Messy game from New Zealand, should have done better to be honest, and there is one good reason why New Zealand didn't, and he has 91 caps. I don't dislike Mils, but lately he's been playing stupid rugby. If he's not either taking the tackle himself, he'll kick it. There were several occasions when New Zealand had a good overlap, or at least plenty of counter attacking space, for both Rokocoko and Gear, but he always chose to kick, which didn't rarely pay off.
Fair play to England for their try, but talk about a bad call by the ref. Players off side, Sonny Bill Williams taken out, and to top it off, a double movement! Still, it's the most enterprising rugby England has played in a long time, and I think if they can keep developing it, they stand a good chance to contest in the RWC. I think Mike Tindall really should be put out to pasture, he wasn't creative enough or quick enough, to really challenge the All Black defence. Youngs looked pretty good, but the All Blacks had them pretty well covered. With out sounding like a poor sport, I think England would have been lucky to hold onto a 10point margin, had the All Blacks continued firing but Youngs, Flood, Hape, Ashton and Foden could become have a big future.
In the English forwards, I was impressed with Coles, Lawes and Easter. Thompson offered very little, except to the scrum. Sheridan had a few really poor moments ball in hand, but packed a solid scrum. Dylan Hartley played dirty to be honest, really wasn't impressed, neither was Brad Thorn. Palmer was average. Tom Croft looked pretty good, but nothing special. Certainly England didn't get the domination in the set piece they were after, but they looked pretty solid.
The All Blacks forwards were consistant with their form. Woodcock packed a strong scrum, but not his best test. Kevin Mealamu once again showed his great work rate, and also made a few crucial tackles on defence. Owen Franks was a beast, tackled like a monster and I think got the better of Sheridan. Thorn was once again very good, plus he put Hartly on his arse. I think Sam Whitelock has pushed for a regular starting spot in the All Blacks, great line out work, and was like a crane in the rucks, the way he went over the ball while on his feet. Kaino was good untill the 71st minute, thought he was unfairly penalised a few times, considering the number of times England went off their feet in the break down. McCaw had a fairly quiet game by his standards, but still good. Wish McCaw wouldn't take the ball to the line so much though, because there are better ball runners often outside him, and frankly he's much more of an asset contesting the rucks. The man who I thought was average in 2009, once again showed why he is one of the best number eights in the world, Kieren Read was very good.
Alby Mathewson had a very good starting debut, quick passes, kept the defence around the fringes honest with great runs and good choice of tap and goes. Andy Ellis came on, and looked terrible. He's got slow delivery, poor handling, isn't very quick and not great decision making. He should be dropped like a bad habbit. Daniel Carter was Daniel Carter, got MOTM despite how quickly Englands defence was rushing up. Looked solid with the goal kicking as well, which is nice. Nonu had a decent game, but he seems to be making some of his bad decisions that he worked out of his game during the Tri Nations. He was also given limited ball in space because of the rush defence. Sonny Bill Williams did as I thought he would, except for one poor pass, he looked solid, and did a nice offload to Kaino setting up the try of god. His best attribute in this game, was what many people thought he'd do poor at. His defence was actually very good, especially cutting off broken play. Joe Rokocoko had a good game on the wing, although what does frustrate me, is the work Henry wants his wings to do, outside their position. He had a very good work rate, but he was never really in the right position to challenge the defence. Isia Toeava came on, and did as I thought he would. People can claim in was a sholder charge, but realistically it's all you can do when a player is trying to score in the corner, and he potentially saved this match from becoming a draw. He doesn't look quite right on the wing, but I'd like to see him used more at center and fullback on this tour. Mils showed individual bits of very good skill and experience, but once again he seems to be playing a bit selfishly, like he has to control every play.
Hosea Gear!!! First touch of the ball he out sprinted everyone, and was just caught up on the last defender. Scored a very good try (perhaps could have gone the other way), but all in all, I can't see how he won't now be a regular starter. He got given an oppertunity, and he took it.
Not New Zealand's best performance, with plenty to work on, but at least it's one big step out of the way to completing a grand slam.
