Berrick Barnes cut through the All Black's defence

A big congratulations to George Smith on his 100th test appearance, making his debut VS France in 2000, at the age of 19 and before ever playing a professional rugby match. Smith, at 29 years of age and still at the top of his game, has the ability to become the most capped rugby player of all time.

The Wallabies went to Eden Park looking for their first win in Aucklandsince 1986. They came out all guns blazing, with centurion George Smith making his 1st breakdown steal in the 3rd minute and the Wallabies scoring their first try in the 4th minute after #15, Adam Ashley-Cooper cut through the All Blacks defensive line, setting up the motion for Berrick Barnes to make a break on the blindside, selling the dummy, and stepping All Blacks #15, Mills Muliaina, to go over for an amazing try. I felt Muliaina, usually ‘Mr Dependable’, was uncharacteristically shown up on defense for the third time this season.

Before the game I thought one of the best contests would be between the centres, with Conrad Smith and Stirling Mortlock both being class acts, whilst Berrick Barnes is young and creative, Ma’a Nonu at 1.82m tall and 105kg of centre,  is a wrecking ball.  To be perfectly honest, I thought Barnes was going to have a tough time keeping Nonu at bay, but things seemed to go the other way for most of the time that Barnes was on the field. He made a few good line breaks, almost going over for a second try, but hashing it when he didn’t pass to Mortlock on the switch. Nonu also needs to get out of his habit of telegraphing the opposition defense every time he is going to hold onto the ball. He does this thing where he turns the top half of his body as if he is looking to offload to the outside player, but never does. Keep an eye out for it, every time without fail.

The refereeing was pretty consistent, both teams getting blown up for a bit of unnecessary ‘how’s your mom?’, but not much in it. A few forward passes went amiss too, but nothing serious.

The All Black’s must be concerned about their lineouts with the Springbok game a week away. The Wallabies dominated the All Black lineout, and with the likes of Bakkies Botha and Victor Matfield ahead, they will get punished time and time again if this doesn’t improve.

In true all Blacks style, they stayed composed and held out for the win, whilst the Wallabies seemed to lack anything substantial in the second half. The loss of their star player on the night, BerrickBarnes, to a massive Nonu hit, didn’t help their cause either. Barnes’ replacement, James O’Connor didn’t have a great game, one he’d most likely rather forget infact.

Both Ritchie McCaw and George Smith, two of the world’s premier fetchers had moments of excellence as well as moments of obscurity during the game. I think the race for breakdown king of 2009 is going to be a good one with Heinrich Brussouw set to get his chance against McCaw this coming Saturday.

Key Moments:

1st Half:

• 1st min: All Blacks #5, Isaac Ross is offside from Donald’s up and under.
• 3rd min: George Smith makes his 1st steal from an All Blacks breakdown.
• 3rd min: Wallabies #12, Berrick Barnes kicks too far into the All Blacks in-goal area.
• 4th min: Wallabies #15, Adam Ashley-Cooper breaks the All Blacks line, setting up Berrick Barnes for his break down the short side. Barnes dummies and steps his way through to the try line.
• 7th min: Australia get away with a forward pass.
• 7th min: NZ win a penalty and kick to touch.
• 8th min: NZ overthrow in the lineout for the second time, allowing George Smith to snatch the ball again.
• 9th min: All Blacks #2, Andrew Hore doesn’t roll away at the breakdown, giving the penalty and a subsequent 3 points to the wallabies.
• 11th min: NZ knock the ball on off the restart.
• 12th min: NZ are awarded the penalty for Al Baxter infringing at scrum time.
• 13th min: All Blacks #10, Stephen Donald misses his first attempt at goal.
• 14th min: The Wallabies knock the ball on, Mortlock is penalised for being offsides. an extra 10m is gained by the All Blacks for decent from the Wallabies front ranker.
• 15th min: NZ steal the ball at the breakdown, McCaw knocks the ball on whilst trying to offload. a scrum is awarded to the Wallabies. New Zealand win the scrum, but the scrum rotates the wrong way, Wallabie’s ball again.
• 18th min: Australia ‘intercept’ a chip kick from Donald, Barnes squanders a try opportunity by not passing to Mortlock on the cut back.
• 19th min: Al Baxter is blown up again at scrum time for collapsing.
• 20th min: Ritchie McCaw is penalised for playing the ball off his feet, costing the All Blacks 3 points.
• 22nd min: Australia are awarded the scrum after a NZ forward pass, Burgess kicks the ball out on the full.
• 24th min: Turner has to run the ball out 10m from his own line after a good box kick from the All Blacks.
• 27th min: All Black’s captain, Ritchie McCaw scores a try after a few minutes of sustained pressure on the Wallabies line.
• 29th min: Australia are awarded a penalty after #4, James Horwell is denied the opportunity to play the ball whilst on his feet.
• 30th min: NZ win a scrum from a failing Australian maul.
• 33rd min: All Blacks #10, Stephen Donald misses another attempt at goal.
• 35th min: The Wallabies knock the ball on 5m from the try line after a string of good backline phases, advantage is played to the All Blacks for the Wallabies holding on, a penalty is awarded.
• 38th min: Australia turn the ball over.
• 39th min: NZ are awarded a penalty for George Smith going striaght down at the ruck, touch isn’t found, Mitchell has a bad return kick.

2nd Half:

• 41st in: James Horwell is penalised for blatantly playing the ball off his feet.
• 44th min: NZ are awarded a penalty after Moore is called for obstruction when Burgess tries to run behind him. 3 points
• 46th min: Australia win a penalty.
• 50th min: Australia are awarded another penalty after All Blacks #17 runs in for an off the ball incident – there’s nothing in it.
• 51st min: Luke Burgess passes forward to George Smith.
• 54th min: Australia win the turnover, then kick possession away.
• 57th min: Mills Muliaina does well to stay in the field of play after catching the ball from a Wallaby kick.
• 58th min: Australia are awarded a penalty for NZ holding the ball on the ground.
• 60th min: Giteau’s kick is charged down, NZ gather, the ball is passed through the hands. Australia have their hands in at the ruck, costing them 3 points.
• 63rd min: Conrad Smith is penalised for not rolling away. The attempt at goal is missed.
• 65th min: NZ are awarded a scrum after the ball is dead at the breakdown.
• 66th min: Weepu kicks the ball too far, resulting in a 22m dropout. James O’Connor knocks the ball on after the Wallabies regather.
• 70th min: James O’Connor passes the ball to Casper the friendly ghost, Turner makes it back to clean up.
• 71st min: NZ knock on, Australia are awarded the scrum 30m out from the try line.
• 72nd min: NZ steal the ball whilst in play, Weepu kicks too far again.
• 75th min: NZ turnover, he kick is too far yet again. Ashley-Cooper places his foot over the dead ball line whilst picking up, resulting in a scrum from where the ball was kicked.

Here are the highlights for those who missed it: