Tri-Nations Wrapped Up by All Blacks, But Fair Warning Given by Wallabies

The All Blacks today received fair warning from the Wallabies during a torrid match at Eden Park. As expected the All Blacks prevailed over the tourists, 34-27 but few would have picked that the Wallabie would press the All Blacks so hard. The All Black selectors have been given fair warning that the Wallabies are not far off the pace, and their chances in Rugby World Cup 2007 are still good.

A few areas of the All Blacks much talked about defence were exposed during the game by some expert play from the considerably more experienced Wallaby back line. The lineout however, benefited from the selection of the Mullet Boy who took some great ball there, and even managed to get over for a try to get the All Blacks back in the game. However, what a hair do! Office at the front, and party out the back! He get's the prize for the best mullet in the business (actually, could any mullet be described as 'best'?)!

The first half was a bit scrappy, with a large number of penalties be given away by the Wallabies. These were largely designed to slow the game down when the All Blacks were on attack, and were clearly professional fouls from the leading expert in that area. Rocky Elsom can count himself lucky that he was still on the field when substituted in the second half. He gave away so many penalties it is suprising that the referees whistle still worked. Still, he got away with it, and that is what counts. Someone up stairs must like that guy, he was awarded a try that clearly wasn't...I wonder if it is any conincidence that the TMO was South African? Might have wanted the All Blacks to lose to keep the Boks in it? I thought we had TMOs so that we could get decisions right. Not much point in having them when they clearly get it wrong.

My money is on Lote Tuqiri being suspended after a stupid tackle on All Black captain Richie McCaw. It was a blatant spear tackle and unless his second name is 'George' I doubt that we will see him in the rest of the Tri-Nations series. It will be an outrage if he is allowed to play after such a deliberate and unecessary spear tackle. McCaw was targeted during the game, no question. However, this is the first time that the Wallabies were able to make that count.

One huge hit during the game was made by newcomer Palu on the hariest beardo that took the field, the man mountain Carl Hayman. He was pole axed by Palu in the first half and was the only man back in position to try and tackle Tuqiri who ran in what was to be the first of his two tries around the injured Hayman. Make no mistake, Carl was never going to stop that, especially when he was having trouble standing up. Keep that one in the back of your mind mate, that could give you some good motivation for the series next year and the World Cup!

My favourite hit though was made by Carter - yep, you heard me right Daniel Carter. He read the trademark Larkham glide around the scrum to perfection and nailed him, dislodging the ball from his grasp. leaving him sprawled on the ground, and bouncing the ball into in the arms of Luke McAlister who ran the rest of the length of the field for the try that gave the All Blacks the game. It was great stuff. Some of us have been waiting years for someone with the nous to actaully read Larkham's game and nail him. We finally got to see it at crunch time in a test match.

Great to see Chris Jack get justly rewarded for his usual display of athleticism getting a try to bring the All Blacks back into contention during the game. He was on the end of a good move, great interplay and it was scored at a good time to get the All Blacks back into the game and increase tensions levels on both sides of the Tasman.

Full marks to the Wallabies, this was their best shot to beat the All Blacks this year, and they made the most of it. A confident All Blacks team is ripe for a fall, but they avoided it this time with a disciplined performance in the second half. The Wallabies were the victims of a concerted and well orchestrated media assault for the last two weeks after a less than exciting game against the Springboks in Sydney. Great preparation for them, a real siege mentality must have gripped the camp and this game was almost exactly what they needed to get the media back on side. A win would have been exactly what they needed.

Matt Giteau was a star for the Wallabies. He was always dangerous with the ball in hand, and set up the second of Tuqiri's tries. This was a well taken opportunity by the two players, it worked to perfection and surprised the All Blacks, getting the Wallabies back into the game. Mortlock gave his usual sterling effort, and you can't ignore Tuqiri's game apart from the suspension that must be coming. Also, full marks to the forwards at scrum time, they withstood the challenge and pushed the All Blacks backwards near the end of the game. Stunning!

The All Black game plan was difficult to discern. I think for the first time we have seen an All Black team play two game plans in the one game. Clearly caution was thrown to the wind in the first half, I mean how often does Jerry Collins throw doulbe miss out passess to a hooker on the wing? Never, and he shouldn't start doing that now given he gave away a sitter to Tuqiri who is no slouch. Also McAlister settled into the game well with two great early touches, indicating that the test match atmosphere wasn't getting to him - playing out of position in place of an injured Mauger.

In the second half the discipline returned and the doubtful passess and low percentage play was kept to a minimum. A disciplined performance saw penalties given away in their own half that wer convereted into points, and eventually the lead. In addition, the lineout was sound again. Can we put that down to the influence of Robin Brooke? It certainly was much improved, however there was the selection of Mullet Boy who excelled in that area, and put in some good hits around the field, plus scoring a try.

All in all, this was the game we were all looking for to earse the memories of the dismal spectacle that was the previous 'clash' between the Wallabies and the Boks in Sydney. That game was only good to the extent that the South Africans nearly pulled off a win when they had been written off by everyone (except yours truly). The subsequent media cacophony of concerns about the 'product' (meaning rugby) can be safely put to bed. This was a great game, exciting, close, and full of excellent skills displayed by both sides. Rugby was the winner on the day (thanks Sean Fitzpatrick).

In closing spare a thought for the South Africans. The Tri-Nationas has been decided, without the Springboks even having had the benefit of one home game. This surely is unfair, and must be looked at for future contests. Apart from being unfair, it also takes the fun out of it for fans. However, the tests in the Republic are yet to come and I for one will be watching them with more than just a hint of anticipation! I can't wait to see the Wallabies play over there, and of course the All Blacks under Henry have yet to win there...could it be that this record will be broken this year.