rugby: November 2013

Monday, November 25, 2013

You're keeping quiet...

I, like many kiwis, felt he didnt give the ABs a fair game at the breakdown.  The Irish had a great opening 30 with a little luck going their way.  Kearney showed a surprising lack of speed while "scampering" away down the touchline but he couldnt shake Read off and how important was that 2 points that the eightman saved his team?  What I saw as the All Blacks were trying to get back into the game was a combo of 3 things hampering them.  One was ball handling just as they were getting a roll on.  Two was laziness at their own rucks allowing Heaslip etc to come over the top and pressure Smith.  Three what I saw as Owen blowing any and every possible small infringement versus NZ while allowing the Irish to knock on, O'Brien and co play at the ball while prone on the ground, and multiple side entries.  No major catastrophic calls but a lot of little ones hindering the ABs.  Then one bad call that could of put the game out of reach....the penalty for the pulled down maul that from the angles I saw it could only have been Ireland (Healy I think).





Either way...this tour has just added to the legend that this team can get out of any sticky situation.  They don't ever light the stadium on fire like the class of 97 but they play more measured and more consistent.  They still contend justifiably as maybe the greatest ever.  Take a bow Steve Hansen and Graham Henry.