Tuesday, 29 October 2019

Quick Tap: England 19-7 New Zealand Takeaways

I honestly didn't see this result coming. I had an inkling that England might pull off something, but I didn't expect it to be that convincing. As, arguably, the two best teams in the tournament met in the semi-finals it was always going to be a monumental game. Right from the start you could tell England were up for this, from the anthem, to the response to the Haka (which if England get fined for is a total travesty), and into the opening moments of the game. England are known for fast starts, this was another level, and they never let up till the final whistle. But what were the takeaways from the game, where was it won and lost?

England set the tone early, with their response to the All Black's Haka. It will be remembered along with
the victory for a long time.


1. Selection Decisions
Even the best-laid plans never survive contact with the enemy. Each team made one change heading into the game. England selected Ford instead of Slade, and New Zealand Barrett for Cane. One of these paid off, the other did not. George Ford was outstanding for England - granted he was helped by a dominant performance by his forwards - he consistently threatened the line, making the All Black defenders wary and unsure. Which in turn allowed the rest of the English players to find holes in the defence and get over the gain-line. Ford had shown in the build-up to the tournament, and the pool stages, just how much of a threat he was inside Farrell, which made the decision to leave him out against Australia confusing. The questions have lingered about his ability to turn up and dominate in the matches that matter, well those questions have been answered. He was in total control on Saturday, and after Farrell suffered a dead-leg he even stepped up to kick the goals with dead-eye accuracy.
The All Blacks really missed the breakdown
influence and defensive solidity of Cane.

Meanwhile, Scott Barrett's selection was met with the expectation that New Zealand would be targeting England's line-out and ruining the set-piece. If that was the case no one told him, or the rest of the All Blacks. England's line-out ball was clean and crisp all day - one fateful instance aside - which allowed the likes of Tuilagi to make easy metres from first phase. With Barrett not being used at the line-out, the void left by Cane was felt all the more. Cane is a master at the dirty work, he's a superb defender, and brilliant at supporting the breakdown. Two things the Kiwi's lacked in plenty against the English as their own ball was incredibly slow and the defence was constantly on the back foot. By the time he took to the field, it was too late, and England had control.

2. England's Breakdown Dominance
As already mentioned England had control at the breakdown, both ruck and maul, all game. This was helped by New Zealand not having Cane, but in all honesty, it was down to the sheer brilliance of the English flanker duo Curry and Underhill. They were simply outstanding. In defence Underhill was an unstoppable force, absolutely annihilating any ball carriers that came his way, allowing Tom Curry to exercise his jackeling ability and win a myriad of penalties, or at worst slowing the Kiwi ball down so much you felt it was stuck in a thorn bush. In attack, both were able carriers, but their real strength was in support, their eagerness to fly into breakdown after breakdown and never let their teammates get isolated is footage that every young flanker should study. On a weekend where one poorly supported carry cost Wales a place in the final, Curry and Underhill never let any such situation come close.

Four years ago England had two 6's who could play 7. Now they've got two outstanding 7's who
can play 6. Curry and Underhill have formed a fearsome tandem.
Honourable mentions also have to go to the star man Maro Itoje, who was a complete nightmare for the All Blacks, intent on annoying them to death and sabotaging every maul they tried to set up. Against a team who are as good at basic skills as the All Blacks, being able to disrupt their possession as well as they did takes a serious effort, and I have nothing but praise for the precision and the ferocity of the English pack for the job they did on the Kiwi's.

3. All Black lack of composure
How often, over the years, have we seen the All Blacks stage a comeback against improbable odds. Time and time again in games they should have lost they found the willpower and desire to pull a victory from the roaring fires of defeat. The All Blacks never know when they're beaten. Which makes that semi-final all the more shocking. At no point did you think the All Blacks were about to stage a comeback. In fact other than one poorly executed lineout the men in black would have been shut out and nilled on the scoreline.

It was always going to be hard to replace
Nonu, Carter, and Smith.
A lot of this can be attributed to England's dominant performance, and rightly so, yet part of me thinks the All Blacks of four years ago would have turned it around. The key difference between these two teams was experience and confidence in the backline. While the pack still contained veterans like Read, Whitelock, and Retallick the backs had a distinct lack of caps. Compared to Carter, Nonu and, Conrad Smith the 2019 All Blacks simply didn't have the players who had experienced these kinds of games and the attached belief that they could come through them. It made you realise just how important someone like Ben Smith could have been in the knockout stages, with his calmness under pressure, and ability to execute the simple things well.

This could have been seen coming, as the All Blacks hadn't overcome adversity much in the previous four years, and it showed on the weekend. The moment they came under pressure, and were behind on the scoreboard, their structures fell apart, and rather than play as a collective whole, each player tried to win the game by themselves. This allowed England to pick them apart one-by-one, and scrounge off the scrappy offloads and uncharacteristic mistakes. These kind of performances are beyond rare for the All Blacks, and I highly doubt we'll see it again on Friday, but as a new era dawns on the All Black kingdom there is plenty to rebuild.

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