ABs: The myth and legend
8 Oct 2012
JON CARDINELLI says the All Blacks’ perfect balance between kicking and running, as well as their high level of execution, has allowed them to become the undisputed champs of world rugby.
As if the World Cup, Bledisloe Cup, Freedom Cup, and Rugby Championship title were not enough. The All Blacks didn’t just win that Rugby Championship trophy, they didn’t just win six out of six, they once again made a statement about how the game should be played.
It’s seems an obvious thing to say about the All Blacks, but then there is more to this side than what is perceived at a first glance.
They have some of the most gifted attacking players on the planet, but many forget that a team cannot win championships without a balanced approach. If attack was all you needed to be a success, the Lions would be reigning Super Rugby champions.
Before you celebrate the All Blacks as outstanding innovators and finishers, consider how they get themselves into those scoring positions. It is through a great mix of power, intelligence, and a fair bit of trickery that they win the forward battles. It is through sharp decision making that they can switch between kicking for territory and counter-attacking. And don’t underestimate the role experience has played in the All Blacks’ 16-Test winning run.
Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer said earlier this year that experience helped the All Blacks win that 2011 World Cup, and went on to explain that it is experience that boosts a team in areas like defence, kicking, discipline and game management. You can have all the attacking talent in the world, but if you can’t succeed in these other aspects, you aren’t going to win championships.
Take the Rugby Championship finale at Soccer City as an example. The Boks were in fine attacking form early on, and that try from Bryan Habana will go down as one of the best of their season. But as flat as the All Blacks were during the initial stages, they stuck to their defensive task. They absorbed the pressure and then struck back before half-time, and then again after the break.
Meyer praised the world champions afterwards for the way they went about closing out the game. Meyer said Dan Carter was the key man for the visitors, as his decision making and execution during this period allowed the All Blacks to play the game down in opposition territory.
The stats substantiate the statement. According to ruckingoodstats.com, the New Zealanders kicked the ball from hand on 30 occasions (the Boks kicked 23), keeping 11 of those kicks in play. It was the tactics of Carter and company to put the ball behind the Boks and ask them to counter-attack. And when the Boks made mistakes or bad decisions, the All Blacks were quick to pounce.
It was another thing Meyer pointed to: this All Blacks side has made a habit out of punishing opposition errors. Again, the stats suggest that the All Blacks were better off in this department, making just four handling errors to the Boks’ 11. What those stats don’t say is how the All Blacks turned Bok mistakes into point-scoring opportunities.
Defence was an issue for the hosts last Saturday, with the Boks missing 12 tackles. The All Blacks missed 10, but that number needs to be put in perspective, as the visitors spent more time on defence (they had just 43% possession). While the Boks missed one in four tackle attempts, the All Blacks missed one in six.
The goal-kicking has been poor throughout the tournament, and again the Boks missed four of their eight attempts.
All in all, the Boks were guilty of spurning their own chances, and also guilty of providing the opposition with scoring chances. It was like two teams were playing against the Boks last Saturday: that is the All Blacks and the Boks themselves.
The All Blacks were good enough to first claw their way back into the lead, and then punish the South Africans to the tune of 16 points. That’s a hiding.
Meyer says his team has a long way to go, a statement that was later followed by Steve Hansen’s assertion that this All Blacks side can get better. The New Zealanders have won 16 in a row, and having brushed the Boks aside you’d have to expect them to breeze through Europe and overtake Lithuania for the most consecutive Test victories.
The Boks were No 2 in the world on Saturday night, but were overtaken when the Wallabies beat the Pumas in Argentina later on. Nevertheless, the Boks and the Wallabies are in the same boat in that they are nowhere near the All Blacks in terms of balance and experience.
The Boks are playing the right game, but their execution is not where it should be. I agree with Meyer that the forced introduction (because of injuries) of a number of youngsters has left this Bok side light on experience in key positions. That in turn has compromised their consistency as well as their ability to close out tight Tests.
