The All Blacks celebrate after winning their
Tri-Nations-Bledisloe Cup clash against the Wallabies on
Saturday night. Photo by NZPA.
Another All Black winter season has concluded Rugby
writer Steve Hepburn looks back at the season and wonders how
the side is looking two years out from the tournament that
really matters.
As a racehorse, Christian Cullen had no peers.
The star of harness racing in the late 1990s, when he was on
top of his game, Christian Cullen was virtually unbeatable.
But the trouble was he knew no limits.
His body could not handle the pace at which his brain wanted
him to run.
He tried to run so hard that his body gave out, sending him
into early retirement.
The All Blacks' experienced similar troubles this year.
What they wanted to do did not always suit what was happening
out on the field.
They tried to play a style of game that at times they did not
have the personnel to execute.
Nowhere was that more obvious then in the meltdown against
the Springboks in Durban.
Playing against a strong-minded and defensive team, and armed
with a lightweight forward pack and a lack of leadership in
the backs, the All Blacks tried to throw the ball around, and
they paid the price.
France at Carisbrook was another example - trying to play an
expansive, fast game with an inexperienced team against a
team of great defenders, and with a pedantic Irish referee in
control.
It was far from a great year for the All Blacks - the three
losses to the Springboks and the defeat against France saw to
that.
A win record of less than 60% was nothing to write home
about.
The Springboks play a limited game to their strengths, and
look almost unbeatable at the moment.
But time marches on and there is more potential in the All
Blacks than in the Springboks unit, which is at its peak.
The All Blacks left their best for last, easily beating the
Wallabies in Wellington at the weekend.
That gave encouragement to the All Blacks and saved the
coaching team some embarrassment, especially after the
debacle in the line-out against the Springboks the week
before.
The victory over the Wallabies came as a result of rugby
played the way it used to be, and that style should be the
blueprint for the future.
The key to that game was the All Blacks holding on to the
ball.
They tried the same thing against the Springboks in Durban,
but under severe pressure the execution was poor and it did
not come off.
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