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'Lost his spark': All Blacks' Crusader contingent under spotlight
By Sam Smith
The All Blacks third defeat to Ireland over the last five years was a thoroughly deserved 29-20 victory, forcing the visitors into a heavy defensive workload that ultimately couldn't prevent the home side from taking ascendency.
In the first half the hosts had a try to Tadhg Furlong rubbed out that would have given them a 10-3 lead after ex-pat wing James Lowe opened the scoring with a try in the corner. Ireland persisted with kicking to the corner and did so again on the stroke of halftime but another possession went begging.
The All Blacks held on to a 10-5 halftime lead but had less than 30 per cent possession and territory as wave after wave of attack pushed them to the brink.
The second half was all Ireland as they stormed right back into the lead less than five minutes after the restart. Their attack rolled the All Blacks down to the five metre line before hooker Ronan Kelleher crashed over, before flanker Caelan Doris scored again five minutes later.
They never relinquished the lead after that, keeping the All Blacks at arm's length despite a brilliant try to Will Jordan.
The nature of the loss, where the All Blacks were unquestionably outclassed and struggled to find answers, put a spotlight on the selections that Foster has persisted with, notably a large swathe of Crusaders like Codie Taylor, David Havili, Richie Mo'unga and Sevu Reece.
Starting first five Beauden Barrett was forced from the field midway through the first half, giving Richie Mo'unga the chance to run the game early.
All Blacks fans' thought that the Crusaders playmaker had 'lost his spark' and once again 'failed under pressure' against a top tier one international team. Once Barrett left the field, the All Blacks 'never looked right'.
These are the games when we need the likes of Mounga to take over but he was nowhere to be seen. Perenara? It’s time cuz to hang up the boots. Blackadder needed the next train back to Christchurch I reckon.
— Big One (@BigOne73737482) November 13, 2021
We'll be lucky to win anything with him. Havili, Reece, Mounga etc shown up yet again when it gets tough. Christie our best player under high ball and snappiest doesn't get a minute while TJ is exhausted & losing the plot in the last 10. He's diluting a legacy.
— Stinky Jim (@StinkInk) November 13, 2021
I thought a lot of his decision-making was off, he gave away a big penalty in our own half at a crucial time in the game. I am more concerned about Mo'unga going missing in every big game we play though...
— ROCA (@roca0409) November 13, 2021
All Blacks head coach Ian Foster hailed the grit of his side's defensive performance, 'hanging in there' against an Ireland side that played 'incredibly well'.
"I thought Ireland thoroughly deserved their win. It was a game they came out and played incredibly well, held the ball for long periods.
"I thought we did really, really well with our defence in terms of hanging in there and frustrating them.
"The fact that we took our first two opportunities to score, in quite a clinical way, meant that we were hanging in the game. We were in quite a nice position on the back of frustrating them a little bit.
"I was really impressed with them [Ireland] today. I thought they played a high tempo game that kept us chasing, and when it really mattered in the end we just didn't quite have the composure."
"Very similar to many other Irish-All Black games I've been involved with."
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Go to commentsI can see arguments for both Kinghorn, and Keenan starting for the Lions. But I’m less convinced by some of the claims (clearly partisan) supporters are using to argue the merits of one over the other.
For example, a number of Ireland supporters have suggested Kinghorn is ‘defensively weak’. That’s patently false - or at least on the evidence of this 6N, he’s certainly no weaker there than Keenan is, who is presumably the comparative standard they’re using. Keenan was both shrugged off in contact, and beaten on the edge for pace, a number of times during this competition.
Equally, Scotland supporters arguing Kinghorn is the more capable ‘rugby player’ seem to have overlooked the (frankly sizeable) body of evidence demonstrating that Keenan is an excellent ball in hand distributor and decision maker. So that doesn’t hold up under scrutiny either.
I don’t think there’s all that much to choose between them, and either would be a strong choice. I think it would be really interesting from a pure rugby perspective to see Keenan playing a ‘Scotland-esque’ style of high tempo attacking rugby. Either coming into the line more routinely as first receiver, or being swung as a pendulum and getting the ball on the edge against a stretched defence.
That’s assuming Andy Farrell goes that route, of course. He may well just opt for his Ireland system instead, and populate it with the likes of Henshaw, Ringrose, Lowe and Keenan. I’m sure that would win the series. Quite what effect it might have on a Lions audience who were expecting something other than ‘Ireland on tour, but wearing red’ would remain to be seen.
As for the debate at FB, the only ‘eye test’ difference I feel exists is in the pace of rugby Kinghorn (Toulouse? Scotland?) tends to play. His passing/offload game feels crisper and higher tempo than Keenan’s - and as we saw in Paris, his pace and eye for a gap from deep are superior.
But again, that will only prove a decisive factor if Andy Farrell wants to play that way. If all he wants from his FB is to sit deep, field high balls, and mop up then there’s little between these two equally excellent players.
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