'Underwhelmed': Former All Black critical of performance against Wallabies

The All Blacks‘ struggles this year have often been after a victory, backing up a performance the following week in a convincing fashion.

Scott Robertson and the All Blacks have that challenge once again, after getting past the Wallabies 33-24 at Eden Park on Saturday.

Despite the victory in Auckland and securing the Bledisloe Cup for another year, f0rmer All Black Jeff Wilson wasn’t overly satisfied with the winning performance.

“I was in some ways a little bit underwhelmed in terms of the performance. Really stoked that we’ve put the Bledisloe Cup away, but I think I look at this game and I go, I’m not sure that we’ve moved a long way forward in terms of our performance,” Wilson said on The Breakdown.

“You know, once again, we had a big lead and gave it away, then had to work really, really hard. Was it 28-24 with only minutes to go in a game.

“Look. I was feeling pretty good and then I watched South Africa play Argentina, and then I went, Ah, yeah, right. It’s gonna be really hard to win the rugby championship now.”

Former All Black centurion Mils Muliaina agrees with Wilson on keeping the Bledisloe Cup, and has an issue with how the All Blacks aren’t dominating for longer periods.

“But I’m like, Jeff, I’m satisfied that we’ve won, that we’ve retained the cup and I guess it’s just we’re not winning those moments for longer periods of time, they’re winning here, then they’re going again,” Muliaina said on Sky Sport.

World-Cup winning former first-five Stephen Donald believes that the most pleasing thing, is the way the All Blacks battled in the air in Auckland.

“I think the tweaked bits are probably the positive things to take out, the high ball was certainly the most talked about thing in New Zealand Rugby for about a month, and that was a massive step forward.

“And even some of the guys, I think, the impact from the bench, was little wins, I think, along the way. But, yeah, absolutely I guess this week’s going to be the true test, as far as if there’s been a bigger step taken.”

Heading to Perth, if the All Blacks want any chance of winning the Rugby Championship, Robertson’s side will have to put a score on the Wallabies and hope Argentina get a result over South Africa at Twickenham.

Muliaina believes that the Wallabies are going to be much better in Perth than they were at Eden Park, which means that the All Blacks need to be better for longer periods this weekend.

“The Wallabies are going to be a lot better they are going to be a lot more sharper. They’re back at home. I’d like to see that momentum that the All Blacks have in the first half and carry that on a bit more. T

“I just want to win those moments for a longer period of time.”

Head-to-Head

Last 5 Meetings

Wins

0

Draws

0

Wins

5

Average Points scored

20

30

First try wins

60%

Home team wins

60%

For Wilson, he just wants to see the All Blacks improve, and not make excuses with key players like Beauden Barrett and Ethan de Groot out injured.

“I just don’t want to hear any excuses for a performance that’s under par, the fact that we haven’t got Beauden Barrett this week, or we haven’t got this, ultimately, it’s about stepping forward and getting better and being better.

“It is pure and simply about getting a second performance in a row from them, but we have to be better over longer periods of time to make a test plan and take control of it, and if we are in control, be ruthless about how we finish a team off and take them right out of the game.

“We have been allowing teams to come back to us, this is another pivotal moment, with five tests to go in the season.”