By Lucky Vince Pienaar
It was not a perfect performance by either New Zealand or England, but it was certainly one of the most exciting.
The All Blacks went into the last quarter of the match trailing England by eight points in a very tight contest, but New Zealand did something they hadn’t done since Scott Robertson took over as coach at the beginning of the year: they fought back.
Damian McKenzie, who came on after Beauden Barrett left the field due to injury, brought the kind of aggressive attitude he does when he’s playing well.
He scored a high-pressure penalty from virtually his first touch of the ball.
Then came Mark Telea’s try in the 70th minute—a determined score by a wing who had three men to beat as he danced over the tryline.
With scores tied at 22-22, McKenzie had a conversion from the touchline that he slotted perfectly, giving the All Blacks a two-point lead.
While England coach Steve Borthwick can take a lot of positives from the match, he can also reflect on some costly errors at the worst possible moments. Perhaps the biggest misstep was replacing Marcus Smith with George Ford. Smith had a strong match, including a line break that set up Immanuel Feyi-Waboso’s try.
Smith did not have a flawless game, though. Will Jordan’s try came after a line break through a huge gap in the midfield where Smith perhaps should have been, and he missed two very makeable drop goals.
Ford, a class player in any company, had a disastrous game. His penalty attempt that struck the upright probably cost England the match, and his last-gasp drop goal from a perfect position swung wide of the right-hand upright by a good two metres—a kick one feels the confident Marcus Smith would have made.
Their two-point loss marks the sixth match this year that England has won or lost by three points or less.
➤ Fiji seems to be regressing with every match. They don’t appear to have the resources needed to compete in the modern game, and almost all their players play in other countries. They lack cohesion, much like invitational sides do.
Even though a rampant Scotland scored eight tries, it was far from a perfect performance as they conceded three tries. Everybody knows that a full-blooded Fiji attack is hard to stop, but the Springboks are even stronger. Scotland’s Gregor Townsend will have a lot to work on before they face the Springboks on Sunday evening.
Scores:
England (1 try) 22-24 (3 tries) New Zealand
Scotland (8 tries) 57-17 (3 tries) Fiji.
Pictured above: New Zealand taking on England.
Source: X
