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Wayne Pivac hints at New Zealand skullduggery in Wales victory

By PA
Press Association

Wayne Pivac warned Wales must improve their physicality after New Zealand overpowered them to register a 33rd consecutive victory in the fixture.

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New Zealand scored eight tries and a record number of points against Wales in their 55-23 win at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium.

The All Blacks were last beaten by Wales in 1953 and 25 of their 33 victories since have been by a margin of 15 points or more.

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Head coach Pivac said: “There were a lot of good individual performances but I think collectively as a group we needed to, at times, be a little bit more physical, come off the line and meet New Zealand.

“We wanted a fast start, but we didn’t get that. We leaked 17 points pretty early on.

“We were very pleased to get back into the game once we’d got through that part.

“New Zealand sides are very good in the last 10 minutes before half-time and probably the start after half-time.

“We focused on that and did well to get back into that game I thought. We started the second half as we’d hoped and that was to score first and get within seven.

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“Unfortunately after that we weren’t able to exit and you put a lot of that down to the pressure New Zealand exerted on us in and around our 22.

“That was really disappointing to concede and it was clear at that point we started to chase the game a little bit. Chasing the game, the score went away from us a little bit at the end.”

Wales, 17-0 down after 19 minutes, scored two tries through the debut-making wing Rio Dyer and flanker Justin Tipuric.

Skipper Tipuric’s try after 51 minutes reduced the deficit to six points but New Zealand, 29-23 ahead at that point, dominated the final half-hour and romped away with three further tries.

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“They got speed of ball in our 22 which most teams are after – and we weren’t able to do that,” said Pivac, whose side face remaining autumn games against Argentina, Georgia and Australia.

“Like all good New Zealand sides at the breakdown you question some of the angles they came in from, but that’s the way it works on the day.

“We’ve got to make sure we can combat that. We will definitely be looking at that area of the game and making sure we improve next week.

“To release the pressure straight after a score is something we’ve got to look at. We have to make sure we get right for next week and for other games.”

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The All Blacks head to Scotland next week before rounding off their trip to Europe by playing England at Twickenham on November 26.

Head coach Ian Foster said: “We are delighted. It’s always a tough Test match, so to come here and play the way we played is great.

“I love the patience we showed. They had moments and put us under pressure, but we stayed patient and came though.”

Asked if they had next year’s World Cup in France on their mind, Foster added: “A little bit. But Test rugby is about the here and now.”

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Jon 8 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 11 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

44 Go to comments
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