i agree its not bias (as in a concious effort), but i think he has two major weaknesses in his game, the scrum and the tackle, both of which work against the way we play.
the tackle area
last week, barnes consistently allowed pocock to win ball at the breakdown (both turnover and his own) with his hands or elbows on the ground, or while leaning (usually with his knees) on either a team-mate or an opponent on the ground. Hooper has another technique; he makes a big production of showing a clear release by extending his arms out and up (which is fine) but then puts his hands on the ground beyond the ball and drags them back to scoop up the ball. Both of these techniques are illegal as they are not supporting their own bodyweight, yet barnes allowed them to do this with impunity, and they (especially pocock) are much more effective when given this latitude to work in
last night was vastly different. Owens did not allow them to do this. He made it clear by penalising them when they did, even at one stage saying to one of them "....you've put your hands on the ground then went for the ball. Other way around please!" once they were made to compete legally at the tackle, their breakdown dominance ended.
the scrum
last week the wallaby lhp (sio?) was packing with his head below hips and then either hinging (pulling franks down) or getting his head under franks' chest and driving up. Both these techniques are illegal but barnes allow them to get away with it.
Last night, the first scrum penalty went against nz; owen missed the fact that sio packed low and drove upward (was made obvious when moore's head popped first). Mccaw had a word with owens, told him that sio was packing too low, to which owens replied "i'll have a look next time". At the next scrum, owens talked to both front rows about not packing too low. Sio did so and got pinged for hinging and pinged again for hinging at the next one on an ar's call. Australia's scrum dominance ended there, as soon as they were made to scrummage legally.
