New Zealand players ratings v Canada
New Zealand travelled to the south of Japan with the expectation that they would crush Canada – a side that hasn’t come within 50 points of the All Blacks in their last four encounters dating back to 1995.
That expectation was more or less met, with New Zealand cruising to a 63-0 win.
Perhaps no All Blacks were going to catapult themselves ahead in the pecking order on the back of good performances against one of the weakest teams at the World Cup, but that didn’t seem to affect their desire to put on a good showing.
So, how did the players rate?
1 Atunaisa Moli – 8/10
Hit ruck after ruck; has mobility in spades. Played the full 80, with the All Blacks’ scrum being dominant the whole way through. Huge outing for the big man.
2 Liam Coltman – 5
Solid in the lineout, bar one early overthrow. Also solid in the scrums – but that’s all that can really be said of the third choice hooker. Off in 70th minute.
Continued below…
3 Angus Ta’avao – 7
Part of a very dominant scrum which earned more than a couple of penalties. Subbed in 27th minute but was one of the busiest defenders during his time on the field.
4 Scott Barrett – 6.5
Hands let him down – but not the only All Black who suffered in the humid conditions. Lost the ball over the line, costing the All Blacks an easy try. Almost lost a second too! Was called upon as the key ball-runner in the forwards and threw himself into his work and in better conditions would have likely put on a monstrous display.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3HLT1ZA6TT/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
5 Patrick Tuipulotu – 6
Made good metres on the carry. Hands failed him on occasions, like his locking partner.
6 Shannon Frizell – 7
A couple of good bursts – including one that gave NZ the field position that almost earned TJ Perenara an opportunistic try in the left corner. Was always on hand to support ball carriers and profited from a Rieko Ioane linebreak for that very reason. Ate some easy metres. Off in 70th minute.
7 Matt Todd – 7
Superb angled run paved the way for New Zealand’s first try but was stood up by his fellow forwards on attack later in the game. Todd is a considerably more useful player when the opposition has the ball – which was rarely the case tonight. He still managed to make 11 tackles, however – more than any other All Black. Off in 70th minute.
8 Kieran Read – 7.5
Wasn’t spectacular by any means, but did everything that was asked of him. Tackled resolutely when called upon and trucked the ball up on attack. Hard to really fault but still feels like he’s lost some of the pizzazz from earlier in his career.
https://twitter.com/RugbyPass/status/1179343960478760960
9 TJ Perenara – 6.5
Always looked for opportunities around the ruck. Came within inches of scoring an audacious try. Passing sometimes inaccurate, but maybe that’s the price you pay for speed. Off at halftime.
10 Richie Mo’unga – 8
Lovely cross-field kick to an unmarked Jordie Barrett for the All Blacks’ second try. Distributed well, but had a fairly easy night of it. Attacked the line with more urgency in the second half, immediately creating a try for Scott Barrett with a superb offload. The result was much the same 15 minutes later when he set up reserve halfback Brad Weber. Almost managed a third set-up but couldn’t quite get his hands free for Rieko Ioane. Nailed all eight of his shots on goal.
11 Rieko Ioane – 6
1 try (41st minute). First real touch didn’t come until the 15th minute. Looked dangerous with ball in hand but inevitably dropped the ball in contact or gave a difficult pass. Had the pace to finish a Sonny Bill Williams break immediately after halftime. Was able to half-break the line moments later then offload for Frizell to score a good try. Moved to the midfield for the final half-hour and looked more incisive with a bit of extra involvement.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3Dw5Q8g6rb/
12 Sonny Bill Williams – 8.5
1 try (17th min), 2 assists. Useful carrier in the midfield – comfortably the busiest All Black on attack. Made a great break in the 6th minute then threw an unnecessarily complicated offload when a simple pass would have sufficed. Used his massive frame and long arms to score a well-taken try. Light-touch grubber bounced up perfectly for Beauden Barrett to nab a try. Great break early in the second half created Ioane’s try. Off in the 52nd minute.
13 Jack Goodhue – 4
Very quiet night – first game back since the thrashing at the hands of the Wallabies. Probably prospers more when the opposition put up more of a fight and are harder to break. Off at halftime.
14 Jordie Barrett – 6
Perfectly in position to take Richie Mounga’s cross-field kick – unmarked, but who would have bet against him taking the catch even with a man on top of him? Made a great chase on a counter-attack kick from Perenara in the 30th minute; missed the fullback but came back with a vengeance to nail DTH van der Merwe. Would have been good to see him at 10.
15 Beauden Barrett – 7
Started to run amok in the second spell after Canada fell off the pace. Dropped an early bomb and then somehow managed to lose the ball on a run to the line after the final gong. Showed off his trademark agility to burst through the line and set up Brad Weber’s try early in the second half.
https://twitter.com/RugbyPass/status/1179265641477488641
16 Codie Taylor – N/A
On in 70th minute. No time to make an impact.
17 Ofa Tu’ungafasi – 5
On in 52nd minute. Scrums held up, but that’s about all that keen be said of the dyamic prop who should’ve offered more on both attack and defence. At least he hit the breakdowns.
18 Nepo Laulala – 5
On in 27th minute then was pulled in the 52nd. Scrum lost nothing once Laulala joined the fray.
19 Sam Whitelock – N/A
On in 70th minute. No time to make an impact.
20 Ardie Savea – N/A
On in 70th minute. Specs looked good. No time to make an impact.
https://twitter.com/RugbyPass/status/1179277144440090624
21 Brad Weber – 6.5
On at halftime. Maintained the tempo that Perenara had set. Backed up Beauden Barrett and showed plenty of pace to scamper away from the Canadian chasers and dot down for his first international try. Had to run a bit further for his second, this time coming courtesy of his first five.
22 Ryan Crotty – 6
On at halftime. Safe as houses on both attack and defence. Doesn’t have anywhere near the same presence as Williams, however.
23 Ben Smith – 5
On in 52nd minute. Looked hungry but play didn’t flow his way.
Japan coach Jamie Joseph has given a fairly good indication of his future intentions:
Comments on RugbyPass
NZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
22 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
22 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
22 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
22 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
22 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
28 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
22 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
90 Go to comments