Lee Grant
John Eales (66)
Have changed the name of the thread to All Blacks EOYT to get some continuity; so please use this for their other games.
After the first 20 minutes or so it looked like men against boys because the Blacks started a lot better than in Hong Kong. They took their chances better than the Poms did but either side of oranges had their Honkers downtime. When they were losing 3-17 at half-time England had to play catch-up rugby but they didn't have the players to do it, though the bench helped a bit.
Reserve hooker Hartley made his presence felt when he ran from deep near the line and scored. Don't spoil a good story by saying that Ashton was comfortably offside chasing a kick by Flood up field and got the ball to set up the ruck for the pass to Hartley. Nor that Hartley was tackled short of the line, then wriggled forward like an escapee from Stalag 17 and placed the ball not immediately. "5 points" sounds better.
The All Blacks did enough to win as they nearly always do at HQ but it was another indifferent and sometimes ragged performance and no improvement on Hong Kong. England had a few forays late in the game but didn't know how to convert them into tries.
A case in point was at 6 minutes to go and 10.Flood had the ball opposite 8. Read. It was 13-20 and Flood had 3 players outside him and Read had Toeava. The ball was passed to 15. Foden but instead of running up to Read as he drifted, he passed the ball to Ashton too soon and Ashton dished to Hape who was denied a try by Toeava who shoulder charged him out, as you do. They weren't running straight and weren't doing it at pace, nor did anybody move inside. It was training paddock stuff.
As for the players: 13. SBW had a good first half but made a couple of bloopers. He shaded England's own Kiwi league convert, 12. Hape, though he did some good things too. When Conrad Smith is healthy I think SBW will get a gig at 12; just to see.
The Pom scrum was superior to the Blacks and was often rewarded with full arm penalties. One hopes that referee Poite does not get into trouble as Dickinson did when the Blacks were pinged against Italy. 1. Sheridan and 3. Cole will be licking their lips when they see a tape of the Cardiff game. Cole was probably the most influential England player; his side of the scrum was so dominant that he made NZ 1. Woodcock look like a myth.
14. Ashton was the pick of the Pom backs; the others didn't know how to convert chances. 13. Tindall was no great help when half chances came and was a dud in other areas also. 7. Moody looked ropey coming back for Bath at Leicester last week and he didn't look much better at HQ and shouldn't have played. 8. Easter had a nice couple of rumbles in the 2nd half toward the end but such go forward ball didn't happen enough
10. Carter was the official man of the match but he was ordinary in the last quarter. I thought that 11. Gear had a top game and could have got the gong. And you could see why Henry picked 5. Whitelock in front of Donnelly because he played well and looks like a real All Black. His partner 4.Thorn had a top match too as did 8. Read. But 14. Joe Rock had a poor game and will be dropped when Jane is fit.
The Blacks will probably win the rest of their Gland Slam games even they don't improve, but I think that France would have given them a huge fright had they been on the schedule
After the first 20 minutes or so it looked like men against boys because the Blacks started a lot better than in Hong Kong. They took their chances better than the Poms did but either side of oranges had their Honkers downtime. When they were losing 3-17 at half-time England had to play catch-up rugby but they didn't have the players to do it, though the bench helped a bit.
Reserve hooker Hartley made his presence felt when he ran from deep near the line and scored. Don't spoil a good story by saying that Ashton was comfortably offside chasing a kick by Flood up field and got the ball to set up the ruck for the pass to Hartley. Nor that Hartley was tackled short of the line, then wriggled forward like an escapee from Stalag 17 and placed the ball not immediately. "5 points" sounds better.
The All Blacks did enough to win as they nearly always do at HQ but it was another indifferent and sometimes ragged performance and no improvement on Hong Kong. England had a few forays late in the game but didn't know how to convert them into tries.
A case in point was at 6 minutes to go and 10.Flood had the ball opposite 8. Read. It was 13-20 and Flood had 3 players outside him and Read had Toeava. The ball was passed to 15. Foden but instead of running up to Read as he drifted, he passed the ball to Ashton too soon and Ashton dished to Hape who was denied a try by Toeava who shoulder charged him out, as you do. They weren't running straight and weren't doing it at pace, nor did anybody move inside. It was training paddock stuff.
As for the players: 13. SBW had a good first half but made a couple of bloopers. He shaded England's own Kiwi league convert, 12. Hape, though he did some good things too. When Conrad Smith is healthy I think SBW will get a gig at 12; just to see.
The Pom scrum was superior to the Blacks and was often rewarded with full arm penalties. One hopes that referee Poite does not get into trouble as Dickinson did when the Blacks were pinged against Italy. 1. Sheridan and 3. Cole will be licking their lips when they see a tape of the Cardiff game. Cole was probably the most influential England player; his side of the scrum was so dominant that he made NZ 1. Woodcock look like a myth.
14. Ashton was the pick of the Pom backs; the others didn't know how to convert chances. 13. Tindall was no great help when half chances came and was a dud in other areas also. 7. Moody looked ropey coming back for Bath at Leicester last week and he didn't look much better at HQ and shouldn't have played. 8. Easter had a nice couple of rumbles in the 2nd half toward the end but such go forward ball didn't happen enough
10. Carter was the official man of the match but he was ordinary in the last quarter. I thought that 11. Gear had a top game and could have got the gong. And you could see why Henry picked 5. Whitelock in front of Donnelly because he played well and looks like a real All Black. His partner 4.Thorn had a top match too as did 8. Read. But 14. Joe Rock had a poor game and will be dropped when Jane is fit.
The Blacks will probably win the rest of their Gland Slam games even they don't improve, but I think that France would have given them a huge fright had they been on the schedule
