MAILBOX: You are impressed

The All Blacks beat Australia 26-12 over the weekend to retain the Tri-Nations and Bledisloe Cup for 2007. The Wallabies put up a decent fight – especially in the first half – but lost their way in the second. We asked if you were impressed with the New Zealand victory and while the ref has once again taken some flak, this is what you had to say…

“Having just returned from Eden Park, I can with hand on heart insist that the best team won. However, am I impressed? No I’m not.

“The All Blacks tightened their game up tonight. The 50/50 passes were significantly reduced. However, the intensity of the Wallabies in the first half still made them appear flat and disjointed. Australia played 38 minutes of smart Rugby in the first half. There were momentary lapses of concentration. The first penalty they conceded was quite uncharacteristic in that it was a silly ill disciplined cheap shot in clear view of all officials. Usually their foul play is much more subtle than that. The final penalty just before half time was again hard to understand. Usually Australian players are smart enough not to make those silly errors.

“The second half was a different story. Without the assistance of the match officials this would have turned into a rout. Are all referees in the international game going to continually protect the Australian scrum? Whatever happened to that French Ref who sent one of the Aussie prop off in that match against England? Since when is there a rule that match officials need to protect front rows which are (tick appropriate boxes)), weak [ ], lacking basic junior grade technique [ ], simply fat balls of lard [ ]?

“Did I miss something or has there been a change in the rules of line outs. Australia won 4 clean All Black feeds. That is not a question.
However they persistently took players out in the air, and their last throw in (which I was pretty much in line with) was so far down their side that the half back could have taken it uncontested, standing on the ground. The lines man on that side was the ref of the last game between NZ and Australia which probably explains things.

“One thing you can say about the Ref, he was definitely there. When someone was trying to snipe around a ruck, he was there. When someone who made a half break in midfield looked to offload, he was there. Of course he happened to be standing directly in the path of any supporting players or in the channels that people were trying to run through, but you could not accuse him of not being close to the action. Hopefully after his 6th international game he will have grasped the difference between “close” and “in the way of” the game. Why would the IRB put this novice into one of the most important games outside the world cup that there is? Paddy O’Brian has something to answer for.

“Best player on the field? Stirling Mortlock, without question. Without him the Australian backline would have been completely toothless. With him their defense was tight and the risk of a line break was always present. The AB midfield always looked suspect against him. However at the moment any midfield would look much the same way, as he is probably the best player in the game at this time.

“All Blacks biggest problem? Halfback. Neither Kelleher or Weepu are playing well at the moment. Leonard is quick, exciting and dynamic.
But his option taking is about 12 months of international Rugby short of leading a team into the world cup.

“Biggest gripe? At every breakdown, scrum, or line-out one of the Wallabies got hurt. In years past (and before you start to think I’m on a pension I’m only mid 30’s), the great thing about Rugby was that besides being a game of strength and power, it was balanced by the fact it required good cardiovascular fitness. Good teams could wear other teams down, and then explode with 15 minutes left. That was part of the beauty of the game. Now, as displayed tonight, with the consent of the officials, a team can slow the game down, have a breather, have a quiet chat and reorganise their defense, give Gregan the opportunity to harp on about imagined rule violations, and bore the people sitting in the stands whose corporate associates had paid good money for them to attend. Any team being this negative simply did not deserve to win.

“Here is a suggestion for the upcoming rule changes. If a player is hurt move him to the side. If he’s in the front row, the scrums are uncontested until he gets back on. Then we will see how long players stay down when they are simply stalling for time.”
– James & Gina

“The Aussies did not threaten the All Black line once even though they had 55 per cent of the ball. It was always going to be a tough game and the wet weather made it difficult. Still these are the games where both teams have to play in the same conditions. and the All Blacks always looked the dominant team. The fact of the matter is yes they haven’t won the World Cup enough, but other than that no team comes close to them in any other way.

“I wonder whether those whose only hope is that the All Blacks will choke, as they say, at World Cup will acknowledge them once and for all as the greatest rugby nation when they win.

