Angry All Blacks still trying to get Wellington out of their minds | Andy Bull | Sport

Angry All Blacks still trying to get Wellington out of their minds | Andy Bull | Sport

Players always say they’re only worrying about themselves, not the other lot. It’s on the first page of the PR’s guide to press conference cliches. The All Blacks offered up a couple of variations on it on Tuesday, but you can be sure they’ve been talking about the Lions, the way they played in the second Test and what they have been up to since.

The local papers carried large stories about the Lions’ jaunt to Queenstown, where Johnny Sexton took a helicopter trip, Sam Warburton went jet-boating, and James Haskell led an expedition to a haunted house. “We’ve got a lot of improvements we want to make so we’re worried about what we want to do,” said Jerome Kaino. “I’d rather be training to be honest.” He paused for a beat. “But jet-boating in Queenstown does sound good.”

The All Blacks’ backs coach, Ian Foster, refused to bite. “Everyone has their own different way of doing things,” he said. “You have to factor their decision into the fact they have been here for a decent amount of time on tour. This is our fourth week together. We trust our routines. They probably trust theirs.” Until someone mentioned that Foster’s old team-mate Warren Gatland had said that the All Blacks’ attack had not stressed the Lions defence yet. Then he could not help himself. “I am not surprised he is having a relaxing week in Queenstown then, if that’s what he thinks.” Foster figures the Lions’ will have plenty to worry about this weekend.

While the Lions were having a little rest and relaxation on Monday, the All Blacks were running through their team debriefing. It was “brutally honest”, said Sam Whitelock, “from both players and management”. The All Blacks love to talk about “learnings”. The two key lessons from Saturday are that they were not smart enough in the way they tried to manage the game after Sonny Bill Williams was sent off, and that â€" somewhat ominously â€" they need be more physical this weekend. From his position on the bench, Kaino said he “saw the Lions definitely step up in terms of physicality”.

“In the two Tests it’s been quite noticeable,” Foster said of the physical contest. “One we won that battle, and one they won that battle. It shows how important it is.” You could be forgiven for wondering exactly how much more intense the “battle” can get, given that the two Tests have, the players, coaches and referees agreed, been among the most ferocious anyone could remember.

Regardless, the side-effect of the two teams’ mutual desire to impose themselves on the other is that the penalty counts have been higher on both sides than either set of coaches are comfortable with. The Lions conceded 11 in the first Test, and the All Blacks seven, the Lions 13 in the second, and the All Blacks eight.

The third Test may well come down to which side can best ride that line between aggression and indiscipline. “That is the beauty of these sort of games where it is a deciding Test,” said Foster. “You know there is a lot at stake and everyone is trying to impose themselves physically and it is whether you are smart enough to control that and be effective with it. It is something we work hard at. We have to make sure we are totally under control but bring the physicality.”

“There’s been a bit of edge there,” said Kaino, who is so worked up that he had to be told to cool it in the team’s training session on Tuesday morning.

“As you saw last weekend both teams were quite keen to get amongst it. As we saw discipline is a huge part of the game. We’re not going to go in there and be cautious about anything. We have to impose ourselves physically like the Lions did and that’s definitely an area we want to improve on. But we have to make sure we keep our discipline.” All this talk in the week before the game, he said, wasn’t “a reason for us to hold back” on Saturday. “We know we can play physically within the laws, we’ll let the referee interpret things how he sees them, and do our job.”

The All Blacks seem angry right now. With themselves, for letting the second Test slip. With the judicial processes that saw Williams get banned but allowed Mako Vunipola and Sean O’Brien to escape further punishment.

And with the Lions, especially Maro Itoje, who they believe has been killing the ball, (“We have been given a lot of penalties which generally occurs in fast ball situations,” Foster said, pointedly) and Kyle Sinckler, who had a bust-up with TJ Perenara after the final whistle.

“There is always going to be feeling between these two teams,” Kaino said. “I think it’s important we dump the 80 minutes.” It doesn’t sound as if they have done that yet. Perhaps they could have done with a few days R&R in Queenstown, too.

قالب وردپرس

Tweet

Subscribe to receive free email updates: