I’m not sure whether treating the All Blacks like they’re a kid is actually doing them any good.
Listening to head coach Scott Henson’s speech on Monday, it might have seemed as though New Zealand had sent a men’s team to face Argentina in Wellington.
To quote Hanson, the players didn’t know how to get out of their own half, weren’t confident in their overall options and weren’t prepared to perform under pressure.
The throw appears to have hampered Asafo Aumua’s development as a Test footballer, and if not, it exempts the forward pack from any observations made by Hanson.
To be honest, if you were the forward on that team, you’d be upset with the people behind you.
It is important to remember that these players are young boys who have yet to experience Test rugby.
Beauden Barrett has played 127 tests according to his All Blacks bio. TJ Perenara 82, Anton Lienert-Brown 74, Jordie Barrett 61, Damian McKenzie 51.
Cortes Latima is a rookie, but the other backline substitutes who came on Saturday, Rico Ioane and Will Jordan, are certainly not rookies.
So are you saying that these players, who have been playing for so long and losing test matches has become so commonplace, have not learned anything from it?
When they were leading 20-8 against Argentina, weren’t they used to finishing off Test matches?
The Pumas, who tried very hard but otherwise had little to offer, held on to a champagne rugby onslaught to eventually win 38-30. They held on long enough to see the All Blacks explode.
After the match, coach Scott Robertson praised the All Blacks for their outstanding rugby and expressed confidence that the game management skills needed to become a reputable Test-matching team will develop over time.
Robertson no longer manages New Zealand’s Under-20s and the defensive line he selected on Saturday was not without its fair share of performances.
At some point, you have to accept that certain players are not capable of managing the game in the right way. Despite all the eye-catching things they do, there are too many other players whose faces are hidden behind cushions by the fans.
If you are confident that the good will outweigh the bad, you will stick with what you have. If not, you will pick a player who will not let you down at a crucial moment.
But who? Richie Muunga is not here. Harry Plummer is in the team, but seems cursed to not score a try the length of the field.
Honestly, who else can do what this team needs? Where are the players who can actually manage the game?
So I kind of understand why Hanson publicly welcomed the team on Saturday and said it was the coaching staff’s job to better prepare the players.
But at some point we have to accept – as Hanson and company probably did – that this is all they have to work with and they have to make the most of it.
I’d like to hear the coaches say that Saturday’s performance wasn’t good enough and that they were generally poor against England. I don’t think it’s doing the players any good in the long run to shield them from the truth.
My experience covering this team is that the coaches were not strict with the players behind closed doors. They preferred reporters to write unkind articles for fear of saying anything that would harm their relationship with the players.
I was saddened by that, but I heard that it is the reality of coaching modern athletes.
There will be a day when everything will be trumps for this All Blacks team. That day could come on Saturday, as there are doubts about whether Argentina can rise to the challenge again.
But while the All Blacks have been fairly consistent over the last six or seven years, there will be days when they can’t stop making mistakes, can’t get out of their own half, can’t do the simple things right.
But don’t tell me it’s because they haven’t learned how.
