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'When he dropped the ball we were hot on attack' Coles laments All Blacks execution

By Online Editors
Dane Coles of the New Zealand All Blacks speaks to media at the Crowne Plaza on November 12, 2018 in Dublin. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)

As the All Blacks process the second loss of the year to Ireland in Dublin, hooked Dane Coles has pointed out critical moments that the side didn’t take in the narrow 16-9 defeat in an interview with the press on Monday afternoon.

“There was critical moments that we didn’t nail,” said Coles.

“Like there were a couple of lineouts where I let myself down. Those are big moments in the game that we could’ve got back.

“We’re not blaming anyone but like Guzzler [Retallick], when he dropped that ball we were hot on attack. You know, like Reado dropped that ball. There were little moments where we just didn’t win.

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The All Blacks first clash with a number two ranked side since the Rugby World Cup final was a re-introduction to test rugby against a proven opponent of the highest caliber. Coles says the team is hurting and a few guys are feeling guilty with a failure to execute in the pressure moments.

“I don’t know what it is. Is it a concentration level? I don’t know. Those big moments at test footy, you’ve got to nail it, and we didn’t nail those little things and at the end of the day that let us down.

“I know speaking to some of the guys, we were pretty gutted yesterday. A few guys felt like we let the team down because we didn’t nail that. If we can do that going forward and just be in the moment [and] nail it, we’ll definitely help the team out.”

Ireland’s execution was typical of their possession-based game, and in the end, one well-executed lineout play proved to be the difference.

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“They had a couple of good moments and they scored; that try off the lineout, that was unreal.

The attention has already started to drift towards when these two teams will meet again, which could potentially be in the knockout stages of next year’s World Cup however the All Blacks aren’t thinking that far ahead just yet.

“Personally I’m not really thinking about Rugby World Cup,” he said.

“There might be a time where we have to pull out that drawer and use that feeling that we had on Saturday to get up for the week and we might cross paths, we might not. I’m just focusing on this week.

“Next year, if we come to face them or we don’t, we can use some motivation from that or some learnings from that.

In other news:

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J
Jon 9 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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