row stats makes for interesting reading with the Rugby Championship, and the world champion Springboks looming on the horizon.
Despite playing the full 80 in both Tests, Itoje and Martin proved to be a more efficient pairing than Barrett and the combination of Tuipulotu starting for the first hour, and Vaa’i off the pine for the last 20 minutes. Martin was the most effective carrying lock of the four, while Itoje was the dominant influence at lineout time, and in defence.
One of the problems for Robertson, and [probably] the reason he tried so strenuously to persuade Whitelock to delay his international retirement, is New Zealand’s lineout is getting smaller with the passing generations. Tuipulotu and Barrett are both two inches shorter than Sam and the Guzzler, and they are natural number fours rather than number fives
The result was Itoje enjoyed as close as it gets to a field day on the All Blacks’ throw in the first half at Eden Park. England won five of New Zealand’s nine lineout feeds by one means or another, and Itoje stole four of them. The All Blacks were reduced to taking ball from Ardie Savea at the front [twice] or Damian McKenzie over the top [once] in addition to the one ball received – but poorly delivered – from the tail by Samipeni Finau.
Official stats only tend to measure ‘first touch’ but they do not acknowledge other forms of defence at the lineout, nor can they quantify the impact of lineout pressure on subsequent play. When he senses weakness, Itoje becomes a predator – he screams and hollers for the throw to be delivered, he closes the gap until the defending caller feels suffocated. ‘You never want to give a vampire a taste of blood’.
Itoje knows the only receiver capable of providing top-quality ball from the middle-back of the lineout is Finau, so that is where England start to close the gap. When the ball is thrown, both Itoje and Martin go up in the air to narrow the target window even further for All Blacks thrower Codie Taylor. In this instance, New Zealand were saved by referee Nic Berry, who called a free-kick.
The set-piece noose not only tightened – it got a whole lot worse.
England begin by narrowing the gap at the back end, forcing Barrett to go to his bail-out call – Savea at the front. By the time the ball is in the air, Itoje has read the call and switched positions with the man in front of him [number six Chandler Cunningham-South] to intercept the delivery.
The front option effectively shut down backline moves, by giving the England defence extra time in which to close on their opponents.
Savea wins the ball from a drop throw right on the 5m line, but that means two huge wind-up passes from first Finlay Christie, and then Jordie Barrett are needed to shift the ball beyond midfield. By the time the ball reaches New Zealand full-back Stephen Perofeta, the All Blacks are in recovery mode 25 metres behind the advantage line and an error is inevitable.
By the 33rd minute, the presence of Itoje had quite literally split the New Zealand lineout in two and communication had completely broken down.
Savea and Tuipulotu move to the front, while Dalton Papali’i, Barrett and Finau all shift to the back. The throw lands in Itoje’s big paws right in between the two possible targets.
Despite some outstanding performances for the Blues in Super Rugby Pacific 2023, Tuipulotu is probably miscast as an international number five lock, and this is one spot where the New Zealand coaching staff will look for improvement in the Rugby Championship.
With two natural fours packed towards the front of the line, it makes defence easy for an operator as savvy as Itoje. On the first occasion, he opts for the immediate sack on the Blues man, leading directly to a turnover scrum. In the second, he mirrors Tuipulotu’s movement down the line and gets into the air before him. There is more than one way to skin a cat.
It was a titanic tussle and it did go down to the wire. Both coaches will have taken much from the sheer competitiveness of the series, and there will be ample grist to the mill of future development for Robertson and his staff.
Cortex Ratima to start at scrum-half, with Beauden Barrett at the back, are two natural selections I suggested in an article before the series started. With some very tall ships indeed – 6ft 9ins of Eben Etzebeth, 6ft 10ins of RG Snyman and 6ft 7ins of Pieter-Steph du Toit – ready to heave into view at the forthcoming Rugby Championship, the All Blacks need to find a more natural number five lineout forward, and/or an extra receiving option in the back row.
It could mean an opportunity for Sam Darry or Josh Lord, or a worthy recall for number eight Hoskins Sotutu. Being 6ft 5ins or 6ft 6ins just doesn’t cut it anymore in international rugby – not against the very big boys who now roam international waters, not against those piratical Monsters of the Midway.
ITOJE. . . The best English Player by a mile. All guts. Seems he faces a bit of “Jealousy from within”
Mind you they are self entitled private school “Poms” he’s playing with. . . “How did he get in the England side, “Simple he’s got more balls than you . . .”
In the Early days of Bakkies Botha and Victor Matfield the AB’s had the same problem but they found inventive solutions. They took lineouts quickly, took quick throw ins off the kick, took short line outs and shifted jumpers around in the lineout at frantic speed to beat opposing jumpers or simply change position to avoid them. Mostly they just avoided the set piece and sped the game up and it worked. Sometimes you dont have the tall timber to compete and you just have to be smart. Their lineout is by no means terrible, they just need to be smarter about managing the set piece and admit to themselves that it will take time to fix it.
