Gregor Paul: In defeat, ABs might have hit on a winning formula

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Will Jordan ran the ball back a lot more against France at Stade de France. Photo / Getty Images
THREE KEY FACTS
Gregor Paul is one of New Zealand’s most respected rugby writers and columnists. He has won multiple awards for journalism and written several books about sport.
OPINION
Gregor Paul in Turin

The All Blacks couldn’t solve the riddle that is France in Paris, but
they may have come close to cracking the enigma code to their future selves.

On a night that was laced with frustration at the number of opportunities spurned, micro errors made, and possibly even cruel luck delivered, there has to be some wariness about wondering whether the All Blacks hit on a refined game plan against France that they should consider wheeling out more regularly.
But their strategy of not kicking from the back field was one that gave them greater shape, longer periods of possession and, just about, the aerobic, fatigue-laden contest they were after.
It was a rare sight indeed to see an All Blacks back three – led by fullback Will Jordan – relentlessly and exclusively refuse to get involved in a game of kick tennis with Antoine Dupont and Thomas Ramos.
The French would smack the ball high or long, and the All Blacks would gather and run.
That was it – that was what happened through the entire 80 minutes and while it didn’t necessarily surprise the French that the All Blacks had a plan to run as much as they did, it did hurt them more than they imagined.
Jordan, in particular, carried with a venom that hasn’t previously been part of his game and his ability to eat up the ground to get back to his retreating support runners meant the All Blacks were rarely, if ever, turned over or caught behind the gain line.
But most critically, what it did was enable them to hold the ball for longer passages than they previously have this year and forced the French to make 208 tackles – almost double the number the All Blacks completed.
The pity was that the All Blacks lacked the required precision, discipline and control to fully take advantage of the foundations they laid.
They had France gasping at times, genuinely toiling to cover the space, but the last pass too often didn’t stick.
But, still, to see the All Blacks not just lazily and aimlessly kick down the middle of the field, as has been their wont for some time now, was as effective as it was refreshing.
“We wanted to hold the ball and put a lot of pressure on them by making them make a lot of tackles,” All Blacks head coach Scott Robertson confirmed after the game.
“Maybe at times we could have kicked a little bit more and maybe if we had caught the last pass, we would have been glad we held the ball.
“It is fine margins in that regard, but we certainly created a lot.”
Robertson’s lament that there were some occasions when kicking would have been merited is undoubtedly true, but while the best run-to-kick ratio is not 100-0, there is certainly an argument that the right formula for the All Blacks wouldn’t be so far off that.
There is not a team on the planet that they wouldn’t back themselves to beat in an aerobic contest that becomes all about counter-attack opportunity and the ability to exploit tired and unstructured defences.
While constantly running from deep could be considered predictable, the Springboks have shown that forewarning an opponent what is going to be coming at them doesn’t necessarily make it any easier to stop.
The strategy didn’t yield the win in Paris, but that shouldn’t be used as a basis to say it was wrong.
The more nuanced take would be that the All Blacks didn’t lose because of a failure in strategy, but because of a failure to execute it.
And if the All Blacks discovered that a run-from-everywhere strategy is possibly key to their future, so too did they stumble upon the right make-up of their loose trio to execute it.
The unfortunate injury to Samipeni Finau after just 90 seconds brought Peter Lakai on for his second cap, and 78 minutes later the All Blacks were looking at what has to be their likely starting back row in 2025.
No one really knew just how Ardie Savea, Wallace Sititi and Lakai were organising themselves, or which nominal positions they had been assigned.
All that mattered was that they worked well as a trio, that Savea had his best game of the season and Lakai barely flinched at having to get involved for as long as he did.
“Exceptional,” was Robertson’s one-word take on Lakai. “He was accurate, volunteered, backed his skillset and he had a great game in his second test and the enormity of it was special.”
A Lakai-Savea-Sititi combination has pace, ball-carrying clout, offloading skills and the general aptitude and athleticism to support and facilitate a highly aerobic, fast-tempo game.
Lakai popped up in exactly the right place – on Savea’s shoulder – to score the opening try of the game and while there may be a lot of unnecessary public fretting about who will wear which number, the point is the All Blacks look like they have a solution to the problem of losing Sam Cane next year.
All Blacks v Italy, Sunday 9.10am Live commentary on Newstalk ZB, Gold Sport and iHeartRadio. Live match blog at nzherald.co.nz
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