All Blacks dismantle Six Nations champs

November 7, 2005

On the 100th anniversary of their first meeting, the All Blacks ran away convincing 41-3 winners over the Six-Nations champions Wales.

The All Blacks dominated terrotory and possession from the kick-off, and didn't take long to remove the infamous Cardiff crowd from the game. The New Zealand forward pack was all over Wales in the lineout and scrum, and at the contact area were always knocking the Welsh backwards and providing fast clean-out ball to the backs.

Wales might consider themselves lucky the score wasn't worse. New Zealand looked a bit rusty and were riddled with handling errors that might have run the score up. Byron Kelleher didn't help his team with a bone-headed decision in the game's 16th minute to bomb a sure-try. Kelleher took a quick tap penalty at the half-way line, made a burst and hit a mid-field gap. With only Gareth Thomas to beat and Tana Umaga free outside him, Kelleher got greedy, held the ball, and ran right at Thomas.

The All Blacks got their only try of the first half at the 29-minute mark, with a cleverly worked backline move seeing winger Rico Gear score in the right corner. Daniel Carter, whose goalkicking was sublime and perfect all afternoon, converted, and the All Blacks went to the changing sheds up 13-3 at halftime.

The second half was more one-way traffic, but came with some lethal finishing. The All Blacks scored four unanswered tries, all converted, all taken with skill and speed.

They didn't take long to score their first. At the 44th minute, a Dan Carter dummy saw him break the Welsh backline defense and squeeze a wide pass to Rico Gear who burst onto it like a runaway train. Gear swerved right, before splitting the defenders on a killer side-step and planting the ball perfectly over the line. For some preposterous reason English referee Chris White, who had many fans scratching their heads all day, went to video review, which merely underlined how much of the game he was missing. If you can't keep up with the pace Mr. White, try another sport.

Up 20-3, the All Blacks looked comfortable. After Wales lock Peter Sidoli took out Jerry Collins at a lineout deep in Welsh territory, the All Blacks might have elected to put easy points on the board and take a shot at goal. Instead, they kicked to the line for a lineout. Sure enough, after winning the ball and fighting a long ruck at the 5 meter line, the ball went through quick hands from Kelleher-Carter-Umaga-Rokocoko-Muliaina to put Gear into the corner again for his hat-trick.

After another sensational touchline conversion, Dan Carter gave the fans something special, namely, a record individual poinst tally against them, beating Fergie McCormick's record from 1969, all told a 7-for-7 kicking performance and two tries for a 26-point haul. Carter scored in the 67th minute after receiving a pass from Conrad Smith, ran around Shane Williams and broke free down the sideline for a 35 meter try. The last try of the game came from a magnificent set-up. A break from Ma'a Nonu at halfway put Smith in the clear and he deftly grubbered to the right corner, where Tana Umaga fought Shane Williams for the ball, it popped up beautifully for Carter, who then fended Williams and dived through two tacklers to score.

A rusty start, but a beautifully balanced win to get their Grand Slam tour on track. Wales are left licking their wounds. The only sour note of the game came at the 62nd minute, when All Black substitute prop Tony Woodcock stood up in a ruck with Wales' Brent Cockbain draped over his back. Cockbain went arse-over-teakettle and it looked for fans like another so-called savage spear tackle. Wales skipper Gareth Thomas brushed the incident aside, saying, "If you want my opinion, I don't think he meant to do it."

Best performers of the day were Dan Carter for his peerless skill and vision, Rico Gear for ruthless finishing, and Man of the Match Chris Jack for his awesome aerial display at lineout and tidy support work around the park.

From the "Did We Watch The Same Game?" dep't: Wales No. 8 Michael Owen tells the BBC, "We are evenly matched with the All Blacks."

New Zealand now move onto face Ireland next weekend. The test team is presumed to be substantially different than the team that faced Wales, and is expected to be officially named on Wednesday.

In other news from weekend internationals, I have yet to see the video tape, but knives are out in Australia.

On Saturday night the Wallabies lost their 6th consecutive test match -- their worst losing streak in four decades -- by capitulating 26-16 to France at Marseille's Stade Vélodrome.

Ex-Wallaby great David Campese wants Wallaby captain George Gregan sacked.

Lastly, the South Africa Springboks outmuscled the Pumas of Argentina in a dour test to win 34-23 at Estadio de Vélez Sarsfield in Buenos Aires on Saturday. The teams scored three tries each, but the boot of Percy Montgomery sealed the win.