Opinion - There was a lot of chat about how much fun last night's 57-23 win by the All Blacks over Fiji was, but the mood in Ian Foster's camp next week should be deadly serious.
Fiji captain Levani Botia lived up to his nickname 'Demolition Man' Photo: Photosport
For years now we've been hearing from the coaching staff that the All Blacks need to be more physical, but for the better part of an hour of the game at Forsyth Barr Stadium they got chewed up and spat out by a Fijian team coming off two weeks in quarantine.
Sounds harsh after what ended up being a comfortable win, however the same lack of intensity that cost the All Blacks in losses to Argentina and Australia last year was on display in Dunedin.
Just look at the way Fiji scored its tries: all three off lineouts, the area of the game these days where a team exerts its combined forward strength. Most embarrassing of all, the All Blacks were forced to concede a penalty try off an unstoppable Fijian lineout drive.
That was only the third penalty try the All Blacks have ever conceded and the first for getting dominated by an opposition forward pack (the other two were a tackle off the ball by Ron Cribb in 2001 and Sonny Bill Williams forgetting he wasn't playing league in 2017.
After they had everything their own way against Tonga last weekend, this was a rude shock. It was no more evident than on Beauden Barrett's face, after copping two black eyes in training he now has a couple of nasty gashes on his face thanks to a stray boot.
A hell of a week for Beauden Barrett’s face. pic.twitter.com/zvHWHbsLVZ
— Jared Wright (@jaredwright17) July 10, 2021
To their credit, the All Blacks did send in the firemen with a plan to effectively dampen the Fijian threat when the gap between the two sides sat at an uncomfortable 31-23.
Dane Coles and Samuel Whitelock both led the way in a second half forward effort that went some way to restoring the fearsome reputation the All Blacks take into every test. Coles managed to score four tries, the first test forward to do so in 22 years, although he would be the first to admit the first three should belong to the entire pack and their well-drilled ability to convert penalties into lineout drives scoring opportunities.
But this Fijian team was always going to run out of gas, as brave as they were.
They had a stroke of luck when skipper Levani Botia should have at least seen a yellow card for a heavy and high shot on Damian McKenzie, however their lack of preparation time was ruthlessly exploited by the All Blacks when they targeted their lineout defence. It was somewhat ironic that the Fijians' most potent attacking weapon was also their biggest defensive liability.
There were touches of what we generally associate with Fijian rugby when Eroni Sau and Botia cut through the All Black defence.
There were touches of what we generally associate with the All Blacks when George Bridge chimed into the line to set up Jordie Barrett's opening try, or when Will Jordan continued his dream start to his test career by bagging his eighth in four games. And there were plenty of touches of what we generally associate with referee Paul Williams, as he found a way to whistle up no less than 30 penalties.
This test and last weekend have exposed why these tests were going to be somewhat of a no-win situation for the All Blacks.
Turn on a hiding like against Tonga and everyone will wonder what the point was. Allow a fired up team like Fiji to turn it into somewhat of a contest (at least for a while) and everyone will wonder if this side has what it takes to dominate the Wallabies, Springboks and Pumas.
No doubt the next few days are going to see plenty more talk about the team's physicality, so they can at least attempt to answer that question next weekend in Hamilton.
