New Zealand will have to confront and overcome its bete noire – the rush defence – when they face England in the second Test on Saturday if they are to continue their 30 year unbeaten streak at Eden Park.
The All Blacks inability to counter the rush, or blitz defence, has been a long standing problem which reared its head again in the first Test last weekend when England largely contained the New Zealand attack.
New Zealand scored two tries in the first half and both individually highlighted measures which can be successful in countering the blitz.
The first came from a kick pass and the second when a first tackle was missed.
But New Zealand couldn’t score a try in the second half and relied on two penalty goals to edge England 16-15 in Dunedin.
A series of All Blacks playmakers have tried and failed to unpick the rush defence which teams increasingly have used against New Zealand as their vulnerability became more obvious.
Beauden Barrett of New Zealand after France scored a try during the Rugby World Cup. Getty
Beauden Barrett tried the cut out pass and chip kick behind the defence but both measures were predictable and easily countered.
Richie Mo’unga, who was so effective in space, became flustered and kicked poorly when pressured.
Damian McKenzie, who has now taken over the No.10 jersey, was smothered by the defence in the first Test and will be central to the All Blacks effort to overcome it in the second.
At stake is the lengthy All Blacks winning streak at Eden Park in Auckland, where the last team to beat them was France – 23-20 in 1994.
England noted the success of the blitz in the first Test and plans to use it again on Saturday, according to defence coach Felix Jones.
The key for the England defense is to be even more hermetic than it was in the first Test.
They can’t afford to miss tackles such as the one Ben Earl missed on Stephen Perofeta which led to the second All Blacks try.
“Any time you play against New Zealand you have to be right at your upper levels – tactically, execution wise, physically and intensity – to be in the mix with it,” Jones said.
“They have a skill set that is on the top of the world. I’m talking handling, footwork and their identification of space. Their physical abilities, intensity and desperation to win is right at the upper level as well. That makes them very difficult.”
Anton Lienert-Brown of the New Zealand All Blacks celebrates on fulltime. Getty
The All Blacks also will have learned from the first Test and realise they first have to create some risk for England.
The England defence in Dunedin rushed up and in.
Often the wingers came off their stations to add numbers in the centre and that means there is space out wide if the All Blacks can find it.
TJ Perenara of the New Zealand All Blacks leads the haka. Getty
At the same time, forwards have to go forward and commit defenders.
The All Blacks will rely on individual ability to spot opportunities, to take an extra step in a tackle, to pinpoint mismatches and offload.
The goal of the defence is to shut down space, the goal of the attack to create it.
Patrick Tuipulotu of the New Zealand All Blacks on the attack. Getty
“It’s exactly what the aim of it is, isn’t it?” New Zealand attack coach Jason Holland said.
“They can put pressure on time and space and skills. If you get things wrong, if you haven’t got your little things around your skills right or your depth right then you can get really hurt.
“But we’ve got a couple of ideas around how we make sure that it’s hard to bring line speed, as in you have to go backwards to come forward.”
Cortez Ratima of the All Blacks during a New Zealand training session at Mt Smart Stadium. Getty
Also improve on what his team did in the first Test.
“We’ve got to get balance with what to do, we can’t be predictable,” Holland said.
“We’ve got to make sure that we’ve got a little bit of that in our game, maybe a little bit more than what we had down in Dunedin.”