Zinzan Brooke: All Blacks will keep getting better

Even when Australia rallied to come back into the game at 21-17, I was looking at their body language and they looked spent. There were situations where they were committing six or seven players to a ruck to deal with one All Black while the rest of New Zealand are spread out in a defensive line.

Some of that is to do with the brutal path that Australia have had to take to reach the final. To take on England, Wales, Scotland and Argentina in consecutive weeks was a mighty tall order. They deserve all our respect and admiration to fight the way they did.

You could see from the opening kick-off what New Zealand's intention was when Kieran Read smashed Israel Folau. A couple of phases later Conrad Smith did the same to Michael Hooper. It set the tone straight away. This is the intensity we are going to deliver.

It is not just physical pressure that the All Blacks exert. They do not give you any outs, any leeway. Every line-out, every kick-off, every breakdown is contested. It is an enveloping, suffocating pressure. Some teams can live with that for 50-60 minutes but rarely the full 80. That is why they pull away in that last quarter. It also helps that you have the experience of Dan Carter and Richie McCaw to call upon in those tight situations. When others are slipping because of physical and mental exhaustion, they raise their game.

ALL BLACK GREATS

All those guys who are moving on like Dan, Conrad Smith, Ma'a Nonu, Tony Woodcock, Keven Mealamu and in all probability Richie will go down as All Black greats. I think in years to come, people will talk of the privilege of watching them live. Certainly, I count myself blessed to have been at Twickenham on Saturday to see their last games.

I feel uneasy with conversations about who is the greatest or what an all-time All Black XV would look like. First of all, it is difficult to compare different eras seeing as how much the game has evolved. More importantly, it goes against the grain of being an All Black to put one guy above another. The collective has always come first.

It is almost paradoxical but to become a great All Black you have to forget about your individual needs and desires. That is why I think it is unfair to compare Richie McCaw with say Josh Kronfeld. They are part of the same club.

That is why I was so impressed by the way Richie has delayed his decision about his retirement to stop making last week all about him. He has taken control of the situation and will make his decision on his own terms.

NO ONE IRREPLACEABLE

It goes without saying that the All Blacks are going to miss those guys. It is almost 700 caps worth of experience they will be losing, however in New Zealand you learn that no one, including Dan or Richie, is irreplaceable. The same conversations happened after Tana Umaga and Michael Jones retired, but they were replaced. Someone always comes along.

That is because the conveyor belt is always creating new superstars. I watched a lot of ITM Cup rugby and there were some ridiculous talent waiting to come through. Akira Iaone, the Auckland No.8, will be pushing Kieran Read for his shirt very soon. Ardie Savea, the brother of Julian, is also an openside with a huge future.

Steve Hansen has also planned for this moment. Sam Cane, who would be a starter for most other teams, has been groomed in Richie's shadow for the past three years. He is a part of their leadership group and will be ready to step up if he holds off the likes of Savea. Likewise, Beauden Barrett and Malakai Fekitoa have learnt the ropes from Carter and Nonu.

That is why people expecting New Zealand to dip will be disappointed. Just as the crossbar was raised after 2011 so Hansen and his other coaches will raise it again in 2016. Crucially, they can still call upon the power of the shirt.

All teams have pride in representing their country, but in New Zealand it means something more to pull on an All Black jersey. The expectation of wearing the black jersey places a significant value, meaning and responsibility for you as a player and for us as nation. When the All Blacks lose, it is not just the 23 players who hurt but the whole country.

For most New Zealanders it is not whether the All Blacks win or lose but how much they beat the other team by. That expectation would crush other teams but it lifts the All Blacks. So whoever eventually fills Richie's and Dan's shoes will be expected to live up to their standards straight away. The kings are dead, long live the kings.

 - The Telegraph, London

ALL Blacks World Champions  Again

Four years of absolute All Blacks dominance of world rugby was capped with the retention of the Rugby World Cup in a captivating 34-17 win over Australia at Twickenham on Sunday NZ time.

They scored three tries to two and overcame a loss of momentum midway through the second half to become the first side to win the Webb Ellis Trophy three times.

