[EOYT] Japan vs. New Zealand. 02/11/13

[Chikwa]

As a Chiefs fan it pains me to say Kerr-Barlow is atrocious and has no future in the All Blacks. Truly a tragedy of a game which was meant to be an 'exhibition' All Blacks tight 5 were shocking, Kerr-Barlow was lethargic and reminded me of an overweight Piri Weepu. Backline lacked cohesion. Only standout was Charles Piatau, dude is a beast and definitely above the overrated wifebeater Savea in my books.

Lol! I agree with everything except Piatau being better then Savea.No comment on the wife beater!

 

[ABs2011]

Sounds like the ABs just went through the motions.

Yup that's how I felt. + the weather was average, which meant more scrums, more lost time, and more reliance on the ref to get the game going and make the correct calls.

There was a shocker by the touchy when one of the Japanese players was deemed to keep a DC touch clearing penalty kick from going out when he jumped up and tipped the ball back in field...the problem was he jumped from about 1m the wrong side of the touch line....

It was just a **** game.

As people have said Piutau was awesome, Japan were good for their standards, but the game was a bore!

 

[jessta]

Good games from thrush and luatua. Great games from cane and piutau. Francis saili doesnt look ready for international level yet, hes ok but makes too many errors and dosnt provide as much as nonu. Wish more ball went out to frank the tank halai. Nice turnover from ryan crotty when he came on, could force his way ahead of saili. Luke whitelock didnt do a thing when he came on as expected. Scrum weak point of abs still. Piutau deserves a start next week but they will give it to jane, bit premature to say hes ahead of savea like someone said before. Overall not a great game

 

[Big Ewis]

haven't seen it yet, but this from wikipedia:

• This was the first match Japan has failed to score a try since their 12–24 loss to Fiji in the 2008 IRB Pacific Nations Cup, or since thier 19–3 non-test match loss against Basque Selection in the 2012 end-of-year rugby union tests.

 

[usausa]

All Blacks were not clinical in breakdown, they needed a game like this to check themselves. Penalties and turnovers left and right in the first half for ABs, Japan brought it to the breakdown and NZ didn't suit up there. I thought TKB wasn't quick enough at breakdown in terms of making decisions, which slows everything else. A couple of times it looked like he got caught looking to both sides of the street before delivering allowing a disciplined Japanese side to re-align. Certainly wouldn't give up on him yet, I think he just needs more time to play, it was his first start so it was the first time he really got to control the game at this level. Carter was ok, not spectacular (outside of the boot), had a couple of nice runs. Saili had a lot of dropped balls, poor passes, ruck penalties if I recall correctly, just all around not a strong game from the 12 when the All Blacks 12 really needs to be steady in both attack and defense, I'd argue the 12 is most important All Black in backline. With Saili I felt it was boom or bust. He did have some nice moments but also too many palm to forehead moments, not steady enough yet. Ben Smith was good when given shot with ball, set up and scored his beautifully worked try. Piutau's work rate was fantastic. Halai had limited moments, still looked to have some 7s tendencies in him with trying to sprint beat defenders when it probably wasn't on or throwing a couple of wild passes in contact but he always looked dangerous. Barrett was relatively quiet, didn't really involve himself in attack often.
Forwards just have to work harder. Inexperienced tight 5 got a baptism with all of them making first starts. Coles and Crockett probably played the best, but no means outstanding, and were really worked by the Japanese props at scrum time. Back row for me was very good, typical yeoman's performance from them, although Luatua was quiet in attack but those guys really went around the park defensively, forced some turnovers, slowed some ball down.
Overall, average performance from what we've seen this summer, but credit the Japanese for being the disciplined well drilled technical side they are and for not giving an inch at the breakdown. You could tell this All Blacks side just wasn't connecting yet. Pretty much new combinations all over the park, so I guess we should've expected this type of performance.

 

[LittleGuy]

Sounds like the 2nd half was a bit of a snoozer glad I went to bed at halftime!!

 

[usausa]

Sloppy, McCaw picked scrum off a lot of penalties so we had some resets, both sides started to get sloppy but ABs fitness was dominant they just couldn't score. Territory must've been 85-15 in second half.

 

[usausa]

For those who may have missed it (myself included), Richie McCaw led the haka this morning (or last night depending on where you are). Go to 3:45 of video.

 

[g6mcg]

Yup that's how I felt. + the weather was average, which meant more scrums, more lost time, and more reliance on the ref to get the game going and make the correct calls.

There was a shocker by the touchy when one of the Japanese players was deemed to keep a DC touch clearing penalty kick from going out when he jumped up and tipped the ball back in field...the problem was he jumped from about 1m the wrong side of the touch line....

It was just a **** game.

As people have said Piutau was awesome, Japan were good for their standards, but the game was a bore!

Happy to be corrected, but I thought it was the being airborne at the time of contact with the ball which was important, not where you jumped from?

