What can be said about the 34 - 19 drubbing the All Blacks received at the hands of a meticulous and at times ruthless, Wallabies side last night at ANZ Stadium in front of 80,000? The answer; a lot.
The tactics employed by Graham Henry's young All Blacks side of trying to speed up the match and run from anywhere and everywhere was ridiculous against a side being coached by one of the greatest coaches New Zealand has ever seen in the form of Robbie Deans. The former Crusaders coach had the Aussies playing the Crusaders format of territory first right from the start, and the signs were ominous for the All Blacks from the get go. They were running from all corners of the pitch instead of playing for territory and to make matters worse, not committing nearly enough men to the breakdown area and as a consequence turning the ball over. How Henry believed that bringing on the slow and cumbersome Sione Lauaki eight minutes into the second half for Daniel Braid would help the situation, almost defies belief! Even less speed on the loose could not possibly have been the answer to the pace of George Smith, Phil Waugh and Rocky Elsom to the breakdown area.
Lauaki was positively awful upon entering the match. He has never been a favourite son of New Zealand rugby, and he didn't do himself any justice by dropping the pill a least half a dozen times, letting Elsom stroll past him for an easy try under the sticks, and turning the ball over at least another half dozen times at the tackle. What does Henry see in him? Good coaching would have left the at times invisible Braid on the field for his pace, and opted for Adam Thompson coming off the bench for some much needed speed as the game wore on.
Taking nothing away from Australia on their deserved win, referee Craig Joubert and his assistants seemed to be blind for most of the match missing penalisable offences at the ruck and maul for both sides and a certain try to All Blacks wing Sitiveni Sivivatu after he was tackled on the goal line without the ball by Peter Hynes. The score was 19 - 17 at that stage of the match and may have been a turning point for the bumbling AB's. And what of the interesting substitution of an injured Andy Ellis, only to have him come back on to replace his injured replacement? Yes that's right it's a mouthful but in essence, that's what took place. Jimmy Cowan entered the match around the time the hapless Lauaki did for Ellis, only to come off with an injured knee and be replaced again by Ellis. The only time this is legal is if a front rower happens to be injured isn't it? If an All Blacks win had resulted, we may have heard more about this incident and we may yet. Joubert and his assistants did not control the match at all well sending Brad Thorn to the bin for a high shot in the opening minutes without so much as a warning, letting players slow the ball down at ruck time by using their hands, most often when momentum was at its highest, and the touchie giving the All Blacks a line out on halfway when clearly Ellis had his foot in touch before catching the ball meaning the lineout should have been deep in Aussie territory. Joubert's performance rates up there with World Cup quarter final referee Wayne Barnes. That tells you something.
In all, it will be the NZRU who are feeling more than a little embarrassed after declaring Henry to still be the number one man to coach the All Blacks after his dismal World Cup quarter final exit. Every other coach excluding Laurie Mains has been sacked after World Cup failure and the same should have followed for Henry. Letting Deans escape for the Aussies to subsequently employ is the most moronic decision the NZRU has made in their long history. It showed last night in Sydney when Australia put the second rate All Blacks to bed feeling more than a little sorry for themselves. This may go down as one of the worst performances by the All Blacks in all of their esteemed history. How Henry fixes the huge array of problems exposed last night by Australia before the second Bledisloe Cup test in Auckland next week is anyone's guess.
To answer my own question; Lauaki will be feeling like the biggest moron, Henry a very close second, Joubert will defend his refereeing to the hilt, and the NZRU are the biggest morons.