All the preparation, and exposure of players, during coach Steve Hansen's reign was brought to bear on an Australian team which had only 12 months in which to organise themselves from the rabble they had become. 

The Australians tried hard but the expertise developed by New Zealand paid reward with replacement back Beauden Barrett scoring the try which put it beyond all doubt with a length of the field run.

Australia had come back in the second half with two tries to get within four points, but a dropped goal by Dan Carter, the man of the match and player of a lifetime, with 11 minutes remaining gave New Zealand the space to push on. He landed a 49m penalty goal to push beyond the seven-point mark and finished with a right-footed conversion of Barrett's try for 19 points.

Then a turnover as Australia threw everything at them saw fullback Ben Smith, who had moved to the wing, kick the ball to wide open spaces and that allowed Barrett to apply the after-burners to out-pace the defence, see the ball sit up after he toed it ahead, and he was over for the try.

It was a fitting finale for Carter, but around the field throughout the game captain Richie McCaw met the expected challenge from Australia at the breakdown in his usual manner by unleashing an outstanding display of leadership to cap his career.

Up 16-3 at the half-time break, New Zealand replaced centre Conrad Smith with Sonny Bill Williams who made an immediate impact. After New Zealand turned over early Australian ball, Williams made ground and produced a superb off-load for Nehe Milner-Skudder. Then from the ruck Williams provided more ball, and second five-eighths Ma'a Nonu found the slightest gap and headed off on an angled run, stepped replacement Kurtley Beale and then set sail for the goal-line to score in wing Drew Mitchell's tackle and put the fullstop on his own brilliant career.

Two runs by Mitchell and Beale gave Australia attacking impetus for the first time in the game. In attempting to hold Australia out, fullback Ben Smith was ruled to have lifted Mitchell beyond the horizontal and was sin-binned. From the penalty it was No.8 David Pocock who was over on the back of a maul.

New Zealand failed to cover ball after Williams made a sideline break into the Wallabies 22m area and two kicks, one long and a short one into the box by halfback Will Genia made good use of Smith's absence and the ball was secured on the bounce by first five-eighths Bernard Foley with centre Tevita Kuridrani going in.

But Carter steadied the ship, New Zealand regained their composure and the pressure was applied to the Australians whose mistakes ensured the All Blacks finished the stronger.

New Zealand attacked at every chance throughout the first half, and while there were errors in that approach, they were undaunted and as the minutes ticked down the gaps began to appear.

The chance came after 38 minutes when a fine lineout drive by flanker Jerome Kaino set in motion a flowing movement which featured strong runs from lock Brodie Retallick and hooker Dane Coles. But at the crunch end the class of the All Blacks was seen as halfback Aaron Smith doubled around centre Conrad Smith, who moved infield, and then found McCaw. He drew the defence perfectly and provided wing Nehe Milner-Skudder with enough space to get over unchallenged in the corner.

It was a tough opening quarter with bodies lying everywhere, fortunately for New Zealand the attrition rate was nil with No.8 Kieran Read needing to have an ankle taped after landing badly from an early lineout take. Australian prop Sekope Kepu made two marginal tackles, was penalised for both, the second of which winded Carter.

Australia lost lock Kane Douglas after 14 minutes when he fell badly after securing a New Zealand re-start. Then later in the half second five-eighths Matt Giteau was concussed when attempting a tackle on Brodie Retallick.

But powerful from the outset, New Zealand marked the severity of the occasion with some emphatic first-up tackles with flanker Jerome Kaino and Nonu making some impressive statements.

Mistakes were more noticeable from Australia who were reeling at stages. Halfback Will Genia made two key mistakes, getting off-side at a ruck which Carter scored from, and in having a ruck clearance charged down.

New Zealand brought wing Julian Savea into play as often as possible with some strong running off short passes. 

