All Blacks Player Ratings v Japan
An inexperienced All Blacks side have emerged unscathed after a 69-31 victory over Japan at Ajinomoto Stadium in Tokyo. Here’s how they rated individually.
1. Ofa Tuungafasi – 7
Helped early scrum time domination, got through plenty of work on defence and showed off golden hands to collect some tough passes.
2. Dane Coles – 8
Bagged a try in his comeback appearance. Tidy at lineout time. Turnover and offload to spark an early Waisake Naholo break stood out.
3. Angus Ta’avao – 7
Solid work in the scrum and made his tackles.
4. Patrick Tuipulotu – 6.5
Shut down in the first half. Reliable at lineout time for the All Blacks and disruptive for the Japanese. Made five tackles without a miss.
5. Jackson Hemopo – 7.5
Strong both over the ball and with ball in hand. Made his tackles and won a pair of turnovers. One of the better forwards in the pack.
6. Vaea Fifita – 6
Easy to miss in the first half. Missed a pack-high four tackles but made eight and won a turnover.
7. Dalton Papalii – 7
Had a few early jitters in his first All Black start with a knock on and missed tackle to allow a Japanese try. Recovered well and wreaked havoc at the breakdown. Finished as the All Blacks’ top tackler with eight. A promising start to what should be a long international career.
8. Luke Whitelock – 6.5
Just like his brother, nothing spectacular but did all of the dirty work and everything that was asked of him in his second effort as captain.
9. Te Toiroa Tahuriorangi – 6.5
Passes were far from crisp in the early going as he left his backline flat-footed often. Warmed into the game and made an impact, scoring an opportunists try in his first start and holding up the ball to put George Bridge away for his first in black.
10. Richie Mo’unga – 9
Mo’unga was a smooth operator in the No. 10 jersey for the All Blacks. Despite an early misfire looking for touch, his tactical kicking was near perfect – as were his efforts off the tee. Excellent when putting his teammates into space and outstanding both in defence and under the high ball. Mo’unga more than made his case for involvement against stronger opponents.
11. Waisake Naholo – 7
Slipped off a tackle early, got turned over but recovered to charge down a kick. Great vision to identify space and put kick ahead to set up Laumape’s second try. Missed five tackles. Scored a try and set another up. Led the game with 74 metres.
12. Ngani Laumape – 8.5
The man in the No. 12 jersey had his way with the Japanese defence. He made an impact early with a big cutout pass to put Dane Coles away. Valiant kick chasing and barn-storming runs saw the midfielder score three tries.
13. Matt Proctor – 7
Attacked the line early, made an early break after a Jordie Barrett cutout. Got through plenty of work and was rewarded for support running with a try on debut. Untested on defence. Very tidy debut.
14. Nehe Milner-Skudder – 5
Did well with early touches, though he appears to have lost a step. Signature draw and pass to put Waisake Naholo into space early. Limited opportunities and subbed at halftime.
15. Jordie Barrett – 4.5
A real mixed bag from the youngest Barrett in Tokyo. Had a nightmare start with a kick charged down for an early Japanese try. Did well to scoop a loose ball before throwing a brainless offload. Had another kick charged down before finally showing some flashes in the last 20 when Japan were already deflated. Launched a beautiful kick pass to George Bridge and nailed a sideline conversion in the final stanza.
Reserves:
16. Liam Coltman
Made five tackles without a miss.
17. Tim Perry
Made five tackles without a miss.
18. Tyrel Lomax
Won a penalty at the breakdown.
19. Dillon Hunt
Won a pair of turnovers almost instantly, a typical pest at the breakdown. Big turnover to set up George Bridge’s second try.
20. Gareth Evans
Set up Waisake Naholo’s try with his first touch after a strong run. Had the vision and backed himself to take a quick tap to find Laumape on the wing to complete his hat-trick.
21. Mitchell Drummond
Got the ball out faster than Tahuriorangi. Did a fine job in marshaling the side.
22. Brett Cameron
Has officially played more test rugby than Super Rugby. Made a break with his only touch and was a sure tackler when asked upon.
23. George Bridge
George Bridge had the Midas touch on debut. He scored two tries against the All Blacks last year while with the Barbarians and scored with his first touch in the black jersey. His second touch and a perfect grubber helped set up Matt Proctor’s try and a kick chase saw Bridge grab a double on debut.
