The 10 minutes of terror that ended the All Blacks' winning streak
10 minutes of terror put a massive damper on what started out as one of the All Blacks‘ best performances in recent times when they tackled England at Twickenham on Saturday evening.
Having built a 22-6 lead late in the piece, the game looked done and dusted when Beauden Barrett nailed a drop goal with 10 to play.
After winning back their short kick-off, England trucked the ball up the field via Mako Vunipola. From the breakdown, the ball was spun left to Marcus Smith, who was able to easily glide past reserve All Blacks prop Nepo Laulala.
Smith was brought to ground by Richie Mo’unga and Beauden Barrett less than a metre out from the goal line, and Barrett immediately pounced on the ball without showing a clear release.
While Laulala and TJ Perenara were able to stop England’s Will Stuart from barreling over the line, a questionable second movement saw Stuart eventually lurch over for the try – with Barrett yellow-carded for his earlier infringement.
Smith couldn’t add the conversion but England found themselves 14 points down with eight minutes to play and what seemed like an impossibility after Barrett’s drop goal was suddenly within almost in reach.
New Zealand went long from the ensuing kick-off, with Billy Vunipola trucking the ball up to the 22. England churned through a handful of phases with the forwards, fighting their way up to the 10-metre line, before swinging the ball wide to the left where Jonny May was eventually brought to ground.
The All Blacks numbered up for the next phase but a backdoor pass from Maro Itoje to Henry Slade left the defence flummoxed and David Ribbans – in just his second Test appearance – was eventually able to gallop between Brodie Retallick and Sam Whitelock before throwing a one-armed offload to Slade.
Slade sent the ball out to Freddie Steward who weaved inside Rieko Ioane and bouldered over Mo’unga before hitting the turf 10 metres from New Zealand’s line.
Two phases later, and Steward was crashing over the line on the right-hand flank. The All Blacks hadn’t numbered up on the blindside and with Lienert-Brown parked as the first pillar at the breakdown and Ioane guarding the sideline, Steward had far too much room to move and was able to score almost untouched.
Smith made no mistakes with his second conversion attempt of the night and with a little over five minutes to play, England trailed by just seven.
Vunipola once again received the ball from the kick-off, setting up a ruck just outside of the 22.
The back-door pass was again the call from England – but this time the All Blacks were able to contain the attack. Unfortunately for New Zealand, however, Whitelock found himself trapped at the base of the ruck and England sent the ball deep into NZ’s half.
The All Blacks were able to repel the first phase of attack, with reserve halfback Ben Youngs bizarrely putting the ball to boot with no chasers, and Jordie Barrett cleaned up the backfield before hitting the deck six metres from NZ’s line. Referee Mathieu Raynal soon blew his whistle for the umpteenth time of the evening – this time in the visitors’ favour – and Mo’unga was able to clear the ball to just outside the 22 with just under three minutes to play.
After two phases of trucking the ball up with the forwards, TJ Perenara launched a box kick into the skies – something which coach Ian Foster acknowledged after the match was the right call. As with Youngs’ previous kick, however, the chase was almost non-existent, and May brought the ball up to the 10-metre line.
While England were spread out across the width of the field, just three All Blacks players were defending half the pitch and the home side were able to accrue 30 easy metres by spreading the ball to the right sideline. Five metres out from the line, England again turned to their forwards to deal the final blow – and it didn’t take long for Stuart to bag his second try of the evening.
From close range, Smith converted and the scores were locked at 25-all.
England immediately kicked the ball out at the next opportunity, ending the contest – and while the English players might have been somewhat pleased to escape from what looked like a big defeat, the All Blacks would have rightly been feeling like they’d suffered a last-minute loss.
It was a horrific end to what started out as one of New Zealand’s best performances of the year and perhaps indicated some mental fatigue, with the All Blacks switching off and showing no signs of being capable of dealing with a one-man disadvantage.
Yellow and red cards will be plentiful at next year’s Rugby World Cup – Argentina and Scotland accrued five in their match this weekend alone. The truth is that if you can’t play with 14 men in this day and age, then you can’t play professional rugby – and the All Blacks certainly weren’t capable of playing with 14 men today.
Comments on RugbyPass
Irish Rugby CEO be texting Andy Farrell “Andy, i found our next Kiwi Irishman”
4 Go to commentsI certainly don’t miss drinking beers at 8am in the morning watching rugby games being played in NZ.
1 Go to commentsThis looks like a damage limitation exercise for Wales, keeping back some of their more effective players for the last 20/25 minutes to try and counter England’s fresh legs so the Red Roses don’t rack up a big score.
1 Go to commentsVery unlikely the Bulls will beat Leinster in Dublin. It would be different in Pretoria.
1 Go to commentsI think it is a dangerous path to go down to ban a player for the same period that a player they injured takes to recover. Players would be afraid to tackle anyone. I once tackled my best friend at school in a practice match and sprained his ankle. I paid for it by having to play fly-half instead of full-back for the rest of that season’s fixtures.
5 Go to commentsJust such a genuine good bloke…and probably the best all round player in his generation. Good guys do come first sometimes and he handled the W.Cup loss with great attitude.