Scorers: New Zealand 34 (Nehe Milner-Skudder, Ma'a Nonu, Beauden Barrett tries; Dan Carter 2 con, 4 pen, dropped goal) Australia 17 (David Pocock, Tevita Kuridrani tries; Bernard Foley 2 con, pen). HT: 16-3

Ten magnificent moments: NewZealand vFrance

ALLBLACKS.COM     18 OCT 2015     GETTY IMAGES

The intensity went up several notches as the All Blacks recorded the biggest ever Rugby World Cup knockout phase victory with a sublime 62-13 drubbing of France in Cardiff.

It was clear from the outset the All Blacks were intent on burying any Millennium Stadium demons and booking a semi-final showdown with South Africa at Twickenham. Ruthless and clinical across the park, the rampant All Blacks crossed for nine tries against a shell-shocked French side. Check out ten magnificent moments from #NZLvFRA

Brilliant Brodie

With the score locked up at 3-3, Brodie Retallick broke the early deadlock by charging down a Fredrick Michalak clearing kick. With no one in front, the towering lock gathered the bounce to run in for the first try. In a double blow for France, Michalak left the field with a hamstring injury to leave France without their key pivot.

Hurricanes combine
In a moment reminiscent of the Hurricanes blazing Super Rugby form, Conrad Smith and Ma’a Nonu united in midfield to draw three French defenders and put Nehe Milner-Skudder into space. From there it was a magical finish for the Manawatu speedster as he effortlessly stepped a French defender and ran away for his fifth Rugby World Cup try.

Carter creates
Dan Carter unleashed his bag of tricks as the All Blacks swung onto attack in the 28th minute. Running onto the ball at speed, Carter dummied and fended his way through a half gap before flicking a reverse pass to Julian Savea to coast in for the All Blacks third try.

Shades of Lomu

In a try that started with a piece of acrobatic brilliance from Ben Smith to regain a high ball, Savea was unleashed at pace down the side line. With three defenders between Savea and the try line, the giant wing bumped off all three in a try that brought back memories of Jonah Lomu’s blockbusting form at the 1995 Rugby World Cup. The try also brought up New Zealand’s 300th Rugby World Cup try.

Stretching the defence
With inspirational number eight Louis Picamoles off the field for a yellow card infringement, the All Blacks were clinical and patient in stretching the French defence from side to side before Jerome Kaino went over in the corner to extend the lead to 34-13 in the 49th minute.

Savea equals record
Dane Coles stymied a period of sustained French attack by ripping the ball loose from a French runner. Dan Carter was quick to pounce on the loose ball and shift to Savea who contrasted his previous bulldozing try with one that was all about pure pace. It was Savea’s third try in the match and eighth at the tournament – equalling the record of Bryan Habana and Jonah Lomu for eight tries at a World Cup.

Fabulous Faumuina
With the score at 41-13 in the 65th minute, replacement prop Charlie Faumuina encapsulated the All Blacks dynamic game plan by bursting through a gap and offloading perfectly to Kieran Read to run in the All Blacks seventh try. Dan Carter added the extras to extend the lead to an imposing 48-13.

Offload heaven

The All Blacks brought up 50 points courtesy of two spectacular off loads from Sonny Bill Williams and Ma’a Nonu. First in on the action was SBW with a trademark off load to Nonu who repeated the dose for replacement halfback Tawera Kerr-Barlow to score under the posts.

TKB double
With the All Blacks piercing the line at will, replacement prop Joe Moody found a gap and produced the off load of the game to Kerr-Barlow. The Chiefs halfback ran in his second try after just seven minutes on the field. In doing so he became the first ever replacement player to score two tries in a World Cup knockout match.

Almost Nonu

Just like he had done for his 100th test against Tonga, Ma’a Nonu produced another master performance and left his best play for the end. With time almost up on the clock, Nonu spied a gap and put the foot down. Showing incredible pace, Nonu dived for the line only to have the ball knocked free from his hands by the cover defence.

Force of Black

Interactive: 100 years of All Blacks dominance

By Dylan Cleaver. Data analysis by Harkanwal Singh

6:00 PM Tuesday Sep 22, 2015

The All Blacks have won 197 tests and lost just 37 during the professional era. Photo / Getty Images

The most phenomenal achievement of the All Blacks has been to maintain their primacy once the game went professional.

Conventional wisdom of the day went something like this: the All Blacks were, in terms of attitude and preparation, a professional team in an amateur era and once the game went fully professional, the rest of the world would quickly catch up.

"It was something I can distinctly remember talking about with the guys," said Justin Marshall, All Black halfback from 1995, the last year of amateurism, to 2005. "It was a genuine concern.

"Here we had this provincial championship that was the envy of the world, and we were diluting that to play Super 12, where the South Africans and Australians would be exposed to the skills and habits of our best players on a weekly basis."

"We thought the gap would close very quickly."

For a while it looked as though that prophecy might turn out to be true. Australia enjoyed a golden age during what we might call the John Eales era, and it took until 2011 for the All Blacks to win a World Cup in the professional era.

But the All Blacks test record has remained largely unimpeachable since 1996, despite more riches available in France and England in particular.

New Zealand rugby cannot compete on price with clubs in England, France, Ireland and Japan, but through strict eligibility clauses and clever harvesting of the All Black "legacy" they have managed to retain most of their best players and keep winning. Their record hit perfect status in 2013, with 14 tests and 14 wins.

In the amateur era, the All Blacks won 71.2 per cent of their tests, while drawing a surprisingly high 5.1 per cent of tests.

This is an outstanding record, obviously, but you could also argue that rugby meant more to the national psyche of New Zealand than any other team they encountered outside South Africa. That passion and unstinting dedication to the sport meant New Zealanders were more innovative and 'professional' than their opponents.

In 1995, rugby was undergoing seismic shifts. The World Cup in South Africa was a unifying, uplifting tournament and in Jonah Lomu rugby had its first truly global superstar.

Pay TV services, such as Sky, were aggressively pushing into new markets and sport was the common battleground.

Kerry Packer didn't have rugby and he wanted it, much like he wanted cricket in the late-70s. Ross Turnbull was sent out as Packer's envoy and he very formed a breakaway to match that of the original World Series Cricket. Popular legend would have it that the late Jock Hobbs managed to talk the All Blacks' two brightest stars - Josh Kronfeld and Jeff Wilson - into staying loyal to the then NZRFU and the proposed World Rugby Corporation folded in on itself from there.

Establishment-back rugby was instead sold to Rupert Murdoch and pals, turned professional and became what could be known as the test-match age. Tours, the likes of which made the All Blacks, Springboks and lions famous, were effectively over and instead hemispherical tournaments took precedence.

A tour to or from the Springboks was once an almost mystical - or in the case of 1981, hysterical - experience, New Zealand now found themselves in the Republic more times than they would ever care to wish.

South Africa is an interesting case in point. By far and away New Zealand's toughest 'amateur' opponent, the All Blacks' post-professional record against South Africa has improved.

John Kirwan fends off Jeremy Guscott as the All Blacks face the British and Irish Lions in Wellington in 1993.

Before 1996, New Zealand and South Africa met 42 times: the Boks won 21 of those tests with three drawn. They have played 48 times since 1996 with the All Blacks winning 34 times and no draws.

So the All Blacks have won 52 times in 90 tests - a very good record against our traditional arch-rivals and one that has only got better since rugby went professional.

In fact, it is indicative of New Zealand's professional record as a whole.

That is a win percentage of 83.1 per cent in the professional era, more than 12 points better than their amateur record. Even accounting for the fact that World Cups mean you face more minnows in the modern era than you did in the past, it is a stunning result.

As you can see by the final table below, the All Blacks professional pre-eminence has lifted the overall win percentage to a tick under 77 per cent.

The obvious question is, why? Why hasn't the advent of professionalism raised the bar uniformly among rugby's test-playing elite. Why hasn't New Zealand's inability to match the amount of money in bigger markets hurt them. We are not, it should be noted, in professional rugby's infancy any longer.

The answer is elusive, but there are some sound theories.