A 16-point defeat at home is never going to be excused or be anything but embarrassing. At the same time, there has to be some perspective about where this young Bok team is in relation to what is (or at least will become after breaking that world record) the best All Blacks side in history.
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401 Comments
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8 Oct 2012, 05:26 am
Muuaaaahahahahahahaaaaaaa
Love to get the record for longest winning streak but are we Kiwis getting greedy?
Point is we have had an awesome 3 years and been proud of our team so i think it is something that would be another notch on the ball but personally i wouldn’t be that disappointed if we didn’t make the record, just proud of my team.
I…..love …… you …..just ….the …..way …..you …..are ( crying in between words )
8 Oct 2012, 05:42 am
@Hurricane-1:
Huri….like you I am proud of the Ab achievements 2010 to present.The experience and skill that has grown in this period will hold the team in good stead moving forward, as long as they keep everything in perspective and like all ABb sides always remember the defeats and the not so good times. But hell yeah……let us rejoice whilst the going is good.
Just a footnote, for me even if Abs go on to break the record I would still rate the 96 side the greatest Ab side ever.
8 Oct 2012, 05:51 am
@Hurricane-1:
Well done Hurri and all the other AB supporters on here, enjoy it as they will surely go on and thrash that record. Well played on Saturday.
I was very disappointed after the game but being the eternal optimist that I am, I think we (Bok supporters) need to see things in perspective. No matter how you slice it, this is a young and inexperienced team with a brand spanking new coach (at this level). Compare it to our two main rival and Deans, been there a while and Hansen, even longer albeit not as head coach and we can look forward to much improvement.
Saturday was terrible from a supporter’s point of view but come November I am sure I will feel much better and be right back at believing my team is all but unbeatable
8 Oct 2012, 05:57 am
@Te Rangatira-2:
They will go on and break the record and it is hard to take that away but their performances for most part of this year was rather underwhelming, even in winning. Last week in this one showing a definate upward trend mind you.
8 Oct 2012, 05:59 am
JC,Habana’s try was clearly a foward pass and you turn a blind eye to that? So never scored a legit try on Saturday. Imagine if that try was a decider!
The Boks are getting better compared to their earlier games with the dumb rugby but unfortunately the habit is still there ie the tendency to kick ahead and hope for the best. The backline is auwful because they do not know what to do with the ball. They are not coached to be creative at all.
Compare them to the mighty Blacks. Blacks are nice to the eye, they excite and make you happy with the artistry in motion. Rugby is basically a sport to entertain and enjoy.
Unfortunaly with the Boks set-up basically the former bulls coaching stuff, do not expect much to change from Boks. The mindless skop and jag will always be inculcated in players minds.
Comparing them – chalk and cheese.
8 Oct 2012, 06:00 am
*in = and
8 Oct 2012, 06:00 am
@Slartibartfast-3:
Hi Slarti, always remain optimistic, cause we all know the wheel turns and somewhere down the track things may well be in reverse. I suspect you know I am no great fan of Meyer but I am very interested to see how he goes about turning the Bok into a world beating side in the future.
8 Oct 2012, 06:01 am
“Fair bit of trickery”? Funny that no matter who refs the game, their “fair bit of trickery” is not judged as trickery by the one man on the pitch designated as the “sole judge of fact” in Law 6? It’s like saying that one’s feet stay attached to the ground by “a fair bit of trickery” rather than plain, boring old gravity.
8 Oct 2012, 06:09 am
@TheTackler-8:
Ae Tackler, JC seems to think physics is all smoke and mirrors.
8 Oct 2012, 06:32 am
@Peter Mkata-5:
The Habana try was no worse than a lot of other tries scored in games these days, by all teams, NZ included.
What makes it stand out was the 22 metre line tracking the trajectory of the ball.
Watching it live it looked okay and you have to acknowledge it was a beautiful piece of rugby.