 

[tenpm]

Happy to be corrected, but I thought it was the being airborne at the time of contact with the ball which was important, not where you jumped from?

Where you jumped from doesn't matter, but it was an incorrect call nonetheless. The ball is deemed to be in touch once it crossed the touchline, even if it's still airborne (unless it's knocked back or caught by a player with both feet in the field of play, but that's not applicable here). From Section 19 of the laws (emphasis mine):

A player in touch may kick or knock the ball, but not hold it, provided it has not crossed the plane of the touchline. The plane of the touchline is the vertical space rising immediately above the touchline.

 

[donmcdazzle]

I was really annoyed with Wyatt Crocket too. How many times did he needlessly get himself offside around rucks. He gives away so many penalties. If it isn't at scrum time against the good sides it's around the park against the minnows. Really don't like him.

Piutau was awesome, him and Savea would be a powerhouse combo on the wings.

 

[Big Ewis]

so uhh....what does sigesige think of this game ?....

 

[nickdnz]

My biggest annoyance is Kerr-Barlow once again being sh*t - even against Japan. So many pointless kicks which weren't long or high - but instead just went comfortably back to Japan. Everyone in the team didn't seem to know about it either as there never seemed to be chasers. His delivery was fairly slow and his decision making was dire.

 

[Sam Owen]

Japan has improved from there RWC performance (83-7) today (54-6)

:lol: you're a sad guy with your sour analysis.

 

[Darwin]

A couple more random thought now the dust has settled:

- It was good to see Coles running with ball in hand. His acceleration and ball handling skills are pretty unique for a hooker, and he really needs to transfer these onto the international stage, as they are his biggest strength.
- Ben Franks got through a lot of good work, and it was great to see him not do anything silly for a change. However this match proved again he is not a TH prop - I can't understand why the AB's selectors seem to think he is.
- Thrush had a pretty good game overall, but I was a bit disappointed in Bird. Bird has played very little rugby since returning from injury though, so it may take some time before he gets back to his best.
- Luatua was a bit quieter than usual, but did show his value at lineout time. Watching the replay I was really impressed with the amount of work Sam Cane got through, both at the breakdown and on defense. Scrum.com have credited him with 26 tackles!
- Carter was pretty good on his return from injury. Japan did make some easy yards through his channel though, which was strange to see.
- Saili needs a lot more work before he is ready for test level. He made far too many errors, and he needs to make better decisions on when to kick. His defense was pretty good though. Ben Smith was pretty solid at centre - he made a couple of half-breaks, but wasn't able to quite deliver the final pass.
- As mentioned before Piutau was phenomenal. Halai will be pretty happy with his debut (despite a few errors) but does need to up his work-rate a bit. Barrett was strangely quiet at fullback.

 

[steblin]

I think everyones summed it up pretty well, bit of a 'meh' game. Definatley think the winner in terms of the AB's was Piutau, he was just hungry for it and made the most of his opportunity. He also has the advantage over others like Halai in that he can play fullback as well.

I know it was a lot of changes, and I know it wasn't the best weather for it ... but I was hoping for a much more cohesive performance from the AB's, I mean these are all squad players, its not like they've not played together before.

Thought Halai did ok, didn't see too much of the ball, and when he tried its like sometimes he was forcing the issue, trying to outpace defenders and throwing skeptical passes back inside, but the boy is obviously a talent.

I like Saili, but I thought he was pretty anonymous, just don't think hes ready for this stage yet. Hopefully the next two years working with Nonu will help bring him on.

Was hoping for a 'look at me' game from Luatua, but went under the radar, couple of nice steals at the rucks, just got through the dirty work, which probably will stand him in good stead with the coaches.

The AB's scrum was poor as well, why wasn't Coles striking the ball? That happened a few times, the pack got no push and it just led to a mess.

Nice to see Carter and Richie get through some good graft.

 

[osmond]

Didn't really notice too much of Luke Whitelock. I am keen to see more of him on tour, he will definitely get a lot better with more time in the All Blacks environment. A bit unlucky for older brother George not being selected on this tour, based on current form he deserves the opportunity to add to his 1 cap for the All Blacks. How long will he have to wait?

 

[rugby_mad]

Didn't really notice too much of Luke Whitelock. I am keen to see more of him on tour, he will definitely get a lot better with more time in the All Blacks environment. A bit unlucky for older brother George not being selected on this tour, based on current form he deserves the opportunity to add to his 1 cap for the All Blacks. How long will he have to wait?

Agree.. George form in ITM deserves another cap, would have been fabulous for the Whitelock family..

 

[Darwin]

Didn't really notice too much of Luke Whitelock. I am keen to see more of him on tour, he will definitely get a lot better with more time in the All Blacks environment. A bit unlucky for older brother George not being selected on this tour, based on current form he deserves the opportunity to add to his 1 cap for the All Blacks. How long will he have to wait?

Forever.