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The All Blacks' game needs to be built around the Retallick's and Savea's
Not so long ago, I would’ve contended that Brodie Retallick was the best all around player in the world.
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The man simply has it all: workrate, aggression, lineout prowess, tackling, ball-carrying, a short-passing game. If you were to draw up the perfect locking partner for the relentless intensity of Sam Whitelock, it would be Retallick.
Fair to say, then, that Retallick has rather underwhelmed since returning for All Blacks duty from Japan.
The niggle is still there, clearly. The man has been the most-penalised All Blacks in two tests against South Africa this season, plus the Bledisloe Cup clash at Eden Park and then again in Sunday’s (NZ time) 54-16 win over Wales.
The difference on this most recent occasion, though, is you could argue Retallick had been the best player on the park until being forced off with a shoulder problem after an hour.
Apparently Beauden Barrett was man of the match. Not sure why.
As a quick aside, I’m pleased for Barrett that he got to don the silver boot and cap combo for reaching the 100-test match milestone, but these things are rather meaningless.
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The All Blacks play a lot of games now. And a lot of All Blacks, such as Barrett, play a lot of those games from off the bench.
If Grant Fox plays 46 tests as an All Black, does this now make Barrett twice as good a first five-eighth as he was? Is Kieran Read (127 tests) actually any better than Wayne Shelford (22 tests) or Zinzan Brooke (58)?
Games have lost their currency and our elite players are ostensibly fulltime All Blacks, rather than men who have club and provincial and franchise commitments as well.
Players are good in their era, but accumulating a lot of caps isn’t the same thing as being an all-time great. Anyway, let’s move on.
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Cardiff was not a venue for midfield backs on Sunday. With halfback TJ Perenara clearing the ball with all the speed of a bloke on a building site lobbing bricks into a wheelbarrow, the All Blacks had to play through the forwards.
We’ve become accustomed to seeing this team try to combat rushing defensive lines by going around them. Whether by pass or by kick, the All Blacks have assumed that the space lies largely on the outside.
Against Wales, New Zealand went direct. All of the forward pack played their part, often running off a short ball from Retallick.
If the All Blacks are to avoid being shut down by advancing defensive lines, then this looms as an effective counter.
People want to see this team evolve. They want to see it develop and show that it has learned to win games by a variety of means.
There seemed to be plenty of Whitelock about how the game against Wales was won. Taking the ball up through the forwards, kicking for goal. It all felt like it had the captain’s imprint upon it.
Critical to it all, though, are the multi-skilled Retallick and hugely impressive Ardie Savea.
We love a back in this country. A guy with wheels and a bit of cheek, who revels in embarrassing defenders.
But if the All Blacks are to be a serious threat at the next world cup, then a lot of their game will need to be built around men such as Whitelock, Retallick and Savea. If you do want to talk all-time, then Whitelock and Retallick would be great players in any era and Savea is fast on the way.
You can’t say fairer than that.
Comments on RugbyPass
Who's Jarrad Hohepa?
1 Go to commentsSo let me get this straight. Say you have the dominant scrum. You are 99% sure you can go for a scrum pushover try on the line to win the game. The opposition knows it too. They give away a silly tap kick instead. You are now not allowed to scrum. This is ridiculous! *%@ing the game up as usual! The fact that the attacking teams are not allowed to scrum from a held up over the line is just as ridiculous. Really world rugby? Careful people might start a rebel league called True Rugby or Real Rugby.
72 Go to comments12 subs during a game? How has that been allowed to happen NB? I hate when the game goes in this monopolistic direction closing up shop, it just becomes non sport. Btw have you seen anything of how Liam Coltman was tracking for Lyon? He has just signed to return to Otago though we have a couple of young hookers developing here. He was a popular gentle natured character down here and I’m glad to see him back but maybe he will be a mentor primarily?
4 Go to commentsGreat breakdown and the global politics always confuses me a little. The southern hemisphere seems to be left out a bit but I wouldn’t even know where to start with fixing it. Club challenge could be a step in the right direction
4 Go to commentsSince he coached Free state, from that time onwards, I maintained he was the coach for the Boks. A nice, no nonsense guy with an excellent brain, who gets results.
11 Go to commentswell - they only played against 14 men and had the TMO team on their side - and still should have lost… so actually that makes sense.
32 Go to commentsSouthern hemisphere Rugby is exactly that, boring. Northern Hemisphere Rugby is soooo much more entertaining and better with better players.