But I take your point, if the game had of been close at the end, that pass would be a hot topic of debate.
8 Oct 2012, 06:33 am
@Te Rangatira-7:
Yip but the Bok wheel seems to grind very slowly the last 5 years…
The Meyer will do fine, we don’t have anyone better in SA bar a few burned bridges and they will never look to a foreign coach.
PS No foreign coach in his right mind will look at SA either.
8 Oct 2012, 06:42 am
@Brads-10:
Lame and as frustrating as it can be for the supporter on the receiving end but there is a difference between the ball moving forward and a forward pass. I did not and neither do I care to watch the try again and not saying this is the case.
Refs are told to look at the hands in the motion of passing and not the trajectory of the ball. There is a clip on the irb website (I think) they use to illustrate the above, in short, a guy running flat out in a straight line will pass (throw the ball) over his head, clearly backward but due to a “fair bit of trickery” the ball will actually land infront of where he passed the ball…
8 Oct 2012, 06:43 am
Well done ABs, truely hammered the Boks in the second half, there were injuries out there and the Bok fwds looked tired after hammering away for 20mins without any points to show for it. Vermulen was owned by Read and Flo was the only guy on parity with AB.
Alberts was too busy F. ..g up Reeche to do much else .. Strauss is no Biz and even Chilli needs some exposure at the top .. Props and Locks so so .. not sure we have enough depth at Prop though .
The backs were bossed and with DC in fine form they were made to look like schoolboys.
For us we need to get Frans back and fit, we need a specialist 13 as Taute as talented as he is cannot come in without any experience against Smith. Hope that JFourie comes back for a year whilst we develop .. Our 10 is up for grabs although EJ should hold the jersey. JPP back at wing and a rethink at 15 .. maybe Taute if he can perform at S15 ..
Final and important note to SARU .. You cannot compete at intrenational level with international coaches !!! .. Get rid of Loubscher and Koen and get an Aussie in .. Also D coach needs more than Pretoria on his CV !!!!!!!!
8 Oct 2012, 06:45 am
Oops meant “without International Coaches” ..
8 Oct 2012, 06:47 am
@Slartibartfast-12: Pass looked forward to me but I have seen plenty by AB like that and given .. I think the ref was “kind” to Boks in 1st half … however Reeche should have had a yellow as continual in the red zone … Would not have changed result though !
8 Oct 2012, 06:50 am
@Slartibartfast-12:
As I stated, it happens all the time.
It looked fine to me live and the NZ commentators didn’t blink an eye either, so that is good enough as far as I am concerned.
8 Oct 2012, 06:55 am
@Doughnut-15: @Brads-16:
Reality is that if you want to, you can find fault with plenty of the ref’s calls in a game. In a close match the losing team error just seem to be so much more glaring…in the eyes of their supporters. End of the day, it is not an exact science and given the speed and all other factors, the refs are only human, things won’t always be 100%.
8 Oct 2012, 06:56 am
To my friend Houston, chin up mate, keep those posts coming cause its supporters like you that every team needs………through thick or thin……catch you up.
8 Oct 2012, 06:58 am
@Doughnut-15:
I may be wrong, but to the best of my knowledge Ritchie wasn’t penalised, but if he was it would have been once.
Issuing yellow cards normally implies repeated penalties awarded against a specific player, not imagined penalties supporters wish were awarded.
8 Oct 2012, 06:59 am
As it is I also thought it was fine first up, replay I was thinking it was marginal. So given my biased in these matters and in the heat of battle there is a fair chance it was forward. Let us all just be happy it did not impact the result or else all hell would have broken out…
8 Oct 2012, 07:08 am
1. driving off players without the ball.
2. hands.
3. macaw falling onto the wrong side of the ruck.
4. different players going onto the wrong side of the ruck.
5. hands.
6. offsides.
7. going off feet / to ground at ruck.
8. hands.
9. taking up position ahead of the ruck.
10. ab prop drops bind *should be an immediate penalty*.
