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The All Blacks on England's blitz defence and how they will respond at Eden Park

Damian McKenzie of the New Zealand All Blacks passes during the International Test Match between New Zealand All Blacks and England at Forsyth Barr Stadium on July 06, 2024 in Dunedin, New Zealand. (Photo by Joe Allison - RFU/The RFU Collection via Getty Images)

England came out breathing fire in Dunedin with rapid line speed in their aggressive defensive system against the All Blacks.

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The first possession was a chaotic sequence with Rieko Ioane getting free down the left edge, but without momentum as the pressured pass hit his back shoulder, before he linked with Mark Tele’a. The delay allowed England to close.

That was the story of the night as the All Blacks managed to get the ball into the space often but England’s pressure successfully slowed any momentum, allowing their cover defence to clean up.

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Head coach Scott Robertson praised England’s ability to bring that kind of heat on defence, but he was optimistic having seen opportunities out there that went unfinished.

“There is only a few teams in the world who can bring it that quick, South Africa probably being the other, just in terms of genuine [pressure],” he said in his post-game comments.

“The second, third pass, they give the outside you know and ‘we will go get ya’ when the ball is in the air. We created some opportunities you know, but we just didn’t quite finish enough in the first half to get a couple of scores so they had to chase the game.

“When it was close, TJ got injured, obviously start of the second half we got into a grind and just found a way.”

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It was a challenge that All Black wing Sevu Reece said “they knew was coming” but the backs couldn’t quite capitalise enough on.

The right winger alluded to changes at Eden Park as the side looks for more solutions.

“They’ve played a few Tests, you know the Six Nations and in Japan, we knew that was coming,” Reece said, ” but they do it so well.”

“That’s the thing you know. They do it really well and they stopped us a few times from getting out wide.

“We will have to come back next week and learn from that and come up with other strategies.”

Defence

108
Tackles Made
197
24
Tackles Missed
33
82%
Tackle Completion %
86%
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The All Blacks did unlock the England defence twice down the right side in the first half.

The first try came from a cross-field kick from Damian McKenzie to Reece in open pasture after multiple phases of front foot momentum.

England had been shortened up after a punch up the middle from Mark Tele’a and the “kick pass” from McKenzie to Reece delivered the blow.

Again it was down the right side when fullback Stephen Perofeta pierced the line, using smart footwork to bounce around No 8 Ben Earl before linking with Ardie Savea floating on the right wing.

First five-eighth Damian McKenzie had a poised game and was influential in both tries. It was McKenzie who often found the right pass to get the ball to the space, but he credited England’s system with having an impact.

“When the ball is in the air a long time with our long passes, it gives them time to get up and spot tackle,” McKenzie said.

“Whether it is shortening our passes up and trying to get that ball to space, the space is there but the way England defend, they make it tough to get it to that space.

“We will look at it this week but I think we did a great job at times and there are a few times we could’ve been a bit better.”

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Comments

25 Comments
T
Toaster 347 days ago

Not sure why there is huge concern


Many changes to the ABs and many players who haven’t played for a long time


Scooter for two months


Saders players several weeks


Canes a few weeks and guys like Lomax have also had a domestic sabbatical- so hardly any minutes


New coaching team and lots for the players to digest


Nothing changes - it will be another very tough match next week against a desperate England

G
GrahamVF 347 days ago

Has anyone seen or heard anything from Redandwhitedynamite? I’m worried about him. Without his absurd drivel this site is too sane for words. It’s disturbing.

T
TT 347 days ago

Forwards & kicks play to the sidelines for backs to play across the field to stretch the defense. OR same play to the middle, keep the defense guessing & splitting.

A
Alex 347 days ago

Ben, I would highly suggest you invest in some editing/proofreading software. This writing is a complete shambles. Order your thoughts, and then logically sequence

T
TT 347 days ago

??? Flowed well actually. Maybe some remedial reading classes for you.

B
Bob Salad II 347 days ago

In handing Robertson his first international victory, Borthwick showed the ABs England’s defense.


Next week, in handing Robertson his first international defeat, he’ll show the ABs England’s attack.


You didn’t think he was going to show all his cards, did you?


You’re welcome.

H
Head high tackle 346 days ago

Oh is next week the week England win? We kept being told it was last week. That didnt happen lol.

T
TT 347 days ago

So England's rugby is a parade of ‘shows’. This was defence, next some other… show? As opposed to aim to win … like professionals. If you're right, wrong stadium, stage theatre is down the road.

J
JW 347 days ago

Still nothing tieing the forwards and backs together in the backline. Had hoped to see something even with just a few training runs. It was largely back to 2020 Foster rugby, just with slightly more developed players, but the same problems/difficulties when it came down to it.

