The clip that shows how easy the All Blacks make rugby look
No team make rugby look so simple and easy as the All Blacks do, and they showed that last Saturday against Wales at the Principality Stadium.
Ian Foster’s side upped the gears in the final quarter against the Welsh, posting over 50 points against the host a week after making a century against the USA. The 54-16 margin in Cardiff perfectly summed up how effortlessly they can rack up points.
EK Rugby Analysis shared a video on social media in the wake of the win to show this this, pinpointing how the All Blacks manipulated the Welsh defenders following a maul to create a scoring situation through a series of kicks. Though the visitors did not score on this occasion, they only needed two kicks to create a footrace to the line.
“Jordan stands flat on the blindside to draw up Adams- and delay him covering across the backfield,” the video says.
“Barrett meanwhile stands deep; giving himself time to kick, while also pulling up the narrow Welsh defensive line.
“This kick isolates McNicholl, who’s been standing deeper to cover the kick to the corner- and is now forced to push up onto Ioane and creates the space in behind for Ioane to kick into.
“Although Ioane’s kick could have been a little shorter, Lane and Adams actually do a really good job covering back here to stop a possible try.
“A good mix of attacking manipulation and defensive adaptation shown by both teams.”
Watch the video here:
Although it's cut out by Josh Adams, I really like the simplicity of New Zealand's attack to shape the Welsh defence off this maul#WALvNZL pic.twitter.com/gvHcVPijLc
— EK Rugby Analysis (@ek_rugby) November 2, 2021
The victory in Cardiff meant that the All Blacks bounced back to number one in the world rankings, overtaking South Africa, who take on Wales this Saturday. The All Blacks meanwhile take on Italy this weekend, then Ireland the week after before a crunch showdown with France on November 20th, which will be a precursor to their 2023 World Cup pool stage clash.
