All About New Zealand Rugby
What a great Test match, no matter which side you were supporting. 19-23 was the final score and many yellow cards handed out. The All Blacks, in fact, played for over 20 minutes of the 2nd half with at least one player off the field and there was even a period of time that they were down to 13 men.
An opening try within the first 3 minutes by England would have had a few All Black supporters worried and for a good few minutes it seemed that New Zealand could only make mistakes whenever they had possession of the ball. The new haka by New Zealand, as done against South Africa, is a sight that had a few of us neutral supporters hars standing on end, it also might have pumped up the New Zealand players a bit too much.
Dan Carter helped set things straight soon though with a good break close to the line and a deft pass to captain Tana Umaga for him to touch down between the posts. From then on the All Blacks had a few wobbles but always were in control of the match.
New Zealand were victorius and one could tell from both the scoreline as well as the the All Black celebrations at the final whistle how difficult a victory it was. Definitely entertaining as hoped and New Zealand will be very happy with their hard-earned win.
New Zealand go into today's match at Twickenham as favourites to take the match. This despite England being triumphant over Australia a week go. It will will definitely be New Zealand's toughest match on tour so far and the only change in the side is that of Richie McCaw who's out due to the head injury sustained in last week's match against Ireland.
At the end of the day everyone expects a good, possibly close match but with New Zealand taking the victory. A good match for a good day's rugby.
Date - 13/08/2005 - The All Blacks have come back from 13-0 to beat the Wallabies scoring 30 unanswered points on the way. There could have been at least 2 more tries with an open run for the backs being wasted, right at the death of the first half, by a wayward pass bouncing into touch instead of the player's hands. The second let down was by Rico Gear who only needed to hang on to the ball and he would have been in for a try but he somehow let it slip through his fingers.
After the South Africa test the All Blacks looked decidedly better against the Wallabies but some gremlins due to lack of game-time still crept in to their play.
Who knows how important the bonus point could have been for New Zealand as a confident South Africa take them on to retain the cup in 2 weeks? The defense is definitely a key part of their game and a feature so far of this year's Tri Nations and the side with the best defense is going to take it.
Date - 03/08/2005 - New Zealand have put out a bit of a surprise in their line-up for Saturday's game with Mils Muliana being penned down to play on the left Wing.
The utility back usually plays at fullback or centre and this will be his first test at wing. He is replacing the injured Sitiveni Sivivatu.
Date - 07/08/2005 - The All Blacks have lost to South Africa in Cape town and jeopardised their number one spot in the world rankings.
Although they had the majority of possession as well as territory the All Blacks did not look too convincing as they lost line-outs and also made many handling errors. As the game slowed in the second half New Zealand did look to to be getting back into the game but their option taking let them down as well.
Everyone, including the South African media, feels that the All Blacks were just a bit too rusty after the longish period spent not playing any matches. The handling error count for the entire game was South Africa 4 and New Zealand 15 which tells it's own story.
From the lips of Richie McCaw: "We had opportunities but made mistakes." in his interview after the match, "That's what happens when you get put under pressure – you make mistakes."
Date - 09/08/2005 - The New Zealand captain, Tana Umaga, has been pencilled in for Saturday's game against Australia but it is not certain yet whether he will play. If not Conrad Smith will take his place.
