{"id":566388,"date":"2026-08-12T04:22:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T04:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/566388\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T04:22:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T04:22:09","slug":"all-blacks-show-signs-but-didnt-send-a-warning-to-boks-gregor-paul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/566388\/","title":{"rendered":"All Blacks show signs but didn\u2019t send a warning to Boks \u2013 Gregor Paul"},"content":{"rendered":"

They didn\u2019t drop a marker down warning the Springboks they are ready and roaring, but they certainly played with enough poise and panache to suggest they are tracking upwards from their previous outing in the first game of the tour<\/a>.<\/p>\n

By the end, they were flowing nicely \u2013 the pass and catch was sharp in what were horrendous conditions, the attacking structure held its shape and there was a confidence and certainty about the movement.<\/p>\n

\"RubenRuben Love leads the All Blacks haka against the Sharks. Photo \/ SmartFrame<\/p>\n

It was by no means vintage All Blacks, but there was a swagger about the team in the way they so effortlessly passed before and out of contact and found ways to keep the ball alive.<\/p>\n

Caleb Clarke and Tupou Vaa\u2019i started to combine expertly between the tramlines on the left flank and there was some sharp passing on the gainline between the likes of Luke Jacobson and Wallace Sititi.<\/a><\/p>\n

The optics were good. There was a positivity about it all, an ease with which the decisions were made and the skills executed that suggested the players are starting to really understand and intuitively execute the new gameplan.<\/p>\n

Jordie Barrett deserves a mention, too, for the way he took control as a second \u2013 and sometimes primary \u2013 playmaker.<\/p>\n

His contribution was mature, using his boot well to turn the Sharks and he\u2019s grown into the best second five-eighths the All Blacks have had since Ma\u2019a Nonu was in his pomp 15 years ago<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Of course that\u2019s a little coincidental, or symbolic even, because Nonu was incredibly in direct competition with Barrett having come off the bench for the Sharks at the age of 44<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There is a similarity between the two of them now, in that Barrett has learned the art of being creative as well as being physical in much the same way Nonu did, and come the tests, much will hinge on the amount of control the All Blacks No 12 can exert.<\/p>\n

\"JordieJordie Barrett impressed in the No 12 jersey against the Sharks. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n

That\u2019s not to downplay or reduce the contribution of Love, who was assured and calm and looks to be unflappable. He again didn\u2019t try to do too much, and that\u2019s maybe his super skill that he makes a lot happen with the speed of his movement and decision-making and smoothness of execution.<\/p>\n

So much of what happens in the test series will also depend on the All Blacks starting better than they did in both Cape Town<\/a> and now Durban, where the first half was messy, a touch ill-disciplined and lacking in accuracy.<\/p>\n

The one other thing the All Blacks wanted to improve from their performance in Cape Town four days ago<\/a> was their discipline, but they didn\u2019t nail that and just as they couldn\u2019t find a way to avoid the wrath of Englishman Karl Dickson<\/a>, nor could they stay on the right side of his fellow countryman Matt Carley.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s just something about these two officials that the All Blacks can\u2019t get in tune with. Once again, there were many frustrating technical and slightly pedantic decisions that were made, which disrupted the flow of the game.<\/p>\n

But so too were there a number of avoidable penalties \u2013 particularly in the first 20 minutes \u2013 and they have to be eradicated.<\/p>\n

On a more positive note, the scrum, other than a couple of technical penalties in the second half, was dominant. The work under the high ball was vastly improved, with Love taking control of the backfield in a brave and accurate display, and the defence of the Sharks\u2019 driving maul was impressive.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s not enough reason for New Zealanders to feel they have a winning test team in their midst, but they should feel confident that they saw a team in Durban that proved they can be, if nothing else, highly competitive.<\/p>\n

Gregor Paul is one of New Zealand\u2019s most respected rugby writers and columnists.<\/a> He has won multiple awards for journalism and written several books about sport.<\/p>\n

Listen to Elliott Smith\u2019s live commentary on Newstalk ZB Sport and iHeartRadio, or join the Alternative Commentary Collective on iHeartRadio and Radio Hauraki.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They didn\u2019t drop a marker down warning the Springboks they are ready and roaring, but they certainly played…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566389,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[5263,8136,49343,3013,17898,25272,23469,111,139,69,17357,14775,1305,5652,213,61,1455],"class_list":["post-566388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-all","tag-blacks","tag-boks","tag-but","tag-didnt","tag-durban","tag-gregor","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-paul","tag-send","tag-show","tag-signs","tag-sports","tag-to","tag-warning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}