New Zealand and Canada played out a one sided affair in Oita. The result was rarely in doubt with the bonus point secured in the first half. And while Canada controlled some parts f the game the majority was All Black dominance.
The first half of the game plan of the All Blacks was clear and can be summed up in one word physicality. From the first minutes the All Blacks were content to rain down blows in and around the Canadian fringes, making dents and exposing the Canadians.
Look at this example from early in the game. Sonny Bill Williams is able to just attack through the NZ ruck. Targeting the centre of the canadian defence forcing them to fold inwards and toward his break. This opens space. However while this is more of an opportunistic play, as Canada are oose in their defending. The All Black strategy couldn’t be more clear, in he 15th/16th minute when they set Sonny Bill Williams up for his own try scoring moment.
Off the lineout move which starts the play TJ Perenara snipes at the Canadian fringe defence.By targeting the guard he opens a small gap which Reiko Ioane is able to target. Unluckily for both sides the ball goes to ground, with Canada unable to turn it over NZ still have a rather robust platform.
Following spreading the ball to the other 15m a tactic employed by many teams. New Zealand once again straighten and begin to attack through the centre. This time the right winger attacking off TJ Perenara and exposing Canadian fringe defence. THis brings the Canada defence tighter condensing them.
This is then followed by New Zealand making some hard carries up the middle of the defence with just phases off 9. This stops the Canadian defence readjusting to such an extent that they are forced to rush up and try and force the All Blacks to push the ball once it goes wide. This however opens a gap for SBW, who charges through the Canadian defence still fractured from the hard carrying. Despite the tackle is power drive him in arms length and he scores. This overall build up for the score, with control and power shows why New Zealand are such threats.
A more worrying problem for any opponent is their variation. Because whilst this try came from hard graph within the Canadian half, part of an amazing 16.7% chance of scoring when in the Canadian half, they also grabbed 5 tries from their own half. This is an entire bonus point worth of tries from their own half.
The all black variation in Ioane’s try immediately after half time alone showed why any opponent should be wary. To begin with New Zealand take scrappy ball off a kick off and carry straight. Then Mo’unga hangs a bomb across to the right wing. Attacking space left by the Canadians. The winger is sitting deep meaning that Canada has no defenders in the 15m Channel. This means te regain for New Zealandis significantly easier with the All Black catcher accelerating onto it hence the collision in the air as the Canadian wing comes in lower.
However it is not the kick regain that should worry Canada. It is the immediate ‘honey-potting’ of their players around the ball that Kingsley Jones would want to avoid. In the image above you can see the severity of the problem. New Zealand have 3 players being useful with 1 clearing, the catcher and the scrum half, with a guard as well. Meanwhile Canadian Fly Half Peter Nelson is behind the ruck, with 4 Canadians defending an unmanned blindside.
This means that the defence on the other side is stretched.
New Zealand are still transitioning from the flat defensive kick chase formatting to one with a slight degree of depth. But crucially rather than having migrate inward they have trusted their players to do their jobs and have actually spread out from their condensed attacking formation. Canada have also been fragmented out wide, with Jeff Hasler sitting deep having to come up from covering the kick. The problem is the wing is soft when coming up to shut down the attack, yet again appearing too eager to drift and allowing SBW, who was having an amazing game, to break the line. He is also unable to chase back and influence the next phase as New Zealand complete a simple 3 on 1 to score in the corner.
This attack therefore shows the All Blacks danger from transition, they’re kicking game with Jordie Barret dominating the air space and of course their fantastic decision making. While it also exposes the lack of organisation amongst Canada and New Zealand’s innate ability to pick off weakness.
Overall New Zealand dominated, despite some bright sparks from Canada such as the Peter Nelson break from turnover. This served a perfect return week for New Zealand following their controlled and measured game against SA. it also enabled them to continue to bed in Mo’unga and Barrett as a pair. This continued game time really showing itself as both fitted around each other, at times Mo’unga covering Full Back while Barret held the wing space. This seamless cohesion now beginning to pay dividends and should place fear in the hearts yet again of anyone to face the All Blacks.
The Analysis Guy 