11. disengaging early from scrum.
12. lineout distance infringement.
13. macaw blocking at scrum.
14. entering maul from side and continuing to play.
15. hands in ruck playing ball.
16. tackling support player without the ball intentionally – nonu.
17. *spear tackle* – retalick (is this even a debate…?..but i’ll bet you the citing commisioner if a saffa let it go).
18. offsides.
19. macaw slowing ball in ruck blatantly.
20. forward pass read – try.
21. sealing off at ruck.
22. obstructive running.
23. offsides again.
——————————————————–
THINGS TO REMEMBER:
this is just the first half and is by no means a full and final assesment of their filth.i will go over the second half and post it by wed perhaps, along with the, cursory, first half assesment i have made.
8 Oct 2012, 07:15 am
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-21:
LOL
I assume those are your mental images of what the AB’s did but were not penalised for.
Of course SA were purer than a virginal nun on her first day after taking her vows.
8 Oct 2012, 07:15 am
we can all agree the second half was where their filth really came into its own so expect the infringement count to rocket for the second half assesment.
8 Oct 2012, 07:16 am
Congrats to Branden Grace winning the Dunhill Open.
Why is it that keewees arent good in sports where it is difficult to cheat?
Co-incidence?
I think not.
8 Oct 2012, 07:18 am
@Brads-22:
new zeaalnd is the filthiest team in world rugby, fact.
i am curious to see whether they will surpass expectations for their second half behaviour. if it wasn’t for work, deadlines (and some killer heartburn) i would have done it over the weekend already.
8 Oct 2012, 07:22 am
@Te Rangatira-18:
cheers to you too tr.
8 Oct 2012, 07:25 am
and dont even get me started on that old pearler, the ‘official team warning’…
i’ve heard that one before but hell man…. what a larf….
8 Oct 2012, 07:27 am
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-25:
Facts, in the legal sense are open to debate, because they can be biased toward the view point of the person who expresses them.
Your version of the Facts are certainly different from the main stream, but no less valid in the overall scheme of things.
8 Oct 2012, 07:27 am
@21 oh cummon bakkies… give it a rest… or better yet, become a ref yourself.
8 Oct 2012, 07:27 am
Does this lay to rest the issue of high altitude and excessive travelling, advantage or diadvantage thereof. Or does this mean the Boks are down right useless/poor or the Blacks are are super human who do not get affected by these so-called challenges? Just asking
8 Oct 2012, 07:36 am
@Brads-22:
‘virginal nun’
Man!
8 Oct 2012, 07:36 am
@Peter Mkata-30:
It does really.
The old chestnut of teams visiting the likes of Pretoria and Jo’burg being at a disadvantage has dropped away due to the frequency of visiting teams playing there over recent years.
All teams know how to prepare, plus it does help if you are as fit as Test players are these days.
8 Oct 2012, 07:37 am
The zen conundrum: if a tree falls in a remote forest where nobody hears it fall, did it make any noise? And if a referee does not think the ABs are infringing, how can you dispute the judgement of the “sole judge of fact”? Especially when these sole judges of fact unerringly, unanimously and independently arrive at their identical judgements no matter where they are or who they play?
You can’t.
Those who claim they all err are not even referees at 1st XV level. So it’s high time we apply the “experto credite” rule. Trust the experts. And get over it.
8 Oct 2012, 07:37 am
I agree with Nick Mallett on this one, the ABs should go on and break this record, they deserve it, this is a very good AB side.
8 Oct 2012, 07:39 am
@Brads-22:
Hehehe Bakkies summing up the first 23 seconds of the match…
PS Bakkies, just give it a rest. If we lost by 1 point in the dying seconds you may have had a leg to stand on, may…alas looks at the scoreboard.
8 Oct 2012, 07:40 am
tickles is a expert of being lonely,old and living with his mother
8 Oct 2012, 07:41 am
@TheTackler-33: f.uck off tackler!
