I thought it was a good game, the best part was that Kahui was MOTM. Leading up to the game when ever anyone asked me how I thought the AB's would do I just said I don't care I just **** Kahui to play well as I've been saying he should be a starting winger if he's not used at 13. So I'm a happy man. Other than that it was a good game and the AB's will take more from it than a 60point thrashing. The reality is Tonga are a better team than that now and they have had good preparation coming into this game.
The key for the AB's was winning the Physical battle early. They did that and it gave the backline the space to move the ball and score. That said the All Blacks could have and should have scored more points.
Missed chances
Sonny Bills disallowed try early on, I think this was just a case of a bad call from the ref. It wasn't obstruction from McCaw, the tongan player tackled McCaw not the other way around and he wouldn't have had an impact on the following play anyway.
Toeava missed a very good SBW offload which would either resulted in a try or close to it. just a case of players that run off sunny bill need to be ready. No player can use the "I didn't expect it" excuse when it comes to SBW offloads.
Toeava also stuffed up another chance created by SBW from a grubber through (brilliant grubber actually). IF Toeava had stayed running left he would have scored but he cut in and took a tackle. Botched a try.
Toeava foot in touch as he scored. Should have finished better than that. Only mm in it.
Few other minor missed chances. Kahui knocked on a Nonu pass that looked forward anyway but I dont think the ref got it. Vito hashed a chance when he lost the ball in contact close to the line and Sonny Bill turned the ball over on the line.
All these missed chances really suggests to me that the AB's need to select a best team and stick with it, they are the kind of mistakes that dont happen as much when a team/players are match hardened.
AB ratings:
1, Woody - solid game, playing quite well. Expect him to play most if not all games to get match fit, only 45min. 5/10
2, Hore - quiet game for him though one awesome turnover which ended in a try for the AB's, Credied with 2 turnovers (best for NZ) 6/10
3, Owen Franks - Good at scrum time and solid around the field as always. 6/10
4, Thorn - Good effort overall, scrum is much better with him on. Though I think he should carry the ball more, only credited with 4 tackles. 5/10
5, A Williams - Not a bad game but has things to work on. Solid and physical on defense and taking the ball up. Needs to standout more at the lineout IMO 4.5/10
6, Kaino - he was the pick of the forwards, top ball carrier forward though stats suggest he was below average in other areas his 90m is impressive for a forward and some of his tackles had some serious sting in them. 7/10
7, McCaw - If you think he had a quiet game think again, topped the tackle count, arrived at more breakdowns than any one else and was 2nd only to Kaino as a ball carrier. No Wonder opposition teams try and hold him down for as long as they can at rucks. He may not have the impact at breakdowns Pocock has but he's better everywhere else. 7.5/10
8, Vito - Quiet game, hardly registers in the stats, hashed a try with a knock on close to the line. Was good on defense early in the game 4.5/10
9, Cowan - poor game by Cowan's standards ok at times but clearance as slow overall and kicking wasn't great either 5/10
10, Carter - Kinda looked like he took the game easy but he ran the game well and did what he needed. 6/10
11, Toeava - some good and bad. some powerful running but failed to finish a number of chances to score. 6/10
12, SBW - good game, created many chances and layed on a number of trys. Should have been given one early, sucked in a LOT of defenders. Toeava botched a couple of trys layed on by SBW. 7/10
13, Nonu - an ok game from nonu but not spectacular, he gave himself a 3/10 he wasn't that bad. couple nice touches and he was very good in scoring his try linking with slade. But I'm struggling to figure out how a 13 can get through a game and only be credited with 2 tackles (haka.co.nz)... 5/10
14, Kahui - MOTM performance, scored two trys, layed on a couple of others. Brilliant kick and regather to put Kaino in to score. Solid on defence and faultless under the high ball. What was so impresive is that he operated well on the wing and finished well and he also came in and operated in midfield as an attacking option in that area. I've been saying for a long time that Kahui needs to be involved and should be in the starting 15 and I think this performance proves that. But the best thing about Kahui is that if a game isn't going his teams way he has the ability to come up with big plays to turn games. 8/10
15, Dagg - solid game, scored a couple of trys and came up with a nice play to setup another. But overall he did make some poor decisions that would have put the AB's under a lot of pressure against stronger oposition. and he spilt the ball mroe than Toeava did. 6.5/10
Reserves, apart from ben franks who did ok none got much gametime. Weepu was better than cowan but not spectacular. Scrum was worse when Whitelock came on for Thorn. Not much of note happened with the reserves.
On that note my top team now would be:
1, Woodcock
2, Hore
3, O Franks
4, Thorn
5, Boric
6, Kaino
7, McCaw
8, Vito (only because there are no other options, Read needs to get fit again ASAP)
9, Weepu
10, carter
11, Kahui
12, SBW
13, Smith
14, Jane
15, Mills
16, Mealamu. 17, Ben Franks. 18, A. Williams. 19, Whitelock. (Thompson not fit). 20, Cowan. 21, Slade. 22, Nonu
Honestly I think there is nothing between Williams and Nonu right now. Nonu has more experience but Williams is clearly better on defence. Williams is better starting though and hasn't been as good coming off the bench - it doesn't work for him. kahui needs to be one of the starting wingers and Mills experience, ability to hold posission and setup his outsides is more important than Daggs Running game. Though it's tempting to run Dagg on the other wing to Kahui. Jane didn't impress in the last game against Australia.
I dont understand why Messam isn't in for Thompson, You're backup guys are in the squad to cover for injury when they get injured themselves I don't see the need to carry them and when a key player in a similar position goes down they become a liability, now thompson is injured after he played a major role in the All Blacks two tri nations losses. Messam should have been put into the squad. I know key thing now is to get Read fit ASAP, but if he isn't messam would without a doubt be a safer option. He doesn't get injured, he doesn't give away penalties or drop ball and he wouldn't have missed that tackle on Samo
Go the All Blacks!
On A closing note the opening cerimony was very impressive and great for New Zealand. I have a lot of respect for Maori Culture and one thing the Maori do better than pretty much every other culture in the world is Welcomings and fairwells. That was the Best RWC opening I've seen and it's up there with the best openings of any similar event ever IMO. I didn't think it was going to be that great but myself and all the people I watched it with were in awe. Interestingly the Maori welcome also came with a warning (according to a Maori friend I watched it with). great stuff!
