“The savage basics, performed at high tempo with ruthless efficiency and accurate aggression.”
In their powerful opening display at Eden Park, New Zealand personified this famous coaching quote.
The New Zealanders’ commanding display contained nothing but the basics of the game, executed with brilliant efficiency, at a lightning pace. Their scrum, lineout, maul, ball carrying, short kicking, tackling, clear-outs, catching and passing were almost flawless.
All executed with a bucket of aggression tossed on top.
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The ruthless efficiency of the Kiwi attack had a simple strategy at its core. Utilising Aaron Smith’s long and accurate pass, New Zealand ran their forwards at the outside shoulder of Ireland’s fourth defender.
This created separation between the Irish defenders as they were forced to constantly reorganise and move laterally in their line, adjusting their positioning, rather than moving forward to take time and space from New Zealand. The end result was that Ireland’s line speed dropped to that of a slug.
Smith and Ardie Savea eventually ran through gaping holes this simple but aggressively implemented tactic created.
The New Zealanders’ attacking strategy had another key element. Ireland position their scrum-half in their defensive line and place fullback Hugo Keenan, wrongly in my opinion and it would seem that of the Kiwis, wide of the ruck, covering the open side.
Ireland position zero defenders in the backfield in line with the ball.
The Irish gamble of maintaining 14 defenders in the line, deep into their own half was exploited by both Smith and Beauden Barrett, who executed exquisite short attacking kicks that exposed the acres of unmarked space embarrassingly left vacant by the poor positioning of Ireland’s back three and scrum-half while defending in their own 22.
Ireland’s defensive line was manipulated by the combination of masterful strategy and superb execution.
The final act, in a long disastrous list of Irish defensive errors, came when the Kiwi replacement number eight, Pita Gus Sowakula, picked the ball up at the base of an attacking 5m scrum and simply strolled over without a hand being laid on him.
Defensively, Ireland had taken a knife to a gunfight.
To state the bleeding obvious, both the Irish defensive backfield system and the players mindset of desperation to make the tackle must change for any hope in Dunedin.
In stark contrast, the New Zealanders defensive display was a lesson in strategic and physical domination. New Zealand used perfect tackle technique, mixed with ruthlessly controlled aggression to create a defensive system that was like the incoming tide after an horrific oil spill. Wave after wave of strong fluid black unyieldingly engulfed anything green in its path.
In the dying moments of the match, New Zealand sent Ireland a clear message. As Joey Carbery was astonishingly held up over the try line and Josh van der Flier had the ball belted from his grip before he could touch down, the Kiwis yelled in Irish ears that never ever, under any circumstances, will there be easy points against New Zealand.
Compare that to the Wallabies who were about to notch up a brave win over England, only to mentally switch off in the final 120 seconds and surrender 14 points.
Those two minutes of low-intensity concentration from an otherwise courageous Australia injected hope into English hearts for their second test. Perhaps it was to reinforce the widespread belief that Australians are far more hospitable than their New Zealand cousins. Then again, maybe Ozzies are just soft.
England and Ireland share a common dilemma. English outhalf Marcus Smith and Joey Carbery have both not been capable of igniting their team’s offensive system.
Smith is beginning to look like a player who cannot transfer his attacking form from his club to the International stage. As he repeatedly did during the Six Nations, Smith constantly positions himself to accept the ball far too deep. Which meant he once again failed to attack the defensive line as a real threat.
In Carbery’s defence, when he took the field after Sexton’s injury his forward pack had fallen under the domination of New Zealand. It is close to impossible for any outhalf to create a positive attack with no platform being established by his forwards.
That said, when Carbery comes on this week he must be far more positive in his body language and leadership. Presently, his agonised self-doubt is yelling at his team-mates and the opposition without him uttering a word.
Good leaders exude positive body language that expresses a strategic belief. Confidence is contagious and so is the lack of it.
Both Carbery and Smith are expressing their lack of confidence in how they accept the pass. As an outhalf you don’t just catch the ball, you must attack it. Far too often Joey is stationary when accepting the ball, which makes it close to impossible for him to commit the defensive line before passing.
Like Carbery, this Irish team appears to have totally underestimated the intensity of the mindset that is required for success in Aotearoa.
The mindset that delivered Irish wins in Chicago and Dublin was never going to be enough.
I have found that the mantra of “mindset drives belief. Belief drives performance and performance determines outcomes” to be absolute.
Last week New Zealand displayed the highest standards of character and mindset. For victory, Ireland will have to raise their mindset above that of New Zealand.
Ireland have the talent and the skill to win a test in New Zealand but without great mental change, every piece of evaluation says New Zealand will win the next two matches by a considerable margin.
That does not mean that winning for Ireland is an impossible task. What it does mean is that like every other team that has ever won a test match in New Zealand, each individual in the Irish team must find a way to play the best rugby of their lives in order to win.
That has always been the challenge for teams touring New Zealand.
Across the final two tests, we will learn a great deal about the true character of this Irish team. As the cliche goes: Test match rugby does not create character, it reveals it.
To overcome the enormity of the New Zealand challenge, the Irish players must have the mindset willing to journey into the depths of their character and find a belief they previously did not know they possessed.
That deeply personal journey to truly believe in victory in New Zealand is not easy to navigate. That is why so few have ever accomplished it.
The chance for this group of players to create history at Eden Park has gone, never to return. Yet, the opportunity of a lifetime still awaits Ireland.