Money only gets you a stake at the table. It's what you do with it that counts. In other words, the English and French leagues might be awash with pounds and euros, but is that money actually helping the national side? It's just as likely to be lining the pockets of second-tier international players than assisting England or Les Bleus get better.

Second, professionalism does not take into account the intangibles.

To use a loose example: Scotland's players are just as professional as the All Blacks now in most respects. They train hard and have access to the latest sports science theories and practices. They should not, theoretically, be any more tired in the final 20 minutes of a test than the All Blacks.

They also have access to top quality coaching so, in those realms of rugby that remain technically driven and largely static - that is to say, the set pieces - they should be as strong and close to as proficient.

The All Blacks celebrate winning the Bledisloe Cup in 1988.

But you'd back the All Blacks to beat Scotland every time. Why? Because they have players that can win you games through a piece of brilliance; Scotland don't.

"It wasn't until I played overseas that I realised the true advantage New Zealand has," Marshall said. "It's our forwards: their ball skills, intelligence, speed at which they play and the way they read the game is miles ahead of anywhere else.

"Yes, South Africa are physical, but they still try to run over you. I look at somebody like Schalk Burger and it's really only in the past few years that he has tried to add ball-playing to his tremendous physical assets.

"England haven't caught up yet and probably won't for a while to come."

In terms of France and England, Marshall believes the promotion-relegation element of their top leagues work against the ideals of open, running rugby. As soon as a couple of games are lost, coaches go into their shells and revert to low-risk rugby, which stifles innovation and ball-playing.

"Speed, power, endurance - New Zealand forwards are probably no stronger here and might even be a little weaker, than some teams. We're just more skillful than the rest."

- NZ Herald

Six star turns: New Zealand v Georgia

Naholo has arrived

It took just 72 seconds for Waisake Naholo to make a splash on his Rugby World Cup debut. Following clean line out ball on the half way line, Naholo’s timing was perfect as Dan Carter put him into space. Showing scintillating speed, he beat the mid-field defence before pushing away the final defender to dot down for the quickest try of the tournament so far.

Georgia strike back

In a frenetic opening five minutes, Georgia struck back when a loose All Blacks carry was scooped up by Georgia and eventually towed through by fullback Beka Tsiklauri. Displaying some fancy football skills, the Georgian fullback chipped the ball again as Dan Carter and Waisake Naholo made a despairing dive to shut the play down. With only Brodie Retallick in pursuit, Tsiklauri got the bounce to scoot in for a great opportunist try.

Forwards playing as backs

The All Blacks flexed their ball-playing muscle with their fourth try in the 21st minute. With forwards lined up in the back line, Kieran Read showed the vision of a first-five to skip the ball long to captain Richie McCaw. Playing like a seasoned second-five, McCaw stepped inside to draw three defenders and slip a pass to Dane Coles to finish the movement in the corner like a flying wing.

Georgian defence

Although the All Blacks crossed for seven tries, the Georgian defence was strong throughout and forced the All Blacks into making handling errors and disrupted set-plays. Led by giant captain Mamuka Gorgodze, Georgia were ferocious in the contact area and up fast on the All Blacks back line. One of the tackles which typified the Georgia defence was when first-five Lasha Malaguradze rushed off the line to put a big shot on Ben Smith and stop a certain over-lap try out wide.

Captain courageous

When Richie McCaw left the field in the 60th minute, the Millennium Stadium crowd rose to its feet and clapped the All Blacks legend to the side line. Even though the All Blacks hadn’t dominated like many would have expected them to do, the crowd realised the inspirational performance of the All Blacks skipper. Prominent with ball in hand, constantly threatening at the break down and a lion on defence, McCaw showed once again why he is one of the greats of the world game.

A hat trick for Savea

Blockbusting wing Julian Savea blazed to the top of the world cup try-scoring charts with three tries to take his overall tournament tally to five. In a worrying sign for opposition defensive coaches, it’s safe to say that Savea has found his try-scoring touch after a slow start to 2015 by his prolific standards. While his finishing was sound, the ‘Bus’ also went looking for work throughout and will be looking to add to his tally as the tournament approaches the knockout stages.