Dominant All Blacks begin road to recovery

Going into this weekend New Zealand rugby was in crisis.

Mind you, for the All Blacks the term ‘crisis’ doesn’t carry quite the same connotations as it does in other parts of the rugby world.

After an exodus of several top players, a narrow loss to the world champions followed by defeat in a pulsating game away in Australia – which again could have gone either way – for many countries would represent a fairly decent effort.

But in New Zealand it has been received with an almost apocalyptic despair and the position of coach Graham Henry, who was given the full backing of the New Zealand Rugby Union after the Kiwi’s disappointing quarter final exit in the World Cup, was under threat.

Fortunately for Henry, Saturday’s must win game against Australia was played in the All Blacks favourite test match arena - Eden Park – where they had not been beaten for 19 matches and had not been turned over by their Antipodean rivals since 1986.

A storming 39-10 win might not have completely converted an increasingly cynical rugby-mad nation, but it went a long way to regaining some of the faith in the former Wales and Lions coach.

It was no coincidence that the return to winning ways was accompanied by the return from injury of inspirational skipper Richie McCaw.

After Schalk Burger and George Smith ran amok at the breakdown in the two preceding Tri-Nations encounters, McCaw was back to reassert his authority and Smith, so magnificent in Sydney, suddenly looked average again.

But McCaw was not the only All Black on song, Dan Carter’s high standards have never dropped and he has often been fighting a lone battle to keep his side in games this tournament.

In Auckland though, he was back to bossing a dominant side and at times he looked as if he was just teasing Australia with his sickeningly accurate kicking.

Despite the loss of talented players such as Chris Jack, Doug Howlett, Aaron Mauger and Luke McAllister, a side with two stars of the calibre of McCaw and Carter are always going to be able to compete with the world’s best.

But others needed to perform too and Ma’a Nonu, so castigated after his clumsy display in Australia, was a different player - when he does actually catch the ball his incisive lines of running and raw power are a force to be reckoned with.
The star of the show, though, was Kiwi lock Ali Williams, who may just be able to lay claim to the title of most complete rugby player in the world.

Apart from dominating the Wallabies’ lineout and adding his power in the engine room, Williams was rampant in the loose and throughout this tournament he has also showed a surprising ability with the boot (in fact, Carter apart, he has been the All Blacks’ most reliable kicker).

For so long the lesser partner to Jack, Williams has flourished since Jack turned his back on the All Blacks to play for Saracens and finally seems to be leaving his hot-headed moments behind him to become a leader on the field.

This was a win based in powerful forward play just as much as slick moves out wide and nothing summed up the performance better than the All Blacks’ second try.

From a close range lineout Williams towered above his opponents and in one deft move he took the ball and - before he had even began his descent - knocked it down perfectly into the path of the unheralded Tony Woodcock, who burst through the Aussie line for his second try in three minutes.

It was a moment that would have had New Zealand forwards coach Steve Hansen purring.

Next up for New Zealand is a trip to face South Africa in Cape Town in this bizarre tournament where for some crazy reason the sides play each other three times – meaning you play a country twice at home and once away or vice-versa.

I just cannot understand why, if they wanted to increase the number of games in the tournament, they didn’t simply invite Argentina to play a part.