“Even if they don’t win, they remain as the team that everyone strives to beat as is the measuring stick for world rugby. As the great John Eales said: ‘You don’t have to be the best to win the World Cup only the best on the day.’

“‘The All Blacks Rule’.”
– All Blacks fan

“Nigel Owen did make a few blunders but was fair to both sides and the good thing is that South Africa weren’t playing so we don’t have to put up with the usual whinging about how the ref always picks on poor old South Africa who according to some of their fans never do anything wrong.

“The first half I was very impressed by the Aussies who kept hold of the ball well and were perhaps unlucky to be behind at halftime whereas the All Blacks seemed to throw the ball away and their lineout was terrible. Anton Oliver great player he is has over the years been not the best with lineouts and I’m surprised NZ have still not sorted it out. It was notable that when Mealamu came on for the second half that NZ’s lineouts improved.

“The second half I was very impressed with the All Blacks who eliminated the mistakes and ground out a hard fought victory in difficult conditions. Dan Carter played well and his goal kicking is coming back to his best. Mortlock too was good and well done to the Aussies who were given no chance at the beginning of the season.

“And well done to McCaw who had a brilliant game despite all the previous howls of ‘cheat’ by some of his envious opponents.”
– Gareth Williams (Wales)

“I think I am impressed. The AB’s are not firing and Australia have improved out of sight from a year ago. To get a solid win against the Aussies with the Bledisloe AND Tri-Nations on the line is a good result for the AB’s… still room for improvement though. The scrum is working better and Carter brought his kicking boots to Eden Park. There is still work to be done on the line-outs and our midfield doesn’t look settled.

“Would like a few more hit-outs before the World Cup but I don’t think that is going to happen. Confidence on the rise but still not convinced.”
– Kiwi in Edinburgh

“Impressed by the handling skills levels in horrible conditions, not impressed by the Wallabies lack of urgency and desire at the end of the game. They wanted it, but they lacked leadership to drive them to their goal. The All Blacks on the other hand, lifted the tempo, especially in the last 20 minutes, not through superior conditioning, but by the belief that they could raise the tempo.

“In the first half the Wallabies came in on a high and outplayed the All Blacks but still went into the change rooms behind. The sign of a good team: play poorly and win – the All Blacks did this. Then they lifted in the second half and with some persistent attack, especially on the Wallabies scrum (which almost killed the game by how long they took to set for every scrum), scored once and were able to force the Wallabies into penalties in their own half which Carter punished them for.

“On the whole, it was a great contest, the referee was adequate, but refused to play advantage and refused to allow a contest for the ball at the tackle. He also made some interesting high tackle calls and non-calls!”
– Josh Sutcliffe

“High tackle – not a penalty. Larkham held on top of the tackled player – not a penalty. Ashley-Cooper – were they going to take a quick lineout? – not a penalty. Off-side at the 20-minute mark in second half – not a penalty.

“Imagine the ABs are only two points in front with ten minutes to go… that bumbling Welsh fool ruined a great match – and I’m a Kiwi!”
– Martin Wilson

“Yes as a Kiwi and a die hard All Blacks supporter obviously I’m impressed.

“And I’m impressed for a number of reasons:
1) We won (obviously).
2) We were a lot more patient this time in both attack and defence.
3) We adapted well after having to absorb a lot of attacking raids in the first half from the Wallabies to hold our nerve after being dominated in both possession and attack.
4) Also after being on the back foot for so long there was no panic, so it’s a good sign in maturing where our team in the past have been guilty of being psychologically rattled in the game and having their confidence dented, from being on the back foot and never being able to recover.
5) And because of this they can hopefully reflect on this performance as individuals and build on it, and hopefully shake the dreaded World Cup chokers tag.
6) It was a more intelligent performance where they weren’t trying to be too fancy shmancy, but played more to the conditions and used their traditional style of grinding play this time.
7) Our mistake rate this time was low and it certainly helped a lot.
8) Our forwards were dominant after having the Wallaby forwards earlier on give it to our forwards.
9) Our mid-field pairing were nothing special but did only what was required of them in the middle, where they were quite solid this time in marking up containing the world number one centre Stirling Mortlock in defence.
10) We haven’t peaked yet and this performance by the team was more of a slow conservative type of game, so hopefully we’ll peak at the right time come World Cup time.
11) Who could forget our defence? And for the record “I LOVED IT!”. It was relentless and ruthless where players like George Smith received some special attention where every time he got the ball he got smashed and driven back. To top it all off we gave them no tries – none, zero, zip, zilch. We didn’t allow them to score once which was just great because I hate the Wallabies boring style of structured, phase after boring phase of recycled, safe rugby.”
– William Kailomani

