By LAURIE MAINS - Sunday News | Sunday, 03 August 2008
To steal a phrase from my old All Blacks captain Sean Fitzpatrick, "full credit" to the All Blacks. The Eden Park win over the Wallabies was based around New Zealand's tight five.
Tony Woodcock, Andrew Hore, Greg Somerville, Brad Thorn and Ali Williams were outstanding at Eden Park.
They provided a superb platform for Jimmy Cowan and Dan Carter to control the game.
In contrast the Wallabies' front five didn't front and Luke Burgess and Matt Giteau had no chance of controlling the game the way they did seven days earlier in Sydney.
Indeed, the whole All Blacks pack Jerome Kaino, Richie McCaw and Rodney So'oailo included came to play, as I suspected they would. But it was more than that.
They dominated the Australian tight five in particular and unlike last week the All Blacks No 9 and No 10 kicked to grass which put a lot of pressure on the Wallabies.
The big difference in the All Blacks game was the intensity of the forward play.
They clearly had a plan of putting more players at the breakdown and the result was their own ball was good and clean for the backs to use well. And in reverse they put the Wallaby ball under an awful lot of pressure.
It was a very good All Blacks performance as good a performance from the pack that we have seen for a long time.
It was a smart way to play the tighter it was the more they kept the Wallabies out of the game.
The return of Richie McCaw made a huge difference.
He surprised me with how well he lasted the 80 minutes after a month out. He completely outplayed Phil Waugh and George Smith. I wasn't surprised by the win. The pundits who predicted an Australian win just do not understand the pysche of the All Blacks.
Historically, All Blacks teams normally respond when the pressure is on. The losses that have plagued recent New Zealand teams have come when they have been favoured to win.
That was the case in Sydney in 2003, Melbourne and Cardiff last year and in Dunedin and Sydney this season.
But before the test last night many were picking an Australian win. Indeed on reflection there was no way the All Blacks would lose the game. Their intensity levels and their passion to restore some mana to the jersey was always going to come through.
Certainly Australia didn't have the edge they had last week and they didn't have enough ball to put any real pressure on the All Blacks.
They just didn't front. It was their third test in succession following their wins against the Springboks in Perth and All Blacks in Sydney.
It was a punishing schedule for them but knowing Robbie Deans, he certainly will not use that as an excuse.
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