All Blacks Knotch Up Second Home Win

The All Blacks managed to come home with their second home win of this year's series 35-17, but it was far from the thrashing many had predicted (except yours truly). The Springboks indeed showed some mettle in this game, and were on the receiving end of fairly high penalty count in the first half, which was evened out in the second period, a fact reflected in the 13-10 scoreline to the All Blacks in that half.

The game finished with two tries to each side, the Springboks indicating that a thrashing of the week before was not on the cards in the first 30 seconds scoring a converted try off a charged down Daniel Carter kick. It was, as far as I could see, the only error Carter made during the game. For this reason only it was an inferior display to the last performance Carter had in Wellington against the touring Lions side last year, bieng instrumental in the two tries scored by the All Blacks, and linking well with midfield partner Mils Muliaina. He was also faultless with the boot in terms of goal kicking, and only kicked one touch finder out on the full. The All Blacks will be certain that he is the man to lead them into next years World Cup from first five.

However, some major areas of concern remain for the All Blacks, and while they will take the win there is still plenty of room for improvement. With untried combinations in the centres, the All Black's coaching staff will be pleased with the win, and the way that the team played in this area. Also, the forwards did muscle up and scrum time, but there was again room for imporvement in other areas of forward play.

Significantly less spectacular than the scrum was the performance in the lineout. The Africans won more than their fair share of ball from All Black throws and the All Blacks can count themselves lucky that the Africans did not make more of their superiority in this area. It is difficult to pinpoint what went wrong, but clearly some of the throwing lacked the direction needed and it seems Anton Oliver still has that problem with his play at this level. To be fair however, there were one or two jumps that seemed poorly timed, and the All Blacks could have preformed better in this area. The Wallabies will be looking to capitalise on this weakness next weekend. Don't be surprised to see a few changes in this area made to the All Blacks team that runs into the humid and hot Brisbane night.

At the breakdown the All Blacks were challenged by a team that turned up to play this week, as opposed to last week when they threw in the towel after the first quarter. This week they stuck to it and were very physical at the breakdown. In this area the difficulty the All Blacks had was more due to an improvement by the Springboks (not to mention a few violations of the rules) rather than any weakness in the All Black side. It has to be said that Reuben Thorne had a fairly good game and justified his selection. The All Black scrum was not only solid, but had the Africans reeling in certain stages of the game which no doubt means that the Wallabies can expect to be sorely tested in this area again at the weekend. Other standouts were the front row (excepting line out throws) and of course McCaw who, as usual, put together another fine performance.

The other main area of weakness the All Blacks displayed was that once again tries came mainly as a result not of All Black play developing pressure and exploiting weaknesses in the opposition, but from turnover ball and the counter attack resulting from mistakes. The All Blacks have not scored from a worked back line move in a number of seasons. Conversely the Wallabies were able to score plenty from back line moves last week against the Springboks. The next tri-nations game will be a real ripper in Brisbane and the backs will need to lift their game to get the better of the greatly experienced Wallaby back line. The Australian commentators are licking their lips in anticipation of the game this coming weekend, thinking that they have the edge and allowing confidence to run high. For the Aussie take on the game, click here.

A good win but room to improve is the verdict this week. A better performance will be required to beat the Wallabies at home this coming weekend. For the kiwi analysis click here, and for the Africans first reading of the game, click here.