good game overall by the All Blacks, went through a rough patch just before and after Half time but were very good at the start and end of the game. 12 trys is an impressive haul they will be disappointed with the fact they let in two trys. The first Canada scored was very impressive, something Canada should be proud of, totally Legit try with the run of play (better than anything France produced against the AB's) Slick back line move using numbers to create a 1 on 1 close to the line Mills tackled the guy well but couldn't prevent the touchdown.
-ve aspects of the game in my view:
1st/worst by far was Jimmy Cowan. I expected him to have a big game but he did the complete opposite. his passing and clearance in general was pretty bad, well worse than pretty bad. The worse thing is that because of that it's hard to judge Slade's performance because of cowan's poor performance... I'm Honestly pretty ****** off with Jimmy. He's maintained his place in the squad because of a few blinder performances he's had for the All Blacks - like one or two each year since 2008 but often his clearance has been slow, more often that not he's been average at best. The Coaches have invested so much time and experience in him and when it comes time to pay back the faith he's simply not delivering. Leonard, Mathewson or even Aaron smith would do a much better job than Cowan is doing now. The horid thing is we could have dropped Cowan and persisted with someone like Leonard who was back to his best form this year, Mathewson though he's not the best defender or kicker he passes well and he's a genuine threat as a running halfback or Selected Kahn Fotuali'i who has proved to be brilliant for Samoa or selected Aaron Smith or Barlow who are both brilliant young halfbacks both I think future all blacks.
I don't know what to do, maybe play him in a southland jersey so he actually plays with some passion and grit. You would think Cowan would play better in a big game but to select him now would have to be seen as a gamble... The worst thing is that because Jimmy is so rubbish it elevates Elis within the squad, though Elis is clearing well he's a powderpuf on defense, he's tiny and not very physical compared to Cowan and he's still slow at clearing, the way Elis operates he pucks the ball up and pauses before passing which creates slow ball for the players outside him and even though he's got 23 odd tests to his name Elis has never performed or proved himself in an important game for the AB's.
kickoff's - Not something you can blame on a single player but needs to be addressed. They were poor and it's the one area of the game Canada clearly won against the AB's. You can bet your arse they will be doing a lot of kickoff practice this week...
Next -ve i think was slade. he had some early problems, a kick charged down and a couple bad decisions. He improved but his kicking for goal didn't 4 from 8 is not good. Kicked one from the sideline but you could forgive him for missing that. Not so great are the 2-3 he missed from handy range. Not a terrible game but not a good enough game to secure his position or stamp his mark on the #10 spot and ease the worried NZ public. If he had got 6/8 he would have got a pass mark.
The Good
Weepu looked much more secure at 10 and seemed to get noticeably better as the game went on. He's actually looking very trim and fit too. I'd like to see him more involved in games. Maybe playing 80min and being the main goal kicker. Someone needs to fill Dan's boots and maybe it's better to have an experienced big game player than a test rookie to do that. The big problem in using weepu at 10 is that he's our best 9, best by some margin IMO.
Kaino - man of the match, not often someone who scores 4 trys doesn't make man of the match the same game but Kaino did get two himself and he was pretty awesome everywhere. Even off the back of the scrum where he's obviously a better option than McCaw or Thomson. Superb, he's not one of the most important men on the park and the All Blacks most consistent player and should quite happily sit along side McCaw in that regard. Bi early to be talking about IRB players of the year but if he can continue this form for a few more games and the AB's win the cup Kaino will be a shoe in for that ***le.
Guildford - well he did score 4 trys and they were impressive. All were the result of superior speed, Ian Smith does love his Hawkes Bay boys but it's true Guildford produced speed Canada couldn't match. Importantly he nailed a couple of high balls - one in particular which was under a lot of pressure.
SBW - bretty big game again on a day conrad smith was pretty quiet (sure he's saving it for the big games
) cut through the Canada defense. not just with physical power but with the speed and step a < 90kg playwe would be proud of. SBW is clearly growing in this squad, would be interesting to see what impact that has on the starting lineup - so far you would have to say he's at least got the 22 jersey, if not more...
The scrum, I'm not sure how well Canada's scrum measured up to the other teams but it's hard to remember a more dominant scrum performance. There was the one scrum where the AB's hit was so huge canada's front row left the ground with there feet and the push over try - I can't remember the last time I saw a push over try like that, brilliant. I think a big factor in that pushover was with the AB's having 4 locks in the scrum and in particular a fresh Thorn and Boric pushing behind the props. But Williams and Whitelock on the sides and Kaino on the back... The pack weight at the start of the game was over about 905kg but at that point it would have been even bigger. Maybe even 930kg? I've said it before, I really like the 4 locks thing the AB's are doing. And all the locks are in form. Boric in particular was pretty damn good in the line out when he came on. I think Boric should be involved more but it's hard when Thorn is so established and Whitelock and Williams are both looking in good form too. But why not have them all involved? I'd pick Boric or Williams on the bench over Thomson anyday...
Vito - quick note on Vito only that he did an ok job at 7 and was better than Thomson has been so far this year... I still think Thomson should have been dropped after the springboks test not Messam. Messam did nothing wrong when there were serious questions over Thomson's game - it still doesn't make sense.
Hore - I'm going to say it again, Hore needs to start for the AB's - he's coming up with turnovers and the interesting thing is that the All Blacks seem to always score trys off Hores turnovers when he makes them.
Good to see Mills back, good performance, made one mistake - the knock on when squashing a canada kick through/breakout but he at least he did squash it. A couple of powerful traddemark pushes in close and also showed good speed out wide to silence a few critics. I can't help but feel Mills has become more imprtant now Dan Carter is injured. Dan's ability is lost but so is his experience, what better to bring in than a man with 99 caps... Kahui is sure to come back, maybe he should go on to the right wing since he's good on either side and dagg goes to the left side where he looks a bit better and Mills at 15 to add a lot of experience.
Good to see Read back though he looked far off his best. Though he is a bag game player and he will be better in another week.
Good thing is the AB's have one more game to find their feet. All due respect to Argentina but they dont look in great touch and they were lucky to beat scotland. I think Argi may be the weakest team in the quaters. The All Blacks will take the game seriously, they have to but I dont see Argi as a serious threat.
