It was not the perfect weekend for the All Blacks, with France running them close. This begs the question whether Daniel Carter is still the flyhalf maestro he once was.
All Blacks coach, Steve Hansen, says the All Blacks will be better against England compared to how they went against France.
Dan Carter:
Rugby365 asks the question whether Dan Carter is slowly being hauled in by his deputies.
There is no doubt Dan Carter is one of the most celebrated players in the game, but it appears he is no longer guaranteed a starting place in the All Black team.
According to New Zealand media reports there will be no room for sentiment when All Black coach Steve Hansen selects his team to play England at Twickenham on Saturday.
Star flyhalf Daniel Carter is set to become just the fifth All Black to play 100 Tests, but according to a OneNews report there is no guarantee he will be in the starting XV.
Carter did little wrong in his 50 minute stint in the 26-19 win over France in Paris at the weekend, but his early substitution could indicate that Aaron Cruden is closing in.
“It’s not about sentimentality it’s about picking the right team to play England,” Hansen said, when asked about Carter’s impending milestone.
“Whether or not he’s played a 100 [Tests] or 500 or zero, if he’s the right person we’ll pick him,” the coach added.
The real priority for the All Blacks remains beating an English side that thrashed the world champions 38-21 in the corresponding Test last year.
Not only did England’s win shock the rugby world but it also prevented the All Blacks from securing their first unbeaten season since 1997.
Eleven of the fifteen who started against France had not played for three weeks: a deliberate change from the run-up to the 2012 end of year tour and part of a long range plan to put that defeat to England firmly in the past.
Cruden replaced Carter with 15 minutes to go last year and had little impact as England secured their biggest ever Test win over the All Blacks.
“The Poms are like you said the team that we love to beat and everyone’s going to remind us this week about the result last year so we’ve just got to make sure we keep our feet grounded,” Cruden said.
England are the only team to blemish Hansen’s record as All Blacks coach. His current record stands at an impressive 22 wins, one draw, and one loss.
The perfect season is still very much a possibility but the number one aim is redemption for last year’s hiccup.
“It still hurts.. we don’t like losing,” Hansen said.
All Blacks will be better – Hansen:
Rugbweek reports that New Zealand rugby head coach Steve Hansen is confident that the All Blacks have learnt their lessons from last year and they will be fresher against England at Twickenham.
New Zealand’s All Blacks have swept all aside since they won the Rugby World Cup in 2011 with the exception of England at Twickenham last year.
The All Blacks began their European tour with a hard-fought 26-19 win over France in Paris on Saturday.
The French proved surprisingly stiff opposition and even came close to snatching a draw late on as they banged away at the New Zealand tryline knowing a converted score would level things up.
But New Zealand held on to take their perfect record this year to 12 wins and have been lining England up all year.
It was a similar case last year before they went to Twickenham with a 100 percent record only to lose 38-21 to inspired hosts.
At the time Hansen suggested they were drained at the end of a long hard season but this time he has guarded against it.
“We made a change before we played Australia after the Argentina and South Africa league matches in the Rugby Championship,” he said.
“That change was to have more time at home, it left us in a lot better physical and mental shape. And we’re hoping we don’t get a virus again.
“There’s a real edge going back to Twickenham, they’re going well, we’re going ok. Both teams are looking forward to playing there.
“I hear that already they’re talking about scoring four tries and going to number two in the world, so obviously they’ve got a lot of confidence.”
Captain Richie McCaw said the players had been frustrated by their inability to really let loose against an effective French team that attacked them at will and regularly broke the gainline.
The All Blacks made the difference in the first 20 minutes of the second half when tries from Charles Piutau and Kieran Read, thanks to an ingenious pass from Piutau, opened up a 14-point lead before Brice Dulin’s score set up a nervy finale.
“Probably the one thing was the set piece, especially the scrum. At times under foot it didn’t help,” said McCaw.
“We were just frustrated we made mistakes at critical times and ended up on defence when we had the chance to put pressure on.
“It’s easy to get frustrated by mistakes made but you can’t change that, you’ve got to get on and deal with what’s next.
“At the end we were defending because of poor skill execution.”
But he paid tribute to the French for nullifying their attacking game.
“They were pretty good at reading and getting up and stopping our plays,” he added.
“We had numbers but they spot tackled, they were pretty effective, you’ve got to give them credit for picking that.”
For France coach Philippe Saint-Andre it was just another one that got away in a year which has seen them win just once in nine matches and lose four times to New Zealand.
“I think about the record they’re on, they played 31 games, won 29, drew one and lost one, so it must be the best record in the history of rugby,” he said about the All Blacks.
“We showed a lot of character, everything, but they’re very clever; very, very intelligent; we were six, maybe 10 times very close to their line. Four or five metres out but then they had two opportunities and scored two tries.
“We must congratulate them and we carry on and work harder to be a little better because when we scored we were penalised straight away, so it’s the little details in key moments.”