Source: Radio New Zealand
Scott Robertson. www.photosport.nz
Analysis – In hindsight, the All Blacks going all in on dubbing this an ‘official’ Grand Slam tour is looking like a lamentable decision right now. The 33-19 loss to England at Twickenham busted that manufactured dream, which makes the loss seem far worse now, but really when you look at all the parts of the result it’s bad enough anyway.
That’s the second hiding the All Blacks have taken this season, after the disaster in Wellington against the Springboks. It’s not unprecedented – the 2023 All Blacks managed to get thumped by the Boks and France in successive weeks – but it really makes it hard to believe this new regime is making any real forward progress.
(L-R) Cortez Ratima, Damian McKenzie and Sam Darry show their dejection at the final whistle of their loss to England. www.photosport.nz
Instead, it very much gives off the impression that this is a reactive playing and coaching environment, so New Zealanders probably need to get used to the fact that the All Blacks are not the innovators in world rugby anymore and probably won’t be for a while. That’s not to say they can’t be, but the evidence was clear that out of the two sides, it was England that adapted better and were just simply more ruthless.
The ‘Pom Squad’ concept obviously isn’t new, but adjusting their game plan on the fly was something that Steve Borthwick had clearly planned for. After an opening 10 minutes of dominance that yielded no points for England, only to turn around and concede two tries, they changed the script and kept in touch with two sweetly struck drop goals from George Ford.
It’s not like the All Blacks were playing badly – they’d scored two good tries and the lineout was doing great work off the English throw ins. That should have been enough to win a test on its own, but Codie Taylor’s yellow card and Cam Roigard’s injury swung things back even more for the home side.
Maro Itoje of England lifts the Hilary Shield. England v All Blacks at Twickenham Stadium, 2025. www.photosport.nz
The card seemed very harsh, especially since it was the first penalty the All Blacks had given away in the game to that point, but it also showed a bit of a flaw in planning. Taylor being off and the reluctance to lose any of the loose forwards meant the All Blacks suddenly had no lineout thrower, but when they were awarded a penalty near halfway, they tapped and went rather than taking a shot at goal to at least kill off some of the sin bin time.
Roigard’s injury did a similar bit of exposure, considering that his replacement Cortez Ratima had played a grand total of 11 minutes of rugby in the last six weeks. It showed: Ratima’s hesitancy at the base of the scrum led to a couple of key turnovers and generally poor quality ball.
Ratima wasn’t alone though. Damian McKenzie was unable to repeat his heroics from last weekend in a bench performance that added little other than late call up Sam Darry causing some more lineout problems for England. Contrast that to the English replacements, with Henry Pollock coming on with the intensity of the Ultimate Warrior to play a big role in the win.
Scott Barrett dejected after the All Blacks’ loss to England. www.photosport.nz
Throw in a couple of shocking missed kicks for touch from Beauden Barrett that robbed the All Blacks of some chances to kill the game off before halftime, and all of a sudden you had all the ingredients for a loss. Then there’s the fact that England were just good and got a lot better, and there’s your reason for the score blowing out.
And the most concerning thing is that it’s not the first time that’s happened this season. The humiliation in Wellington occurred thanks to an inability by the players and coaching staff to figure things out in time against a far more flexible opponent.
That was Rassie Erasmus, though. Borthwick is no chump, and this is not the same, stodgy English rugby team from the old days, but the reality of how hurtful it is that the All Blacks have been outthought and outgunned by them is extremely palpable.
There should be fallout from the culmination of this season’s results. With one coaching change so far on this tour, the question now is if there needs to be more, and we’ve got all summer to talk about it.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