“It was a tight affair. Sure, All Blacks are not so impressive anymore but it is logical as the games are getting tougher as the RWC is getting closer. What is awesome is their defence (athletism + organisation + tackle/ruck technical sharpness). Within the past two years, opposite teams have had barely one or two try opportunities per game! And as RWC are won by defences – hint, hint Jake White.

“The main point is the consistant and sharp referring of the Welsh guy. One of the best displays I’ve seen so far. Particularly, he has dealt for once sanely with Kiwis’ “strategy” of ruck obstruction/decoy with or without the ball. Simply, Dunning has been really lucky because he had a “third stick” every time at scrum time.

“Finally, Australia should pray that Mortlock never gets injured.”
– Arnaud Bunetel (France)

“I thought the game was one in which the All Blacks took another step towards securing World Cup glory. Although the game unfortunately was NOT the try-fest every fan was hoping for, it showed the All Blacks – with the added pressure with their backs slightly against the wall after the Melbourne Test – still have the team structure in place to cope with this.

“It will never be easy to win the World Cup, look at England in 2003, probably the best prepared team going into a World Cup, 50 minutes into the pool game against Samoa it looked like the upset of ALL World Cups was on the cards. Every nation will stand and deliver at the tournament, but only a select few have the mental tenacity to withstand it along with the God given talent of a physical gift to play rugby well.

“The All Blacks have both of those boxes ticked and now, with quiet confidence, head to the World Cup with two trophies heavier for the exclusive golden World Cup.”
– Joe Sharp

“From a Kiwi point of view, that was a satisfying win. The ABs did the hard work and in the second half the Wallabies, while they ground away well, hardly looked a threat. The ABs did enough and their build up looks to be progressing ok, the Wallabies look vulnerable especially in the scrum but they are always capable of a pulling a big game out of the hat. They are lucky Dunning gets away with his inadequacies so much (seems ironic describing someone with no neck swan diving). I think they were also lucky to get away with their timing in setting the scrum, guessing when to hit and that was sometimes early. If refs get on to that their scrum will really struggle.”
– Pete

“The match exposed how weak the ‘Wannabies’ are for a full 80 minutes.”
– Dawn Aiono

“So Larkham… still think the All Blacks don’t have it mentally to win close games? Because according to you it was destroyed in Melbourne. So why didn’t you think your way to victory last night when the All Blacks were running rough-shot over you in the last 40 minutes? Not so easy is it?

“Take notes from your classy partner there Stirlo, be humble in victory and gracious in defeat. One more thing… Georgie Boy, ‘One more year!’.”
– Die hard Kiwi in Utah

“Watching from the USA, it seemed that Wales had a fantastic win in the Bledisloe Cup! The Australians nearby in the bar when I watched crumbled before kick-off when they saw the rain and a Welsh referee.

“Sure enough, four infringements in a row were ignored by the ref, and the Wallabies seemed to be penalised for nothing in particular. Yet another referee makes his decision by who he thinks should win, rather than how the teams are playing.”
– Matt (Washington DC)

“It is impossible to win against biased, blind and bigoted linesmen and referee. Surely, as with selecting a jury, both teams can and should have the right to approve and disapprove their match officials. The All Blacks are, at present, being gifted their wins but more to the point the opposition knows it cannot win and their play is inhibited while the All Blacks can run rampant but illegally.”
– Mileham Hayes

“Yes, I am impressed with the All Blacks ability to condition their game plan to the weather. We all know what they are capable of doing on a dry hard track with their world class finishers, but to see them play in these very tough conditions with somewhat ease spoke volumes for this very good team, which we all know is yet to peak this year, this has to be a scary thought for their future opponents. Carter though he played well is still not at the top his game and the same can be said about Richie McCaw and a few others in the team, the Kiwis have all round improving to go through before September.