Comments on RugbyPass
All I can say after reading this bitter, sour, sad piece is… Thank you very much! This will be read in the change room just before kick off on 31 August…
169 Go to commentsLook, we know contradicting opinions and wacky comments bring readers and clicks, so well done to RP for allowing always-wrong-Ben to say something here. However RP needs to put a disclaimer next to his comments for their own credibility. NZ was and is incapable of acknowledging their opp beating them. They refused so with Ire and with Arg in 2022 and also the Boks in 2023 x 2. Nothing Ben says here holds water, NZ attacked backwards, except when Kolisi and Kolbe was off And cyncialy took out Bongi, we played without lineouts for 75mins. Kolisi and Kurt-Lee almost scored twice. Thats 3 vs 2 for Boks, but the Boks opportunities was legal. Boks should have been 16-3 up by half time. Tacticaly the Boks attacked better defended better scrummed better (without a hooker) kicked better and crossed the whitewash more times. Boks beat Fr Eng Nz to win in 23, comeon give some credit at least. Even Federer Verstappen NY Mets, Mamoa, was able to see a great human sport achievement by the Boks and their DNA Boks #RWC27 !🏉
169 Go to commentsForget the 85kg bit, that can become something else. However I do like the one off test on ANZAC day idea. SR plays Fri/ Sat, test players travel Sunday and the squads have the full week together before playing Saturday. Rest of SR has a week off. Either involve women's teams in same location or in the other country and rotate annually. Herbert is right in that change is needed.
3 Go to commentsI’ve read loads of nonsense before but this article takes the cake. Or perhaps someone changed the date for April Fool's Day.
3 Go to commentsReally Rugbypass? Ben Smith I think you forgot what the Springboks did to the All Blacks at Twickenham 8 weeks earlier? Springboks 35 All Blacks 7. There is alot of ifs and buts in your article. The All Blacks threw the sink at the Springboks and unfortunately they were not good enough regardless if they played with 14 men or not. It was the Springboks who forced the All Blacks to make mistakes! Sorry but not Sorry the Springboks is the best ever Rugby World Cup Nation in the world. 4 Cups baby!
169 Go to commentsYou just backed the Boks with that fantastic review! Well done! Have some cake!
169 Go to commentsBen Smith please write up something better than this. The Springboks would have won the world cup if you were 15 men on the field. They would have found a way, they always find a way to beat the All Blacks.
169 Go to commentsWow, there is a lot of “could have” and “ should have” in this waist of time dribble. I love the deportation in this story to search for a glimpse at a silver lining. Here are the facts, NZ was a badly coached and undisciplined shadow of their former glory. They never took the lead in a game they were never going to win.
169 Go to commentsGOTTA MAKE ‘THE GEORGE’ HAPPEN!!!! That’s a great idea! A trans Tasman midget battle on ANZAC Day. I don’t think the ABs Wallabies game should be a one off winner takes all though, just the first match with the other two later in the year with the RC. Reason being, no one will ever shut up about how aussies couldn’t win it when it was a 3 match series.
3 Go to comments@Ben smith. Thats knock out rugby. So honeslty who cares?
169 Go to commentsIt will interesting to know which Irish players said that…
2 Go to commentsNaaaww boys will be boys! Now run along ya wee scamp! Don’t let us catch you at again😏
1 Go to commentsGreat to have Ethan Blackadder back in the Crusaders in the last few weeks. One of the best all round loose forwards around. He played so well last week against the Rebels. Fantastic attitude Ethan has and his comments are spot on.
2 Go to commentsThe author is 100% right. The Springboks know that they don't have near the natural attraction, mana, skill and mystic the All Blacks have. So, Chasing the sun 1 & 2 was concocted to overblow the Boks image on the back of a corruptly obtained “win". It's marketing ploy to force the Boks delusion as the World's Best. I guess World Rugby is also not to be believed when it came out with an apology about how the final was officiated. And if the 2023 final such a superb game by the Boks, then the Boks crying about Referee Bryce Lawrence for decades is also deserves a laugh. Chase the sun and get burned like a moth. A very well written literary piece that tore the Boks and Chasing the sun farce to shreds. 🖤All Blacks🏉
169 Go to commentsI’d say France was far more hard done by in the 2011 final than the All Blacks in this game. Joubert simply refused to call a penalty against the All Blacks in the last quarter even directing an All Black to drop a ball he picked up in an offside position rather than penalizing him. This article also totally discounts the efforts of PSTD. Ask Jordie how well he played. Or the backup flank who played hooker for the entire game. Siya was also a brilliant tackle by Richie from scoring a blinder. Pollard was also fantastic. Look I don’t like the boks style but the only thing more questionable than the content of this article is the timing of it. Get over it already
169 Go to commentsDad Marty was also a handy rugby player for Linwood back in the day. Great bloke. Sensational softball career.
2 Go to commentsWhat ifs are always dangerous. If you look at the game before Sam cane got sent of SA was dominating. You could make the argument the going down to 14 men rallied the troops and made them have to play to win which is always dangerous.
169 Go to commentsOmg… you are bruised And battered Benny. Stop crying … the scoreboard speaks. What a pathetic lover you are.. 🤣🤣🤣
169 Go to commentsThis is the single worst piece of journalism I have ever seen since your last one. As a neutral, who really states that there should be an asterisk next to a win? You are an utter embarrassment to real AB fans, journalism and that joke of a house which pays you for this nonsense. Get a life, Ben.
169 Go to commentsGuys. Cancel the World Cup champions after this analysis. It changes everything. Ben knows. We’ll have to unengrave the Bokke off the trophy and hand it to the ABs, now that I’ve been enlightened about this illegitimate win. This needs to be done. Now!
169 Go to comments