For much of that match the AB's played like a side that hadn't played much rugby in the last few months. Perhaps we shouldn't have been surprised by that - most of the players haven't actually played that much rugby recently. The AB's plan to keep players fresh certainly played off in those last 20 minutes though!
As has been mentioned Barrett was poor (until shifted to fullback those last 20 minutes), however in some ways I feel sorry for him. He has obviously been penciled in for this match before the tour even started, but his style of first-five play isn't really suited to the Welsh rush defense, hence he was told to play a style that didn't remotely suit him. The AB's coaches obviously wanted him to employ a short kicking game to get in behind the Welsh defense. Unfortunately his short kicking game isn't good enough. Obviously the AB's selectors wanted to see whether Barrett was capable of executing this game-plan, and they got a pretty emphatic answer!
The frustrating thing (from a supporters point of view) is that we actually have someone who is more than capable of executing that game-plan in Aaron Cruden. Indeed I would suggest Cruden's short kicking game is as good as player in world rugby, and I have no doubt he would have been far more effective than Barrett this match. If the AB's selectors want to play Barrett at 10 they need to let him play his natural game. If they want someone with a short kicking game like Aaron Cruden they should pick Aaron Cruden.....
Right, on to the rest of the AB's players:
- The AB's front row as a whole did well in the 1st half. I have no idea what was happening at scrum time, but we were getting penalties, so we must have been doing well (in the eyes of the ref). The scrum went worryingly down hill in the 2nd half though (as it has quite a few times recently once Faumuina comes on).
- Dane Coles needs to calm the **** down. Seriously just chill out. The problem is that he is absolutely critical to us, so we can't just drop/bench him and tell him to get his act together...
- Retallick is incredible. Ball running, tackling, ruck cleaning, lineout work. All brilliant. World player of the year for me.
- The loose-trio was ok. Kaino missed a few tackles he should have made, and wasn't as prominent with ball in hand as he has been in at times this year. McCaw made a few good carries this week,, but wasn't as effective at the breakdown as he has been in the past. It was good (from a technical point of view) to see him finally get penalized for trying to steal the ball once it had clearly become a ruck this week (as he's been getting away with that a lot recently!). Read was the pick of the loose-trio. Everything he did was accurate, and he took his try well.
- Aaron Smith made a couple of big errors, but overall he had a solid match. Barrett has been discussed already. He's pretty impressive in broken play! Slade did a good job once he came on - he didn't really do that much, he just did the basics well.
- SBW handling was shocking. His defense was good though. C Smith played as he usually does - his pass in the Savea try was brilliant (if a little forward
).
- The back three played well as a unit. Savea was his usual physical self, and Piutau was very sharp of the right wing too. As has been mentioned his only 'weakness' is that he doesn't possess Cory Jane's/Ben Smith's aerial skills. He certainly isn't weak in the air, he's just not Jane/Smith in this area. Ben Smith was well contained but played pretty well overall. There was one massive clearing punt (which should keep the Dagg fans happy, as that is the main requirement of a fullback isn't it
), he made his tackles, cleaned up well, and his passing was very crisp. I would like to see him breaking the line at will as he can do, but I would take his 'quiet' days at fullback over anything Dagg has offered in the 15 jersey these last few seasons.
