ODT rugby contributor Jeff Cheshire offers a few thoughts on last night's All Black victory over South Africa.
Bismarck du Plessis
To lose any player at any stage of the game has a huge influence, to lose your best player for nearly 50 minutes is going to be tough to come back from.
The tackle for which he received his first yellow card was completely legitimate, almost textbook, and he would have every right to feel aggrieved afterwards. However, his elbow to Liam Messam's throat was a little more unforgivable and perhaps he only has himself to blame there.
While the first yellow card meant that the second was to result in a red, you really do have to question the thought process, or lack of thought, from du Plessis. After already receiving a yellow card, it is simply brainless to put yourself in the position where you may receive another, whether the first one was justified or not.
The Springboks were clearly up for a physical battle and in the heat of the moment. Du Plessis clearly had a brain explosion moment where he put himself at risk, rather than maintaining composure and keeping his head, although that can be easier said than done.
There has been a lot of criticism of referee Romain Poite's handling of the incidents and perhaps a lot of it is fair. However, this just re-emphasises the point. When you are on a yellow card and are playing with a referee that you already know is capable of making a decision like this, then you just need to be ultra-careful.
To be clear though, while he is a hard and very good player, du Plessis is not a thug. Leading with the elbow, or forearm, is never good and may have been a thug-type play, but he is not a thug and should retain his respect.
Ma'a Nonu
It has been a dramatic fall from grace for Ma'a Nonu. In 2011 he was arguably New Zealand's best back, a dangerous ball runner, an accurate passer and a rock-solid defender. Two years on and the man is lacking discipline, making basic errors and moaning to the referee.
The shoulder charge for which he was yellow carded was unnecessary and was only the latest in a series of instances this year where he has produced brainless tackles. These tackles are not helping anyone and getting yellow carded is only hurting the rest of the team.
Likewise, the way he turned around and complained to Romain Poite after having the ripped out of his hands be Jean de Villiers was rather embarrassing.
It is okay to make the occasional mistake, but at least do not go trying to deflect the blame when it happens.
It is little wonder he can't find a home at Super 15 level. The question remains though; how long will the All Blacks persist with him? Surely a player like this is just a liability and other than a few nice kicks, he really offered little else of note.
Young players stepping up
One of the biggest positives from this match came in the good performances of many of the youngsters.
Charles Piutau was thrust into the game earlier than expected, but looked dangerous running, positioned himself well and kicked well too. Beauden Barrett took over from Dan Carter well, running the backline well and looking dangerous on attack.
Sam Cane worked hard and while not able to roam on attack, worked hard on defence, while Brodie Retallick was physical in the contact and showed a strong running game.
All of this has to be very encouraging for the future of All Black rugby.
Physicality
It was always going to be a brutal Test match and it did not disappoint in these stakes. However, the All Blacks were not pushed around by what was a much bigger pack and other than one scrum early on, held their own well.
Kieran Read and Brodie Retallick were the two leaders in this area, hitting everything hard and tackling very aggressively, while Liam Messam and Owen Franks were strong too.
Perhaps the difference between the two teams though, was that the All Blacks realised that this was only one component of the game, while the Springboks seemed to come in with a mentality that if they won the physical contest they would win the game.
Scrums still need work
The new scrum laws should have helped the number of scrum resets, in theory. But their remains one obvious flaw in that the halfback is not allowed to decide when to put the ball in, he must wait for the referee to give the signal. There were many times last night where this resulted in the scrum collapsing, when had the halfback been able to feed the ball, it most likely would have come out the back and play could continue.
They were not controlled well at all and at times it almost felt as if Poite was guessing with his interpretations.
Really, it is almost getting to the stage where going to rugby league-style scrums may be a better alternative - at least that way more rugby would be played.
