Rugby videos of tackles, tries, funny incidents and more: All Blacks not satisfied despite rout over Fiji in Carisbrook

Friday, July 22, 2011

All Blacks not satisfied despite rout over Fiji in Carisbrook

The All Blacks coasted to a 60-14 romp over Fiji in Dunedin on Friday night as they kicked off their Tri Nations preparations. Despite the scoreline, and managing to double their half time score, they were fairly rusty in the second half.

The Fijians weren't as bad as the scoreline suggests, but New Zealand were clinical and calculated, as ever, and managed to convert chances into points as they piled on the points at the last ever Test in Carisbrook's old stadium.

Leading 32-0 at half time, the All Blacks seemed to have already played their best rugby and at times looked stuttery in the second half. There were however plenty of positives to be taken from it, namely the convincing win over a decent Fijian side, the form of Sitiveni Sivivatu, and the performance of Dan Carter understudy, Colin Slade.

Slade picked up a personal tally of 19 points, scoring a try, four conversions, and two penalties.

"A lot of individuals played well but I think we've got a lot of work to do as a team, which is understandable," said All Blacks coach Graham Henry.

"There is plenty to work on but to score 60 points is pleasing. We just have to work on our teamwork and that's obvious when you haven't played together for nine months."

Feel free to share your thoughts on the AB performance as a comment below.

Time: 06:23

Great game to watch, though iti was clear NZ should've put more over Fiji. Fair play to Fiji though, they gave it a decent go and scored 2 good tries!

NZ should be much slicker by next week and in top form by September, looking forward to it!

By Dave_7, at July 22, 2011 5:08 pm
The pressure's already getting to them..

By ElTigre, at July 22, 2011 5:26 pm
There is absolutely no way we can lose this WC having watched this. Looking a bit rusty but still 60 points!
We are going to put France to the sword then probably the hopeless English!

By Anonymous, at July 22, 2011 5:27 pm
I remember Stuart Dickenson refused to give Italy a penalty try against the All Blacks a year or two ago after the All Blacks infringed for about 10 minutes in the scrum, and then he gives one for this? I didn't even see anything wrong there. The scrum turned a bit, but I'd hardly call that a penalty try offence, or even a punishable offence.

Also, Muliaina was quite lucky not to be punished considering that he blatantly tried to foot-trip the Fijian for their second try.

By Reality, at July 22, 2011 5:29 pm
"to score 60 points is PLEASING" lol

By Anonymous, at July 22, 2011 5:30 pm
Before seeing the highlights I read the match report for this on the BBC Sport page (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/14216869.stm), which was titled "Rusty All-Blacks beat plucky Fiji". I was pretty shocked by the difference between that description and these highlights: either the highlights don't capture the actual spirit of the game well, or the BBC match summariser was way off-target.

I guess sometimes with the way highlights are generated you miss out on the slower passages of play where more of the mistakes tend to be. Maybe someone who saw the whole game could give an honest appraisal of how error-prone NZ were.

My opinion from seeing the highlights was that the All-Blacks seemed to be dishing out a real pasting to Fiji. If that was them "rusty" they'll be pretty handy come World-Cup time.

By Matt, at July 22, 2011 5:33 pm
Can someone remind the last time NZ won the World cup whilst being favourites?...
I can't see this squad bucking the trend, sorry just no...

By Anonymous, at July 22, 2011 5:40 pm
*remind me
Apologies

By Anonymous, at July 22, 2011 5:43 pm
The penalty try was given when the Fijian 10 joined the scrum. Watch the left of the picture.

By Jeffrey, at July 22, 2011 5:43 pm
Staunch Bok fan here - I'm getting a bit tired of all the negativity. These all Blacks are a class act and will destroy pretty much everyone in their path in October (until the Semi Final against SA). :)

I guess it's just jealous fans trying to have a dig at by far the best team in the world.

By Anonymous, at July 22, 2011 5:45 pm
Personally I feel that the second Fijian try was one of the best I have seen in a while. Defiantly try of the match.

By Akseligloo3, at July 22, 2011 5:50 pm
I think that it can be seen just from this short clip that Weepu brings much more to the All Blacks side than Cowan.I think that he just has that extra spark that they will need to go all the way in this World Cup

By Leeners93, at July 22, 2011 5:52 pm
also @Matt you're right. The highlights only really show the good bits. There were several pretty basic errors from NZ. Dropped balls which were really easy ones to take. Also things like not straight lineout throws. And generally they didn't seem to be gelling as well as we have seen them do in the past.

By Akseligloo3, at July 22, 2011 5:53 pm
New Zealand, like most talented teams (they are, objectively speaking, very talented), tend to buckle somewhat under pressure. And playing at home sometimes adds unnecessary pressure.
If, however, NZ impose their game straight on, like they did with Fiji, then they will go very far in this WC.
I don't see France being competitive against them in the pool stages (Lièvremont is crazy enough to decide to rest half the squad and field a France B team), but you never know.

By moddeur, at July 22, 2011 6:06 pm
Muliana is sooooo off-side on the kick...

By Espancatio, at July 22, 2011 6:06 pm
What im wondering is, when the AB's get knocked out in the quarters will they spit their dummy out so bad that the competition will have to move to a different country?

By Anonymous, at July 22, 2011 6:32 pm
Muliaina was clearly offside for Cowen's kick ahead. But NZ are the the best in the world, can't see them loosing this run of form, I'm sure they'll win the tri-nations and the world cup.
The trans-national recruitment campaign to get non-NZ nationals to play for their international side is really paying off!

