Even during a rare defeat, the depleted All Blacks looked a formidable force | Gerard Meagher | Sport
Fronting up to the TV cameras cannot be easy after a defeat as dramatic as New Zealand’s against the Lions in Wellington, so all credit to Sam Cane for doing so. As his captain and coach had both done only moments before, Cane spoke with humility but his closing remarks when replying to a question about Saturday’s decider in Auckland â€" “game on, mate†â€" were said with a conviction that gave just a glimpse of the Black-lash on the horizon.
New Zealand do not lose many matches. They lose even fewer at home â€" before this they had won 47 on the spin â€" and back-to-back All Blacks defeats are the rarest of breeds, unseen for 19 years. Furthermore, this was also a first reverse in which they had failed to score a try since 1998. To expect that the Lions can restrict New Zealand to penalties back at Eden Park â€" where the All Blacks have not lost since 1994 â€" is fanciful.
The last time they tasted defeat â€" to Ireland in Chicago back in November â€" they responded by thumping Italy by 58 points then cranking up intensity levels â€" for some a notch too far â€" and overwhelming the Irish in Dublin. Before that, the All Blacks were edged out by Australia in Sydney shortly before the 2015 World Cup â€" and the following week they thrashed the Wallabies 41-13 at Eden Park. And as thrilling as the Lions’ victory was, it can be put in perspective by considering the fallout had Warren Gatland’s side not scraped home. Their stylish tries mask the fact that the Lions stumbled over the line and, while the series is now all square, they have led New Zealand for only two minutes of it so far.
It is easy to point to Sonny Bill Williams’s red card after 25 minutes as the key mitigating factor and to do so would be correct, even if Steve Hansen and his players do not publicly make excuses. Yet New Zealand’s ability to make light of their numerical disadvantage when down to 14 has been one of their great strengths â€" and so it proved for the 40 minutes after Williams made way.
The Lions were not exactly making things easy for themselves but they are world-class players. Mako Vunipola seemed to lose his head somewhat but their basic errors have to be put down at least in part to New Zealand turning the screw. And perhaps there is a bit more to it than that. Clive Woodward may have presided over a disastrous tour of New Zealand 12 years ago but his refusal to refer to New Zealand as “the All Blacksâ€, in an attempt to strip away the mystique, was among his better ideas. For those 40 minutes the Lions seemed in thrall to their opponents’ black magic â€" befuddled by New Zealand’s ability to be so dominant with one man fewer.
How they are able to do it is the million-dollar question but there is no single answer to what makes New Zealand the best team in the world. A superior level of skill, honed since childhood, is key, as is the unique blend of Pacific island and Anglo-Saxon sporting cultures. So too, their bulletproof self-belief â€" it was not so much a surprise that Aaron Cruden looked for Rieko Ioane with an ambitious cross-field kick in New Zealand’s last attack, rather that he missed. And it is that belief that makes improvements in Auckland inevitable.
How Hansen and his coaches go about making them is less clear. It is a delicious irony of this Test series that the Lions are catching the eye with the tries they are scoring while New Zealand get the upper hand at the scrum. Similarly, New Zealand’s most dangerous weapon was the debutant Ngani Laumape â€" a wrecking ball of a No12 continually crashing over the gainline in a manner synonymous with Warrenball. Laumape may not start on Saturday if Ryan Crotty is deemed fit enough to return but, as much as Hansen likes the Crusader, he is a bold selector, as shown with Ioane’s breakthrough this series.
Two Tests down and we are yet to see New Zealand fully spread their wings, however. It may be that on Saturday we do, or perhaps the flogging they receive at the hands of their own press means moving up another gear in terms of physicality. Either way, while it may not be clear exactly how, the Lions know what is coming.
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