Ok game. Hoping none of the AB's injuries are serious.
The strong scrum performance was good to see; I was surprised how dominant they were at the start of the game with Williams and Whitelock as the locks. Hore played well again - I'd be happy to see him start, but I suspect Mealamu will start. Ali Williams handing again let him down - I counted three times he lost the ball. This seems to happen every game, and is clearly not good enough for a lock - I'm hoping Boric is on the bench ahead of him this week versus Argentina. Read had a solid 50 mins, and Vito played well too (though it certainly helped that Hore was there doing a lot of work at the breakdown). Kaino was the man of the match again for me (for probably the 4th week in a row!). The way he breaks the advantage line, gets tackled, then continues to move forward 5 metres is phenomenal.
I was very disappointed in Cowan performance. His passing was shocking - one poor pass directly lead to a Canadian try. At one stage there were 4 passes in a row that either bounced before the first receiver or were at their ankles. I thought Slade had a pretty solid game. He made one or two errors (as EVERY 10 makes, even Dan Carter!) but you would think by the way many people talk that he made a mistake every time he touched the ball! People here have mentioned that he is simply shovels the ball on in attack, which is a fair criticism, but any many ways Dan Carter plays the same (especially in recent years). If anyone has watched the way that Carter has played in recent years they would notice that he doesn't actually create that much - with the likes of SBW, Nonu, Smith etc directly outside you don't really have to. The strength of Carters game on attack was the way he reads the game, and his low error rate - he does attack the line at times with the ball in hand, but he didn't do this that often (much like Slade). Weepu and Cruden play a very different style - they take the ball to the line more and probably create more indecision in the oppositions backline. Personally I didn't think Weepu looked any better at 10 than Slade - he certainly put the defenders in two minds, but his passing was a bit reckless at times. The problem I have with him is that he (like Cruden/Quade Cooper) always look to run with the ball before passing; this can be good to create space, but if their is already space outside simply 'shoveling on' the ball can be the best option. Something that many people don't take into account is defense, which is an area the Slade excels. I worry a bit about Weepu defense at 10 - he is fine if the players run straight at him, but his lateral defense is a bit suspect. Cruden is a courageous defender, but his lack of size is an issue, and it was very noticeable how narrow the AB's defensive line was last season with Cruden at 10 (Nonu stood much closer to Cruden on defense that he does for Carter/Slade). Personally I would start Weepu at 9 and Slade at 10 versus Argentina (with Weepu obviously doing the goal-kicking), with Cowan and Cruden on the bench, though I wouldn't be against Weepu starting at 10 with Slade on the bench.
SBW played well again - I think he's secured himself a spot on the bench versus Argentina. Muliaina was solid at fullback, and it was great to see Guildford have storming game on the wing. I expected Guildford to have a strong game, as he's been in great form all season (barring a few pressure games). Having genuine pace on the wing is a huge asset, but I suspect that is the last we will see of him this RWC, with Kahui and Jane likely to be back starting next week.
