Andrew Mehrtens

When there was so much positive to come from the two tests at the weekend and with the Wellington test holding all sorts of intrigue, I’m sorry to start this week’s column with a bleat.

But I can’t help myself.

Why, of all the major sports around the world, does our game have the worst standard of international refereeing? And by a long shot.

OK, I accept that rugby is a complicated game with a lot of rules, and a lot to watch. But where are the referees with a feel for the game?

stuff NZ

It’s been an axe I’ve been grinding for years. But that’s because there is so much to improve. Surely, the best time to criticise is after a victory, so here goes…

How on earth did those two muppets (sorry, match officials) miss the early tackle on Julian Savea which absolutely cost a try? It happened right in front of them. Even without seeing it properly, just the change in his running should have told them that something had happened.

Interestingly, I did agree with the chargedown/knock-on call.

But the inconsistencies annoyed me. I think of a Puma lineout on 35 minutes when they went off the top to another forward who stuck his head straight down into his team-mates in front of him. The movement was then allowed to continue as a maul – yet moments earlier Brodie Retallick was penalised for the same thing.

In the 53rd minute Savea was penalised for holding on when Dane Coles had clearly contacted the tackler and formed the ruck. At that point the defence must get their hands off the ball, yet the ref didn’t seem to understand this.

It’s the biggest problem for continuity in rugby – referees not coming down harder on the defence and allowing a ruck to form.

Anyhow, enough about the ref and back to the players that caught my eye.

I was always going to be intrigued by Beauden Barrett’s first start as a No 10.

He was noticeably nervous early, and that was reflected in his tentative kicking. But once he settled, I thought he brought some special touches – the searing line break and some nice grubber and chip kicks.

But what I was interested in was his organisation and communication. I thought he did both really well. Aaron Smith didn’t have to look for him once and the flow kept going pretty well on a tough night with the conditions and against a notoriously spoiling team.

In reviewing the match, the All Blacks will be looking for improvement in defence this Saturday against South Africa. They will consider they missed too many first-up tackles. The Pumas offered next to nothing on attack, and yet a few times the All Blacks still made life difficult for themselves, mainly through poor alignment and getting beaten on the inside.

So much will depend on the conditions. On a dry day I think the All Blacks are near unstoppable.

The speed of the ball – due to Richie McCaw and company being deadly efficient at the breakdown and only having to commit one or two “assassins” who do the job, and Smith’s incredible pass – it makes it so hard for teams to reorganise their defence.

The Australians showed how the Boks can be shown up in that regard, despite the usual South African physical advantage.

Bodies in motion, numbers in attack, a desire to keep the ball alive, communication and decision-making are all factors that will flummox the Boks.

Mentioning McCaw is a reminder that the same tired predictions of him being “washed up” surfaced again in the Aussie media at the weekend.

I don’t know when the Aussies will ever learn. I don’t for a minute think McCaw is past it. Game in, game out, he’s always one of our best.

He’s not playing the same role as he did when he was younger which worries me as I’d still like to see him take on less of the heavy stuff and retain the legs to operate as a genuine fetcher.

Perhaps the brains trust are thinking of him as a No. 6 next year and will bring through Sam Cane or Matt Todd at seven. Either way, McCaw has to be on the field. If there was a reasonable chance that he himself or Steve Hansen believed he couldn’t get to the World Cup, they would have been far more proactive before now in phasing him out.

New Zealand’s other big advantage is that we currently have guys throughout the team who are far more skilful than their opponents and therefore can provide match-turning moments.

Whether it’s Retallick’s recovery of Barrett’s grubber kick, Coles taking a slippery bullet kick-off or Wyatt Crockett’s mobility and number of tackles, we are ahead of the world.

Our guy do their core roles so well but then add the extras.

It’s why the All Blacks will win again on Saturday night