@chester-draws said in All Blacks v Springboks:

@booboo said in All Blacks v Springboks:

@chester-draws said in All Blacks v Springboks:

@mariner4life said in All Blacks v Springboks:

@akan004 cherry pick to make the sky fall?

how about looking at it like this. in 21 tests we are 17-1-3. In 13 of those tests we have hosed them.

We lost a game where we had 14 blokes for 3/4s of the game
We lost a dead rubber Bledisloe away.
We lost one of the best tests in years.

You know, now i think about it, we are 0-3 where we have scored less points than the opposition. That's not what you expect from a team with this much talent.

Try looking at it this way. We never, ever lose big. if it's a loss, it's by a bee's dick. We are balls deep in every game we play. That's a pretty sweet position to be in.

What you say is true, except the implication that somehow winning big a lot is good.

Say what? It's bad? Since when?

Winning isn't bad. Just that winning big isn't necessarily better than winning small.

Our recent massive victories over the Boks was not good preparation for the last game.

We have a game plan that I think tends to magnify our strengths and our weaknesses. When we play well we win by lots. But we equally come unstuck when it doesn't work.

I'd prefer a game plan that moved away from this emphasis on counter-attack, and assuming we wear our opposition down. I'd like to see us able to work on penetrating solid defences.

Because when we hit the 2019 RWC you can bet no-one, crazy Australians aside, will attempt to beat us playing open rugby.

But history has shown us that teams step up at the World Cup and a well organised, determined defence can be really hard to break down without taking a few risks. The All Blacks showed they could score 6 tries against such a defence without the defence every really crumbling.

Hansen's message to J Barrett and A Smith (for it was they who took the bad decisions that led to tries) is not don't take quick throw-ins or don't take tap penalties . It will be don't take quick throw-ins from a kick that left the whole Bok defensive line in your face and don't take tap penalties when there is no huge gap to exploit. The whole mantra of the ABs since Henry took over is to make decisions based on what you see - the mantra is not "put away the razzle-dazzle until you're desperate". There will be mistakes playing like that but by forcing the opposition defence to make tough decisions under pressure eventually the gap will appear and the tries will come.

The Silver Fern

KiwiPie