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done Wobblies Written by Srilankan And no greater hero for the Wobblies than the old master, Sterling Mortlock, who in the second spell almost broke the All Black line at will. Fitting that his second big break bought about the match winning try, he was superb, and man of the match by the length of his second break, about 50 odd metres! How’s this for an eye opener too, two Australian tries and two McCaw missed tackles – true, after the first tackler (Gear for the first, McAlister for the second), who should have made the tackle missed, but he still did miss them, and had they been made, the tries would not have been scored. The second eye opener, the two tries scored when Hayman in the bin. Again, sure, very lucky, even the great Aussie halfback Nick Farr-Jones calling the ruling from the ref as very lucky for the canary yellows… Doesn’t matter though, either way, lucky or un, it was called, and the match won and lost on that one subjective call. As Farr-Jones said, he just hopes that the Wobblies have not used up all their luck in this one match against the All Blacks. Handling errors – don’t talk to me about handling errors, let me talk to you about them instead – 17. Seventeen. SEVENTEEN. Perhaps time to put away the fifty fifty passes, the miracle offloads, and start looking to play a bit of field possession and the like? Especially when, for the first time in 106 years, the Blacks had the Wobbly lineout under pressure!! Certainly will be an area that the Cartel will be working on over the next fortnight. Hard to pick out good players in this match, as from both sides there were plenty of errors, which is a good thing, as it keeps the Jonker’s (ref) errors in perspective too, as he did not have the best of games, but still, maybe, probably, possibly not, made less errors than the players. The coin toss scrum penalties were not good, and when he goes back and reviews his performance he won’t be happy – as with the Hayman binning, and the winning and losing of the match. Good players though, from the Wobblies, Mortlock head and shoulders above anyone on the field tonight – call this the Mortlock match perhaps. Tidy display from their pack around the field, not so at lineout and scrum time, but that last ten minutes or so, they were superb. Ahh, Ashley Cooper took his chance well, and, ahhh, well, like with the All Blacks, no one else really shone. The All Blacks – McCaw, apart from the 14 points worth of shed tackles looked like getting back to his best in the loose. Chris Jack back from childbirth was big in the air and busy around the field, did very well I thought. Backline, note flash, all pretty standard, and in some cases not very good at all – but this is the good All Black bit, so I will leave that with Jack and McCaw. NOW I can slate All Blacks, as this is the slatable offence bit. First, Troy Flavell and kicking. Don’t. you have a single number on your back, and perhaps, that also goes for your IQ rating. You are a LOCK, you DON’T kick. Next for slating, the midfield for having not having a defence when it mattered. Equally culpable, both McAlister and Mauger fell off vital tackles. Lucky Luke’s miss though conceding the match winning try… That is about it for the slating. The rest of the team looked jaded – certainly not the So’oilao and Collins of last week. Hayman, Oliver and Woodcock too, while solid, were not firing on all cylinders. Still a solild forward performance, but that is not where the game was lost. So, the game was not lost up front, so where was it lost? Yes, in the double digit boys. The All Black backline this season has not looked class at all yet – five tests, and still rusty as a rusty thing that has been spray painted with rust in a rusty spray both… Carter, Mauger, Muliaina – none of those three class playesr nearing their best yet – although, do we WANT them to be doing their best now, and not in a few short months time…?? Plenty of improvement left in this All Black team, that is for sure, and this far out from the RWC, that is what you want. Certainly can’t pull out that old “peaking too early” chestnut yet, unless the All Blacks peak is about two mountain ranges below the Wobblies one… Well done Australia, a deserved win, life in the Bledisloe Cup and Tri Series yet – only one team surrendered, at this stage, and they are wearing green… All Blacks 15 (Woodcock, Gear tries, Carter conversion, penalty). |
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