epic game, wow that was something. In fact this final and the semi-finals were all epic.
Lot of talk about the Savea miss or what Barrett did or didn't do or the Dixon try. The reality is this game was won by the highlanders smart game plan and forward pack dominance. IMO Perenara & Barrett actually did pretty well considering how crap their service was all night up front. Smith & Sopoaga had a silver service in comparison.
Highlanders forwards have been on fire, there aren't any real standouts amongst them other than maybe Elliot Dixon, they are just all operating on the same wavelength and are obviously really well coached & drilled. Using really good technique. Dixon IMO has elevated himself well up the pecking order for that 6/8 area which is a huge logjam of talent in NZ. In my view he's ahead of Luatua & Vito now. I'd actually say the same thing about Brad Shields.
I know I'm hard on Vito, but for me this game is just another example of why I'm hard on him because it follows a pattern. He always starts games strong with a big hit and a strong carry maybe a line out take and in games where his tight 5 dominate he shows a good straight running game out wide and can offload. But in big games & tighter games as the game rolls on you forget hes there and when the pressure really goes on he vanishes. Compare his performances in games like this to Kaino & Messam... When the heat goes on these guys absolutely throw themselves into it, you can't keep them out of the game and they often provide the winning edge in close games.
IMO Vito is a "set piece player". Pass him the ball and he will take it up and offload. Run right at him and he will tackle you, throw him the ball in the line out and he will catch it, And he will do all those things really well. But when structure breaks down in a game he wont be there to make the important tackles, he doesn't get stuck in and take the ball and run it, he wont push the boundaries of the law or anything else to try and shift the momentum of a game. He's very good going forward in a straight line but he's poor at turning, going back and moving laterally. He used to be a 6 who could play 7 and sometimes 8 in a pinch but IMO now he's a straight up 8 and has no business playing 6 or 7. And actually his best asset his is his line out game and he's best used in combination with a lock who plays more like a loose forward.
Lastly I've been a bit slow to buy into Naholo, up till a few weeks ago he had not impressed me on defense. But the last few games I think he's really lifted in that area. He does actually really work quite hard on defense. It's an interesting area because while jane is quite small and struggles against big guys he is very smart on defense and can often cover multiple attackers and diffuse tricky situations by being in the right place and by being really good at moving laterally and accelerating when needed. Jane was kind of behind the 8-ball and needed a couple of really good performances to earn the 14 jersey last WC, I think the competition maybe to hot for him this time.
Ben Smiths Legend is almost complete, just needs a world cup victory now to make him NZ's very own Jesus... Actually while they say Jesus walked on water (I have my doubts lol) and had cool party tricks like turning water into wine (not that flash my mate steve can do that, and I can turn wine into yellow water at the drop of a hat...) I don't think he could take a high ball, beat defenders and clock up running meters like Ben Smith can....