2 Go to commentsWord in France is that he’s on the radar of a few Top14 clubs.
4 Go to commentsGet blocking Travis, this guy has styles and he’s gonna make a swift impact…!
1 Go to commentsWhat remorse? She claimed that her dangerous tackle wasn’t worthy of a red! She should be compensating the injured player for loss of earnings at the minimum. Her ban should include the recovery time of the injured player as well as the paltry 3 match ban.
5 Go to commentsArdie is a legend. Finished and klaar. Two things: “Yeah, yeah, I have had a few conversations with Razor just around feedback on my game and what I am doing well, what I need to improve on or work-ons. It’s kind of been minimal, mate, but it’s all that I need over here in terms of how to be better, how to get better and what I am doing well.” I hope he’s downplaying it - and that it’s not that “minimal”. The amount of communication and behind the scenes preparation the Bok coaches put into players - Rassie and co would be all over Ardie and being clear on what is expected of him. This stands out for me as something teams should really be looking at in terms of the boks success from a coaching point of view. And was surprised by the comment - “minimal”. In terms of the “debate” around Ireland and South Africa. Nice one Ardie. Indeed. There’s no debate.
2 Go to commentsThere’s a bit of depth there but realistically Australian players have a long way to go to now catch up. The game is moving on fast and Australia are falling behind. Australian sides still don’t priories the breakdown like they should, it’s a non-negotiable if you want to compete on the international stage. That goes for forwards and backs. The Australian team could have a back row that could make a difference but the problem is they don’t have a tight five that can do the business. Tupou is limited in defence, overweight and unfit and the locks are a long way from international standard. Frost is soft and Salakai-Loto is too small so that means they need a Valentini at 8 who has to do the hard graft so limits the effectiveness of the backrow. Schmidt really needs to get a hard working, tough tight 5 if he wants to get this team firing.
3 Go to commentsSorry Morgan you must have been the “go to for a quote” ex player this week. Its rnd 6 and there is plenty of time to cement a starting 15 and finishing 8 so I have no such concerns.
2 Go to commentsGreat read. I wish you had done this article on the ROAR.
2 Go to commentsThe current AB coaching team is basically the Crusaders so it smacks of wanting their familiar leaders around. This is not a good look for the future of the ABs or the younger players in Super working their way up the player ladder. Razor is touted as innovative, forward looking but his early moves look like insecurity and insular, provincial thinking. He is the AB's coach not the Golden Oldies.
10 Go to commentsSimple reason for wanting him back. Robertson wants him as captain. Otherwise he wouldn’t be bothering chasing him. Not enough reason to come back just to mentor.
10 Go to commentsI had not considered this topic like this at all, brilliant read. I had been looking at his record at the Waratahs and thought it odd the Crusaders appointed him, then couple that with all that experience and talent departing and boom. They’ve got some great talent developing though, and in all honesty I don’t think anyone would be over confident taking them on in a playoff match, no matter how poor the first half of their season was. I think they can pull a game out of their ass when it counts.
2 Go to commentsNot a bad list but not Porecki and not Donaldson. Not because they are Tahs, or Ex Tahs, they are just not good enough. Edmed should be ahead. Far more potential. Wilson should be 8 and Valentini 6. Wilson needs to be told by his father and his coach, stop bloody running in to brick wall defence. You’re not playing under the genius Thorn any more. He’s a fantastic angle runner. The young new 8 from the Brumbies looks really good too. The Lonegrans are just too small for international rugby as is Paisami, as is Hamish Stewart at 12. Both great at Super Rugby level. Stewart could have been a great 10 if not for Brad Thorn. Uru should be there and so should Tupou. Tupou just needs good Australian coaching which he hasn’t been getting. I don’t think Schmidt will excite him.
3 Go to commentsIf he wants to come back then he should. He will be a major asset to the younger locks and could easily be played as an impact player off the bench coming on in the last 30. He is fit, strong and capable and has all the experience to make up for any loss in physical prowess. He could also be brought back with a view to coaching within the structures one day. Duane Vermeulen played until he was 37 or 38. He is now a roaming coach within the South African coaching structures. He was valuable in the last world cup and has been a major influence on Jasper Wiese and other young players which has helped and accelerated their development and growth. Whitelock could do the exact same thing for NZ
10 Go to commentsBrett Excellent words… finally someone (other than DC) has noted that Hanigan is very hard and very good at doing what Backrow should do… his performance via the Drua sauna was quite daunting for those on the other side… very high tackle count… carries with good end result… constant threat to make a good 20-25 meters with those long legs… providing his mass effectively to crunching the Drua pack… Finally he is returning to quality form… way to much injury time over the last 2 years… smart-strong-competent in his skills… caught every lineout throw aimed at him and delivered clean pass to whoever was down below… and he worked hard for the whole 80 minutes… Ned has to be in the top 5 for backrow honors… He knows what is required as he has been there before…
20 Go to commentsI think Sam Whitelock should not touch a return with a bargepole. He went out on a high, playing in the RWC Final. He would be coming back into a team that will be weaker than last years, and might even be struggling to win games, especially against the Boks. Stay in France, enjoy another year with Pau, playing alongside his brother.
10 Go to comments