C
CR 347 days ago

Scraped past a very young English team. They are mostly 21 years old. That front rower looks like he’s 12 lol. One kick from Marcus Smith and Razor the messiah would’ve been very human after all. Anyways congratulations on the win. We look forward to Johannesburg.

T
Toaster 347 days ago

Mostly 21?

Have you checked their ages?

Marler, Cole, Maro, and George for example are delighted with your summary

S
SR 347 days ago

They are not mostly 21 yrs old. Their back 3 and flyhallf are young 2 of their props are old and 2 young the rest about 25. Also AB’s 1st International since WC final and out of that starting 23 are missing 9 players 2 of whom will hopefully return after injury and had 9 days to prepare with a new coaching regime I thought this first match would always be scrappy. Think expectations in NZ can be a bit unrealistic! it will take this season to bed in this new look AB’s we’ll see where we are then.

S
SadersMan 347 days ago

Yeah two 21 year olds is “mostly 21 years old” lol.

J
JW 347 days ago

You must be treating him as 2 to come up with a avg age of 21 lol pretty good kid though huh


The Glass House is notorious for kickers, very amusing.

A
AN 347 days ago

“It was a challenge that All Black wing Sevu Reece said “they knew was coming” but the backs couldn’t quite capitalise enough on.”

It would help if you were actually a centre and didnt die with the ball so often.

T
Toaster 347 days ago

These are early test matches against a very good team

Proctor will get game time soon don’t worry

J
JW 347 days ago

Ricko did the job he does, he may prove better in time. They don’t have anyone else that’s for sure, ALB is far too hesitant (always has been but was simply more nimble when younger) and Proctor obviously would never have faced anything like that before (I might like to give him a small taste in G2 though).

V
Vellies 347 days ago

You can see the influences of Felix Jones with Eng defence, but you can see Razor's influence with NZ… 🤔

S
SC 346 days ago

The All Blacks won a tight game that could have gone either way.


Foster lost those close tests that could go either way.

J
JW 347 days ago

You could, couldn’t you?

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T
Tom 46 minutes ago
Has 'narrow-mindedness' cost Ribbans and others their Lions chance?

I didn't say anything regarding whether I feel the eligibility rule is right or wrong, you've jumped to conclusions there…


The fact is the eligibility rule does exist and any English qualified player is aware when they sign a foreign contract that they're making themselves ineligible and less likely to be picked for the Lions. If Jack Willis and Dave Ribbans priority was playing for England and the Lions they wouldn't be playing in France. Whether they should be allowed to play for England or not isn't my point. Under the current rules they have chosen to make themselves ineligible so they can't have their cake and eat it while other players have taken lesser salaries to commit themselves to their dream of playing for England and the Lions. They have made their choices.


Besides, while it works for South Africa doesn't prove it will work for any other country. South Africa have an extraordinary talent pool of incredible rugby athletes which no other country can compete with. They sadly don't have the resources to keep hold of them so they've been forced into this system. If they had the wealth to keep all their players at home and were still playing in Super Rugby they might be even better… they could be worse. We can't know for sure but cherry picking the best country in the world with a sample size of 1 and extrapolating it to other nations with very different circumstances doesn't hold water. Again, not saying the eligibility rule is correct just that you can't assume scrapping it would benefit us simply because South Africa are world champions.

17 Go to comments
I
IkeaBoy 1 hour ago
How Leinster bullied the Bulls at Croke Park

Expert coaches exist across the land and the IRFU already funds plenty. Ulster own their academy and who owns Ulster?


If you go to school in the North and rugby/tag rugby isn’t even on the PE curriculum until 12/13 as opposed to 7 or 8 in Leinster, how is that the IRFU’s fault? Even then, it’s only certain schools in the North that will offer it. On what basis would they go up to the North (strictly speaking, another country in the eyes of some) and dictate their schools programme?


The ABs used to be light years ahead of the pack because their eventual test superstars had been playing structured, competitive rugby from an average age of 5/6! On top of kicking it around the yard from the age they could walk with their rugby mad parents and older siblings.


Have you somehow gotten the impression that the Leinster system is not working for Irish rugby? What is that based on? The SARU should just stop competing because despite their back to back RWC’s, all 4 of their URC teams aren’t contesting semi-finals every year?


A couple of mining towns basically provided a Welsh team in the 70’s that were unplayable. Queensland in the old Super 10 provided the spine of an Oz team that were the first to win multiple world cups and in the same decade. The ABs population density is well documented with 35% of the population living around one city.


Is England’s match day 23 equally represented by mid-counties players, tough as nails northerners, a couple from Cornwall, a pack of manc’s and a lone Geordie? Ever?

It’s cute they won’t relegate the Falcons but has a Geordie test player ever hit 50 caps?


It’s ok not to understand geography. It’s also ok not to understand sport. Not understanding the geography of sport is something different entirely.

266 Go to comments
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