Analysis - Damian McKenzie cut a pretty sheepish figure walking into the Forsyth Barr Stadium media room. The All Black first five knew what was coming and didn't even need to be asked about his mistimed penalty goal attempt with a minute to play, but at least it drew a laugh. That's because the All Blacks had clung onto a 16-15 lead over England, so it almost certainly wouldn't have had the same air of humour about it otherwise. For his part, McKenzie owned the mistake, saying it was on "his shoulders".
"Obviously I just missed the time," McKenzie said regarding the decision by referee Nika Amashukeli to award England a scrum after he went over the allotted 60 second time limit for a shot at goal.
"He rushed me with my last kick and he did say something as I was in the back of my kick, I went to go forward but it was too late. But I'm not pointing the finger at anyone, it's completely on my shoulders and I need to sort out my process into speeding things up."
Match referee Nika Amashukeli. Photo: Andrew Cornaga/www.photosport.nz
The blunder was made a lot worse after the resulting scrum saw the English win a penalty, which launched them into a final charge after the All Blacks had impressively managed the closing stages of the game to that point.
"That final penalty would've been disastrous, if we'd lost from a kick," McKenzie said, and that's really no understatement. The All Blacks had done everything right, kicking smartly and chasing well, pinning England in their own half to cling onto the barest margin possible. Had England engineered a shot at goal of their own after the hooter sounded, this week would be the first post-mortem of Scott Robertson's tenure as coach - what would have been a very unfamiliar position for someone so synonymous with success.
For his part, Robertson said that "we've got to own it, he's got to own it" regarding the incident, before joking that he'll be asking NZ Rugby CEO to install a shot clock at Eden Park for next weekend's second test.
Why that isn't already a mandatory part of the stadium experience and broadcast (like every other sport that has a shot clock) is a mystery. But what's not is that despite some serious challenges, the All Blacks found a way to win anyway. Was it a clinical, brilliant performance? No, but it had some clinical brilliance. The All Blacks' two tries were very well taken, with McKenzie's cross kick to Sevu Reece a perfect execution of a free play from a penalty advantage. Ardie Savea's second was off a dominant scrum and a perfect bit of play from Stephen Perofeta.
Ardie Savea scores for the All Blacks against England at Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
However, their names shouldn't be the only ones in the try scorers column. The All Blacks bombed a bunch of chances in the first half that could've put the game away then and there, through handling errors and bad option taking against an English team intent on rush defence that was given a lot of leeway by Amashukeli. That's not to say the Georgian wasn't consistent: no one from either team was penalised for offside all night, while his rulings made it that the team in possession ran a higher risk of getting pinged at the breakdown.
"We created a lot of opportunities in the first half that weren't there in the second. That's test footy," Robertson said.
While the scrum was good, the lineout misfired at crucial times and the backline shape went from fluid and rhythmic to bent and awkward, at least those issues are rough edges rather than structural integrity. An injury to TJ Perenara does make things interesting though if he is ruled out for next weekend, tactics changed once Finlay Christie came on in a second half bereft of any real visits to the English 22. It would also potentially mean another halfback will be getting called into the squad.
"Relief" was the word the feeling that Robertson felt post-match, which is no surprise given just how long he'd waited to get the top gig and then get handed this tough assignment to start.
"It actually felt like a really long 10 days (in camp) … it's a lot of firsts, the firsts are done now…now we're into it."
A first win, to be exact. Not the prettiest but wins over England haven't proven to be that way for a while, this actually was the exact same score the last time the All Blacks beat them. A bit to work on before the teams meet again next weekend, that's for sure, but it's unlikely the All Blacks will hand England such a big chance to beat them again.
