All Blacks up to their old tricks
All Blacks up to their old tricks
AT the 57-minute mark of the Bledisloe Cup Test in Christchurch, the penalty count favoured the Wallabies 7-1.
So, of course, Australia could have no complaints with the performance of South African referee Jonathan Kaplan, right?
Well, wrong actually. To that point, beyond that point, Kaplan refereed the game precisely as the Wallabies feared he would, by allowing the All Blacks to win the war of attrition. Not the war of attrition against the men in gold. No, their war to wear down the referee.
One of the more curious statements Wallabies coach Robbie Deans made in the lead-up to Saturday's Test was he hoped the referee would not shy away from using the yellow card if circumstances demanded. It seemed a funny thing to say, given the heavy impact the yellow peril has had on the Wallabies' Tri-Nations campaign.
In retrospect, it is clear Deans targeted his words at an audience of one - Kaplan. And just in case Kaplan happened not to hear, captain Rocky Elsom repeated them at the pre-match briefing. If the All Blacks keep infringing at the breakdown, keep penalising them, Elsom pleaded. Keep at them. And if they refuse to stop, use the yellow card.
No team does brinkmanship quite like the All Blacks. No player has mastered it to the same degree as All Blacks captain Richie McCaw.
By his own admission, McCaw makes a study of referees. He realises, perhaps better than anyone, they are under as much pressure as the players, perhaps even more so because they take actions every minute that can change the flow of the game, whereas most players would be lucky to enjoy one or two game-changing moments per match.
McCaw is also keenly aware that while there are any number of referees with a Napoleon complex strutting around, most aspire to go through a match without being noticed. After all, an invisible referee is popularly deemed to be a good referee.
And that is precisely the vulnerable pressure point McCaw and the All Blacks keep squeezing. They know most referees don't want to become the story. They know that in the game of brinkmanship, the referee almost always blinks first.
So it was with Kaplan at AMI Stadium. At the 45-minute mark, after Conrad Smith had given away a penalty, the referee called McCaw out and warned him about the number of fouls the All Blacks, and McCaw in particular, were committing at the tackle.
Six minutes later Tony Woodcock, the most-capped prop in NZ, committed one of the most cynical and cowardly fouls seen in recent times when he hit Saia Faingaa from behind with a cheap clean-out as the Wallabies hooker was picking himself up from a ruck.
Penalty to Australia. But the yellow card stayed in Kaplan's pocket. Who has the courage to send off an All Black in New Zealand?
Even allowing for the fact Quade Cooper missed the match through suspension, there still should have been ample attacking prowess in the Australian backline to take advantage of the massive possession advantage the Wallabies enjoyed in Christchurch.
They went through 130 rucks to the All Blacks' 86 yet, while the two sides were virtually dead level in terms of quick ruck ball won, 31-29 to Australia, the Wallabies had twice as much slow ball, 41-19.
Hence, one Australian ruck in three was slowed down by the All Blacks, frequently by lying "accidentally" on the Wallabies side, preventing Will Genia from clearing quickly, or by coming in from the side.
Kaplan pinged and pinged and pinged, but when it came to the crunch, when he needed to go eyeball to eyeball with the All Blacks, he blinked. When looking for reasons why the Wallabies made so little impact on attack, here is the place to start.
There were other reasons, of course, and sadly one of them is Australia's most-capped back. Matt Giteau remains one of the great lateral thinkers in the game. Unfortunately, these days the same also can be said of his running. It is becoming way too lateral, eating into valuable space for his outside men.
Time and again the Wallabies desperately needed him to straighten the attack and at least tease the All Black defence. Instead he drifted sideways. As a consequence, he is becoming increasingly easier to read, especially for a proud defensive unit like the All Blacks who have never conceded him a try in 19 Tests.
Giteau had 60 possessions in the match, double what came his way in Melbourne. Run that volume of possession through Dan Carter's hands and the numbers on the scoreboard change so fast they start to blur. Yet even making allowances for the aforementioned inability of the Wallabies to secure quick ball regularly at the breakdown, Giteau wasn't able to pull the right levers.
All of which raises the question of what Deans will do for the Wallabies' next match, against the Springboks in Pretoria on August 28 when Cooper becomes available. With Anthony Faingaa providing an imposing physical presence in the midfield once he recovered from his jitters, it would be folly to drop him to accommodate a Giteau move back to 12.
Just a thought, but is there any reason why Giteau, the team's best goalkicker, could not be accommodated on the wing in place of James O'Connor? As talented and feisty as O'Connor is, his positional play and lack of trust in the cover defence cost the Wallabies dearly on Saturday night.
Overall, even though the All Blacks were never fully tested, it was a vast improvement from the Wallabies. Now, they just have to do what Kaplan didn't. Keep on keeping on.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1225902751377