8 Oct 2012, 07:51 am
Give Tackles some credit, he has been standing by his moto since day one on keo. He lost it for one day when he thought the ref missed a forward pass but he came back the next day and gave the same lesson to his adopted family.
8 Oct 2012, 07:51 am
@Slartibartfast-35:
the second half half was shocking for the amount of preofessional fouls in the nz red zone, slart…shocking…
i cant believe the nz number four was allowed to blatantly attack the bok ball carrier who was at the back of a driving maul meters out from the line.
just like that, he goes all the way around the back of the dtiving maul and attempts to rip the ball from the ball carrier.
this just one example of outright filth by the nz team long after the ‘official team warning’…. of course…..
8 Oct 2012, 07:54 am
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-39:
Wow
Under 20 minutes to review the entire 2nd half and post your verdict.
You are a bloody genius.
You must be related to one of the Bokke coaches, or board members.
8 Oct 2012, 07:54 am
@Rage-29:
its despicable the level they have taken rugby to.
@Brads-28:
you will receive the second half FACTS of the game, time permitting later in the week.
8 Oct 2012, 07:55 am
@Brads-40:
huh..?..
8 Oct 2012, 07:58 am
@ Slartibartfast re the wheel turns: I was at twickenham for the 1997 test between the AB’s and England. It was the end of an amazing period of Ab rugby, only had to thrash the poms again to have an unbeaten year which had eluded us in 1996. Instead, the wheels fell off and we only just salvaged a draw, which was a hint of the horror to follow in the 1998 tri nations.
Later that year I sat in a pub in twickers (where I was living) and watched on tele the boks tear apart the Scots something like 70-10. The bok backs tore apart the scots in one of the best attacking displays I have seen. I was dumbstruck, as we had easily had the boks number since 1992 and the hadn’t seemed capable of that kind of play. It obviously was no fluke however, as this was part of the boks 17 match winning streak and you beat us 2-nil in 2008.
The wheel turns bro, we don’t know when but when it does it is bound to be decisive. It’s just nature!!
8 Oct 2012, 08:00 am
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-42:
Well seeing as how all the Bokke coaching staff are geniuses and so are the SARU board members in approving their appointments, ergo my assumption you must be related to them.
8 Oct 2012, 08:04 am
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-39:
Brads said it, the wheel turns and now is not the right time to have this discussion.
8 Oct 2012, 08:06 am
@i_love_u_bakkiesbotha-41:
So your post @39 was incomplete and needs more in-depth tunnel vision therapy in front of the monitor to confirm your pre-set understanding of the Fact’s?
8 Oct 2012, 08:10 am
@corporal punishment-43:
I live in hope…
But you right and it can turn very quickly too, no matter how unbeatable you look one day, a few freak injuries and the odd retirement and/or loss of form and suddenly you look human again. It is a fickle sport and one should enjoy the ups when you can.
8 Oct 2012, 08:11 am
heyneke out!
8 Oct 2012, 08:17 am
Hearty congratulations to the All Blacks and all their supporters – that was an outstanding performance which, coming just a week after that annihilation in Argentina (with all the travelling involved) was indeed remarkable.
And as for Habana’s try, Peter Mkata I fully agree with you about it being a forward pass (marginal or not, forward is forward) but what irritated me the most is that I know these sort of decisions happen too often these days and if that try had been scored the other way around MNet would’ve shown the side-on view at least four times before halftime; as usual they didn’t.
I call it selective broadcasting.
8 Oct 2012, 08:19 am
The Springboks backline froze and were overawed each time Carter shifted the ball out to Nonu, everybody waiting for the Black Magic to happen when they should’ve been going up and closing it down.
Boks aren’t that far off NZ despite the drubbing.
Our coach is slow to adapt, all his ideas have backfired so far and it’s only after we’ve been burnt that’s he’s been forced by media and public opinion to change his mind.
Let’s see how the Autumn Internationals go.
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