'There's still a lot of trophies in the cabinet': Glass half full on All Blacks' year
The All Blacks disappointing end to the 2021 season after 15 tests has added pressure on the side after their disrupted 2020 season also ended in unconvincing fashion with three wins from six tests.
Ian Foster’s side locked up the Bledisloe Cup with a 3-nil sweep over Australia before clinching The Rugby Championship with a round to spare, but the three test losses to South Africa, Ireland and France brought the side back to Earth.
It was the first All Blacks side to lose three tests in a calendar year since 2009. Evaluating what we’ve seen from the side since 2019, former All Black James Parsons said New Zealand have improved in certain areas since the last World Cup.
“I certainly think they have made improvements, ” Parsons explained on the Aotearoa Rugby Pod.
“They’ve had the blueprint, when they’ve had that front foot ball and been really physical at the breakdown, we’ve seen how electric their attack can be.
“For the most part, except for the last two weeks, their defensive system has been really strong. They’ve really focused on that low tackler, and getting in and winning those breakdown turnovers.
“That’s becoming such a key part of the game, the ability to turn that ball over. So for the most part I think their game has evolved.”
Parsons highlighted the change of approach against France to play through the forwards as one example of how the All Blacks have evolved their game since 2019, with their regular expansive attacking game being widely known these days.
“I don’t think we had that pick-and-go mindset, I think that has been a big shift,” Parsons said of one key change the All Blacks had made.
“Obviously, we were quite the expansive team, we had three forwards and a clear way of attack. As you’ve alluded too, teams have got used to that and they believe that line speed pressure can put us under pressure.
“I think there has been evolution in our game, but I think it is important to know as well, if there is ever a time to have back-to-back losses, I think the last time was 2009 which was two years out from the 2011 World Cup, and we know how successful that was.
“I think there are so many lessons and positives to take out of this situation, call me an optimistic bloke, but I think it sets us up.
“If you look at the Springboks before the 2019 World Cup, people were probably saying the same things. They really found their way, galvanised as a group and lead the charge into 2019.
“I’m hoping to see the same from us.”
Parsons said despite a side like Ireland being in fantastic form with all the right ingredients, at the end of the day everyone will be judged on the World Cup. Ireland’s form will be redundant if they can’t peak in two years time.
On the positive side, he pointed to the trophy cabinet which the All Blacks managed to fill with the Bledisloe cup, the Rugby Championship title and the Freedom Cup despite conceding the Dave Gallaher Trophy to France.
“If you look it on face value on form, the Irish are playing some great footy and their skillset in attack, Tadhg Furlong’s making line breaks, offloading to his mate Porter, he did it again on the weekend.
“They are creating depth as well. Their forwards, with the combination of experienced players in Sexton and Murray in and around that group, and guys like Jamison Gibson-Park adding a bit of flair, James Lowe and Bundee Aki, they are in a really good spot.
“But it’s about finding the form they are in now and peaking for the World Cup. Because that’s what everyone will be judged on.
“At the end of the day with the All Blacks, there’s still a lot of trophies in the cabinet. Ok, we are missing two, but outside of that we aren’t missing any others.”
Crusaders halfback Bryn Hall also agreed, adding he would rather lose now and learn from it in order to rectify things for a successful World Cup campaign in 2023.
“Another example around Ireland, they felt like they were peaking two years out from a World Cup,” Hall said.
“We are so used to the excellence of the All Blacks winning every year but for me personally, I’d rather take the losses right now and be in a position to take the learnings and be able to adapt our game two years out and have the end result of winning the 2023 World Cup.
“Due to having a tough end of year tour that we had this year.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 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.
30 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.
30 Go to comments