'They're very passive': Italy win reinforces where teams can 'exploit' the All Blacks

New Zealand’s giant win over Italy certainly ran up a scoreline that would convince the average pundit that the All Blacks are in dangerous form as the knockout stages approach, but not all pundits are convinced it was as comprehensive of a performance as that scoreboard would suggest.

On paper, the All Blacks’ tally of 96 points would imply complete dominance in the match, but Ireland’s 95-Test veteran Rob Kearney highlighted Italy’s 17 points as a significant takeaway from the contest.

Seven of those points came after the 80 minutes had expired, but that try to Monty Ioane was perhaps the most telling moment of the game for New Zealand as the team’s defensive flaws were exposed.

Earlier in the week, Another Irish legend, Ronan O’Gara, had identified defence as New Zealand’s biggest weakness.

“I think where teams have probably gone beyond them is on the defensive side,” the La Rochelle coach told The Breakdown.

“Their attack has always been top-notch, but I think defensively it seems like they’re still defending the man, which nowadays, with teams’ capacity to retain the ball, if you keep pushing them towards the sideline, the opposition is going to have too much possession and be able to fire too many shots and they probably have to defend a lot of players with X-factor.

“I think if they’re very aggressive with their defence, they could surprise people and go all the way.”

That aggression was missing against Italy in Kearney’s eyes. While the All Blacks completed ten more dominant tackles than the Italians, their line speed allowed the ball to be spread through the hands of the Italian backline, causing problems in the wider channels.

Around the ruck, the Kiwi forwards pressed the issue and found success catching their opponents behind the gain line. But, when the ball was distributed to the Italian backs, there was open space to run into.

While next weekend’s results will confirm the seedings, as it stands, the All Blacks would play Ireland in the quarter-finals.

“I think if there’s one weakness to this New Zealand team it’s their defence,” Kearney said on Virgin Media Sport.

“They’re very passive, they give the opposition a lot of time and space on the ball that the Irish attackers will love.

“They are not nearly as aggressive as South Africa or France.

“We saw Italy going around them three or four times tonight, they did it quite early on, in the first five minutes, they just didn’t have the skill set to be able to do anything with that space that they manipulated up the edge.

“But certainly, defensively for this All Blacks team, I think Ireland, should we get there in the quarterfinal, will be able to exploit quite a bit of space on the edges.”

It’s a painfully familiar criticism for the All Blacks, who were knocked out of the 2019 Rugby World Cup by England after struggling to adapt to the era of the rush defence.

While the team have made strides in attacking the tactic since then, failing to adopt it is beginning to become the story of this year’s campaign.