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Sunday, Sun, 11 MayMay 2025
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Little to fault in dominant ABs performance

The All Blacks have started their 2012 campaign with a dominant performance, claiming a 42-10 win over Ireland in the first of three tests.

Julian Savea bagged three tries on debut, taking the opportunities presented by what was a very slick backline.

It was hard to find much to complain about, with the team clicking for the majority of the game and dominating almost every facet of play. The backline looked dangerous the entire game, appearing polished and finding gaps in the Ireland defence all night.

Up front it was a fairly even contest in the early stages, but the All Blacks gained the upper-hand as the game wore on, making it hard for Ireland to threaten.

The biggest positive though came in the strength of the All Black defence. Never did Ireland look like scoring whilst on attack, despite finding themselves in good field position a number of times.

The All Blacks were just too organised and showed great commitment, making missed tackles rare.

Early on the game was tight, with Ireland holding most of the ball and having the better of the territory. But strong defence saw that only three points were conceded, as the Irish began to panic and turned ball over to let the All Blacks off the hook.

The All Blacks in contrast were patient on defence and didn't rush on attack. At times this was their downfall, looking to keep it tight and pick and go close to the line when they may have been better to look wider with such a dangerous backline.

After three long-range penalties from Daniel Carter the game appeared to be beginning to turn the way of the All Blacks. But it was an outstanding counter-attack movement though that saw the foot really go on the throttle, as Julian Savea coasted in for the first of three tries.

From here they lifted to another level and for the rest of the half looked every bit the best team in the world. Another try to Savea saw the score go to 23-3 at the break with the dominance very much with the All Blacks.

The game loosened up in the second half, as changes were made and the flow of the game interrupted. But that didn't stop the All Blacks running in another three tries, with Conrad Smith, Adam Thomson and Savea all crossing, taking the final score to 42-10.

Arguably the best player on the field was Conrad Smith, whose defence was top notch as always and was intelligent on attack. He saw that the talismanic Irish centre Brian O'Driscoll did very little and was a non-factor.

Outside him the back three looked dangerous every time they touched the ball. Israel Dagg constantly threatened from the back, while his Crusaders team mate Zac Guilford was busy and looked particularly dangerous off the inside ball from Dan Carter. Julian Savea had a dream debut,
finishing well and showing himself to be devastating with ball in hand.

The inside backs were good too, with Carter showing that he is indeed still the best 10 in the world, running well and showing off his radar- accurate boot once more.

Sonny Bill Williams showed how far he's come and while he still has a way to go, was taking the ball to the line regularly and looked more assured than the previous two seasons. At the base it was hard to find anything wrong with the performance of Aaron Smith, who provided fast service and sniped well all night, making for another dream debut.

The forward pack operated well as a unit, getting the better of the lineouts and despite some early troubles ended the game with a dominant scrum.

Victor Vito was a standout, showing he has the game to take over from Jerome Kaino, running the ball strongly and making plenty of tackles. Kieran Read was also good in the loose, ranging well and was particularly good at kickoff time, whilst Richie McCaw didn't have his best game but was still
able to get through a mountain of work.

The tight five operated well, gaining dominance after being in a contest for the first 20 minutes. After this point they began securing ball more effectively and allowed the backline to operate the way they did.

For Ireland the looseforward trio was prominent early on, with Sean O'Brien in particular outstanding at the breakdown. Numerous times in the first half All Blacks players got isolated and the speed of these men saw that Ireland were able to get the turnover.

But as the All Blacks gained dominance, this became less of a factor to the point where they weren't nearly as noticeable in the second half.

If there was to be one negative to come from the All Black performance, it would be this. In a close game having the ball is key, and to do this it's important not to get isolated. But overall, it's hard to complain. It was the first game of the season and they will only get better.

The series now moves to Christchurch where the two teams will do it all over again in game two next week.

 

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