2 Go to commentsIf he was to be cited for a dangerous behavior, then it’s natural that he should be. Then NTamack too, yes? And I’ll add a good whataboutism - Yeandle eye-gouging on Richie Arnold: not cited. Eye-gouging. Not high tackle. Eye-gouging. It was on French TV, with French TV directors.
5 Go to commentsReally poorly written rambling piece ..
4 Go to commentsIt was so boring
2 Go to commentspersonally I’d go with : 1. France 2. NZ 3. England 4. Ireland 5. Scotland
32 Go to commentsAndy everything becomes easier with experience therefor counting etc straight after a match becomes easier when you have 100+ caps vs 17 which is the experience you speak from.
160 Go to commentsGetting rid of the Dupont Law is a good thing and ought to have been done months ago! Officially getting rid of the croc roll is a good thing. The law about no scrums from a short arm is well intended in terms of speeding the game up but it’s an overreaction to a clever yet calculated gamble that could have blow up in South Africa’s face if they conceded a penalty from the scrum that was set after Willemse took claimed the mark in the World Cup QF.
72 Go to commentsRassie The GOAT
11 Go to commentsOf their 5 big matches in RWC Scotland and NZ were the easiest. They took a 12-3 lead against NZ and after the red decided it was best to hold the lead and take chances that came. None came and it was tight but they dug a lot deeper in the other two knock out matches. They had trounced NZ in Twickenham in a fixture that NZ must now regret. Psychology was clearly with SA in the final as a result.
32 Go to commentsMy favourite line/exchanges from Chasing the Sun 2. News headline: “SA. The last hurdle in ABs World Cup glory”. Something like that. “You’re all just a hurdle. A hop, skip and a jump”. Coming from Rassie and Jacque. Basically - nobody thinks you’re going to win. You’re just a pushover team. Nobody respects you. When the camera shows the players faces, you can see the effect. You can see the rev meters (die moer metertjies) firing up. Mitchell said he felt it prior to the 19 final. He said to Eddie watching the teams warming up that it was going to be a tough day at the office. Wave a red flag in front of South African, and you can expect a reaction. This is not unique - many teams rev themselves. And Bok teams in particular. With horrific consequences (discipline, poor thinking under pressure) because that’s the drawback to using emotion right? But what this Bok team does better than many since 2007 is channel the emotion and stay on task. Despite the emotion. Why, because while Rassie might play mind games - he talks about creating a safe environment. Listen to his recent honorary doctorate acceptance speech. While he uses psychology he creates psychological safety. He’s a damn fine coach. Can’t wait for Pretoria. It’s going to be a hummer.
11 Go to commentsWhat Rassie does for SA is big. It has helped people to unite and see we can win with the right people in place.
11 Go to commentsTerrible conditions for young players to express themselves just enjoy it guys. As a saffa great to see Ausie youth looking good. Wow SA have some great talent also.
2 Go to commentsYes, another example of French tv directors ensuring that incidents like this are swiftly glossed over for the benefit of their teams…
5 Go to commentsThe prospect of the club match ups across hemispheres is surely appetising for everyone. The reality however, may prove to be slightly different. There are currently two significant driving forces that have delivered to same teams consistently to the latter champions cup stages for years now. The first of those is the yawning gap in finances, albeit delivered by different routes. In France it’s wealthy private owners operating with a higher salary cap by some distance compared to England. In Ireland it’s led by a combination of state tax relief support, private Leinster academy funding and IRFU control - the provincial budgets are not equal! This picture is not going to change anytime soon. The second factor is the EPCR competition rules. You don’t need a PhD. in advanced statistical analysis from oxbridge to see the massive advantage bestowed upon the home team through every ko round of the tournament. The SA teams will gain the opportunity for home ko ties in due course but that could actually polarise the issue even further, just look at their difficulties playing these ties in Europe and then reverse them for the opposition travelling to SA. Other than that, the picture here is unlikely to change either, with heavyweight vested interests controlling the agenda. So what does all this point to for the club world championship? Well the financial differential between the nh and sh teams is pretty clear. And the travel issues and sporting challenge for away teams are significantly exacerbated beyond those already seen in the EPCR tournaments. So while the prospect of those match ups may whet our rugby appetites, I’m very much still to be convinced the reality will live up to expectations…
4 Go to comments