“The Australians did play very well and never gave up especially their captain Stirling Mortlock, George Smith cheated like buggery only getting caught once but good on him, thats the way the games played and I doubt you will hear about his tactics from any of the All blacks, you see it’s all about respect in Kiwi Land, what happens on the field stays on the field.

“Before the game the Wallabies talked the talk but on the field they were also able walk the walk, so they do deserve all the accolades thrown their way, but reality would tell you the All Blacks weren’t ready to give up their 21-year record at Eden Park against the Australians and they definitely weren’t going to let go of the Bledisloe or Tri-Nations Cups, you see also in Kiwi Land the New Zealand public can be a much scarier force to reckon with then any team the All Blacks have to face up to.”
– Pam (Sydney)

“I thought the All Blacks played well and definitely deserved to win. The Aussies though were very competitive, in all areas bar the scrum. I must say its getting rather tiresome hearing Connolly and Mortlock blame the loss on the referee. While he made a few mistakes (definitely including that supposed head high by Mortlock on Howlett), they cut both ways – like the ‘knock on’ of McCaw’s that came off his head and was quite likely to lead to a try, and the several crooked Aussie lineout throws not called, and the Aussie scrum feeds where the Aussies pushed over the mark well before Gregan put the ball in etc.

“My point is, wearing an eye patch is not the way to see a game. While one team often gets a better ‘rub of the green’ in a particular match, blaming your loss on the ref when you are significantly outplayed in the second half is not a reasonable argument, and if they really believe they were ‘robbed’, then they’re missing the point – they simply were outplayed by a better side (particularly a better pack) on the night. End of story. Even though jonky “Jonker’ made some dreadful calls against the All Blacks in Melbourne, you didn’t hear Henry and McCaw blaming the ref for their loss. They took them on the chin and learnt from the mistakes they made as a team – not the ones made by the referee. If the Wallabies don’t do the same, they’ll only have themselves to blame at the World Cup. For they’re certainly capable of beating the All Blacks – maybe once every three or four games, but if they don’t take responsibility for their own inadequacies another ‘upset’ win is unlikely to come this year.”
– Wayne (New Zealand)

“No, I’m not impressed! Referees determine results in this game.

“The All Blacks for years have been in the habit of taking out players nowhere near the action when they drive forward-hopefully at the World Cup this action will be penalised. Bad refereeing cost eleven points and the flow of the game. Roll on new rules!”
– John Leese (ex-Kiwi living in Australia)

“Here we go – the Aussies lose and the ref gets blamed for everything under the sun.

“One high shot on Doug was a little harsh but other than that both sides had their fair share of bad decisions. When NZ lost in Melbourne they didn’t cry to the ref when Carl Hayman got sin-binned or how the scrums were a mess thanks to the Aussie underhand tactics.

“But when you win, oh you are the greatest!

“Everyone knows the team that wins away from home has the best chance of wining the Tri-Nations – something that the Kiwis have done consistently for the last few years.

“By the way I am an Australian!”
– Vanessa Tuau (Albury, New South Wales)

“You have to admire the Aussies. They never lose. They won two weeks ago because they were the better team, this game they lost because according to Mortlock of his high tackle on Doug Howlett

“Geez Stirling, you lost because the All Blacks played better than you, give credit where credit is due and don’t blame the ref!

“Love to see the Aussies are winging again.”
– Dave (Kiwi in Manchester)

“We’re closing the gap… they know we are… we’re closing the gap… they know we are… we’re closing the gap… they know we are… “

“And just like the ‘Little Train That Could’, the Wallabies will convince themselves they can be over the hill too, just like most of their backline.

“I just don’t know who they’re trying to get to believe them – anyone who will listen, or themselves!”
– Justin Stewart (New Zealand)