Last weekend the Stateside razzmatazz; this the tier-one cudgelling. The All Blacks wanted to simulate a World Cup manoeuvre they have had trouble with in the past – the transition between pool-stage walkover and knock-out slug-fest. And just to make it harder they crossed the Atlantic Ocean in between. In 2007, the English Channel proved too much.
Simulation successful. In Chicago, it was the All Blacks we more readily picture in our mind’s eye – brilliance oozing from their every pore, putting to sword in this instance a perfectly respectable USA team with full-time professionals from England and France among their number. Here was the other side, the darker one that will find a way and do it unanswerably.
In other words, this was a match for the back row.
The All Blacks are used to a circus wherever they go. This week, there was one of their own devising when they unveiled their latest kit – blacker than ever, they kept telling us. Can it have been a coincidence that they chose among the five to model it the three men who would make up their back row at Twickenham? Not that it really suited them, the bright lights and cameras; but out there under the wet-grey skies they were in their element.
Richie McCaw presided over that circus during the week. Many has been the paean offered to him by an adoring press this week, as he closes in on George Gregan and Brian O’Driscoll as the world’s most capped player. At 33 and with bits of him falling off, we keep wondering when his influence might start to wane, at least with regard to the nuts and bolts of his job as openside flanker – you suspect his influence as a man will remain profound even in his dotage.
At half-time, we wondered still whether we were watching his prowess as a flanker start to slip. He had had an uncomfortable first half. Billy Vunipola went clean through him at one point. Then he fumbled a horrible clearance kick from Mike Brown, which, if taken, might have precipitated all kinds of bother for the home team. Chris Robshaw, playing opposite him in position and status, was winning the battle at that point after a first half of remarkable industry, including over the ball, the area he is supposed to be weakest in. England were dominant, but – and here’s the thing – a mere three points ahead.
New Zealand had ridden their luck – Nigel Owens seemed very sure that Aaron Cruden’s lunge for New Zealand’s first try had been successful; the few replays made available suggested that it was worth a second look at least. But the try stood – and New Zealand had a foothold that they were able to develop despite the waves of pressure they had to endure, particularly in the first quarter.
The annoying thing for the rest of the world is that this was almost certainly just where the All Blacks wanted to find themselves. And McCaw in particular. Were the demons crowding in on him at half-time? Probably not, but the knowledge that here was just the latest test of his credentials would have stirred him most surely.
Because he took over from there. On hand he may have been to finish off the try that earned the All Blacks a lead they would never surrender, but it was his charge a couple of phases before that made the first dent in the England defence. The good old-fashioned scattering of defenders – a skill we don’t see from him so much these days. That’s a function of those 33 years and 135 Tests, but the brain remains sharp and failings in opposition defences will still be exploited.
After that it was back to the McCaw of yore, his tackling relentless, his hands grappling wherever they might hurt England most. From the half-time questions to a try (number 25 in New Zealand black), a win and another man-of-the-match gong in the space of 40 minutes. Fitting. Like the shirts.
That said, if it was a deeply symbolic half of rugby from his point of view, it might have been nothing without his mates alongside him – and Jerome Kaino in particular. His excellence ran throughout this match like a black seam.
No, this was not the singing, dancing All Blacks of fantasy. But they know they can do all that. This was dark, relentless and of the back row. If there is a concern, it is that they might have won by more, such was their dominance in the second half. New Zealand like to have less of the ball and strike unexpectedly. Here, they decided to grab hold of it and keep it. They have scored more points on a fraction of the possession and territory they enjoyed here.
But we are nit-picking. The exercise was simple. Show you can go from rout to ding-dong in seven days and keep the result the same. Mission accomplished, as ever.