The fundamental question to ask is about the article’s veracity. Is it misleading? A deflection? England lost the match, series. Is a more telling reality that NZ ‘terrorised’ England’s scrum? Hence, significantly contributing to the latter’s loss?
Aided, abetted by Itoje’s penalised indiscretions?
Enjoyed this article on big Maro Itoje, the Old Harrovian ! Thanks Nick.
Both games were hard. fought test matches., there were great moments throughout. The two English tries from the kicks were just out of this world. Some are blaming poor NZ defence, but with my experience of having, in the long distant past, coached two world class schoolboy players, I know it can be well nigh impossible to defend against such talent.
I thought Itoje played as well as one has seen him play in a few years now. A series for him to remember with some pride, but with disappointment too. England could have won that series 2 - 0. George Martin came out of the series really well too. Probably the more constant worker of the two. I am recalling an article Harry Jones wrote on the 2019 RWC Final, where he looked at Itoje’s part in the game, the main theme being Itoje going missing for periods of the game. Does that still happen? He does tend to give away penalties that he should not. And that was a feature of this last game.
I thought Borthwick made an error in selection for last weekends game. Freddie Steward had a poor game imo, and perhaps it would have been better to have had either Finn Smith or Marcus Smith at fullback. Steward looked like a man who has lost confidence. His solidity under the high ball even looked shakier. Furbank was a big loss to England.
Patrick Tuipolotu isn’t an international level lock, never has been. In fact him being in the match day 23 is like a poor performance curse for the ABs. The sooner the younger generation like Jamie Hannah and Fabian Holland eventually get in there the better.
Josh Lord has serious talent, unfortunately he appears to be made of more brittle glass than Blackadder.
Barrett, Tuipolotu and Vaai are all relatively short ‘power’ locks, and no one getting a look in for a decade is coming back to bite at the e moment.
Enjoyable and informative read (for an Aussie). Thanks, Nick.
My 2 cents on the second AB v. Eng. test: I thought Berry had a pretty good game (I’m not sharp enough to have spotted the lack of space at the back of the lineout). I was disappointed that Berry missed (& Cronan didn’t correct) Savea’s knee on the ground in contact before he carried on another 10 metres of carry in the lead up to the first try. Refs now seem to be very good at spotting carriers’ knees grazing the turf when tacklers are trying to hold them up to create a maul. If the carrier gets the benefit of the ‘release’ call it’s not a good look when the carrier continues on after they are technically tackled. On the replay it was ‘clear and obvious’ that his knee was down on the ground, and the NZ commentators were fair enough to point that out.
I also was a little surprised by Itoje’s decision to go for a pilfer leaving the wing space clear for Talea to run in that first try. If Itoje stays out, Talea has to run through him to get to the line and that wasn’t going to happen.
I thought Theo Dan’s head knock forcing George to play 79.5 minutes hurt England, whereas the other subs didn’t lift them enough.
The AB’s scrum looks very good. I think they may even cause the Boks some problems at scrum time, but as you’ve laid out, the AB’s have some hard work-ons for their lineout.
Good analysis again Nick! We could all see it happening, now we understand the details better.
Itoje was great pre 2020 when he had Kruis alongside him and Borthwick coaching the lineout. Now Borthwick's back, Martin has come through and he's back to his best. I don't think that's coincidental.
Itoje is a brilliant spoiler but a lot depends on the ref. You pointed out the closing of the gap that wasn't being picked up (why is Barrett not telling the ref) also laying hands on players in the air. I'd be showing the ref videos before the game. I thought he erred foolishly on the NZ 5m line when the ref warned him, the 5m line was there, and he still stood on it to relieve the considerable pressure.
Itoje and Martin are both 1.98m! The exact same height as Barrett and Tuipolotu.
Being 2.03m does not make you any better in the line out than someone who is 1.98, being better than them in the line out does.
Ireland’s 3 first choice locks are under 2m.
France started the game vs Argentina on Saturday with locks who are 1.98m and 1.96m, with Tuilangi coming off the bench at 1.92m!
Argentina’s locks in that game that completely destroyed France’s lineout? 1.98m and 1.99m.
Australia’s locks? Both 1.98m
All of the world’s locks are getting shorter - Outside of SA it’s very hard to find international locks that are over 2m, because it doesn’t actually make you any better a lock than someone who is just under 2m.
Sotutu was the best 8 this year by miles, also the Blues had the best line out & scrum but we have been ignored by the all consuming Canterbury bias when everyone in the ABs coaching lineup are all from the south! When Auckland is strong so are the ABs! Times will change though the power is shifting north again
Will there be an article about how the All Blacks demolished the English scrum for two games in a row? A couple of years ago, the thought of this happening was mind boggling. It’d be great to have some balanced journalism.