By Anonymous, at July 22, 2011 6:57 pm
New Zealand should have no problems winning the RWC with refereeing like this. Yet again, the All Blacks get away with murder and the Fijians get shafted. Bravo to the IRB. They certainly have ruined the game.

By Anonymous, at July 22, 2011 7:19 pm
Not so sure this will be the year...

By Anonymous, at July 22, 2011 7:29 pm
To Anon
"We are going to put France to the sword then probably the hopeless English"

Yeah mate...sure, the same you did with the last 3 WC??? Typical Kiwi arrogance, love that S***. Last WC only 3 kiwis could name their direct French opponent on the pitch, and they chocked, again! :-)

Hopefully you'll chock twice this time, that's i hope for you.

By Frenchy, at July 22, 2011 7:34 pm
from what i could see from these highlights, the offcials had a pretty poor outing. the last 3 new zealand tries saw muliaina glaringly offside, then the penalty try, im not sure about. yes fijis no. 10 joined in but the player he was involved with was barely even in the scrunm anymore. the all blacks didnt really look like crossing the line so shouldnt it have just been a penalty? and the last try muliaina knocked on then threw a forward pass. and also in fiji's 2nd try i'm amazed he scored because it seemed like every all black within reach tried to take him out off the ball, muliaini's attempted mid-air trip being disgraceeful, not least as thats a good way for him to injure his knee before world cup time.
the kiwis were winning all day long but i think fiji desrved a scoreline more similar to 40-14.

By will, at July 22, 2011 7:48 pm
Muliaina, was lucky to stay on the field with a blatant trip attempt. He was also WAY offside in front of the kicker, perry weepu when he kicked through for a try. Nice to see good hands and great running though.

By TomWykes, at July 22, 2011 8:49 pm
*piri weepu

By Anonymous, at July 22, 2011 9:06 pm
keep talking trash, the WC is already ours.

By Anonymous, at July 22, 2011 9:33 pm
guilford is not international standard, ben smith who was on for less than 30 minutes had a bigger impact

By Anonymous, at July 22, 2011 10:15 pm
Reading some of the comments above makes me wonder why some rugby fans watch NZ when they play. If you hate them so much and they make you angry, don't bother watching and spare us your vitriol.

By Simon7, at July 22, 2011 11:15 pm
Good Test match! Although I'm a Fijian and a Wallaby/ Fiji fan, all I can say is that I'm disappointed NZ didn't seem to gel like they normally do (probably not much playing time yet)- Hope they work that out would make this World Cup fantastic with some awesome rugby.

The Fiji team will also need to do that as well; just hoped we fielded some more of our local players, new blood.

This World Cup is going to be awesome - It looks like it 's any teams game: But for me - Go Wallabies and Flying Fijians :) Cheers y'all :D

By Anonymous, at July 22, 2011 11:37 pm
The referee Stu Dickenson is a terible ref, his efforts in that game were shocking. You see a few decisions in the clip going the way of the AB's, however in the game, the poor decisions went both ways.

Also, very rusty performance by the AB's. Although to take 60 points from a rusty experimental side is still good going. The pacific Island teams are showing the progress they have been making over the last few years.

Also, one last thing. Is it possible for all of you who assume you know who is going to win the world cup and who is going to choke to keep your traps shut. No offense - it would just be so much more pleasant on this forum if you did.

By JG, at July 22, 2011 11:53 pm
Dickinson is beyond awful. Constant scrum resets, wasting all kinds of time, lecturing players on things that aren't an issue -- he's the type of referee that just takes away from the game rather than blending in. I hope the IRB doesn't let him near any important RWC matches.

By Douglas, at July 23, 2011 12:12 am
I smiled at Smith and Nonu having a race to the ball. They really do make a decent partnership, I reckon they should be the starting centre combo for the important games

By Anonymous, at July 23, 2011 12:27 am
So after the Quarter finals do we know if the world cup games will be moved to Australia? or one of the other islands.... Im only thinking that when NZ get knocked out they are going to be crying so hard and spitting their dummies out that they probably will say "you cant play in OUR pitches!"

Any ideas... its just I want to get my flights booked a bit earlier so to save some mooooneeeeeey!

Thanks

By J, at July 23, 2011 1:09 am
Pretty shoddy refereeing

By cbakker, at July 23, 2011 1:26 am
Boring game too many scrums.High error count from low skill execution making people have to watch crappy scrum resets.Remove the power hit.

By Anonymous, at July 23, 2011 1:43 am
Not a bad effort for the first game of the year and I'm sure this game has done what gh set out to do and see where his team are at and what can be improved. So well done boys keep it up

By Anonymous, at July 23, 2011 1:49 am
First test match of the year, the All Blacks were resting some key players, and they were a bit rusty as a result.
And they still scored 60 points.
They say a great team wins even when they aren't playing very well.

And enough of the negative BS please.
The All Blacks won the game, there were a couple of dodgy decisions, but they never looked like losing.

Fiji had a strong side and played some good rugby and still lost, and people still find a million things to whine about.

By N, at July 23, 2011 4:56 am
Loving the intense hate towards the AB's...

Where are the rest of the haters???

By Lats86, at July 23, 2011 5:57 am
Attention! All new AB-haters welcome, please comment below...

By Lats86, at July 23, 2011 6:01 am
Its called Tall Poppy Syndrome

By Anonymous, at July 23, 2011 6:28 am
in the first half andrew hore was kind of a nightmare to the fijians in the breakdown. don't know what gone to the hurricanes bosses' minds.

I saw the whole game and damn... too many errors AB's. colin slade doesn't seem good enough right now.

I really didn't like the way fiji played, i prefered the samoan style against the aussies.
I got very impressed with fiji 2nd row and back row in open play.

Fiji has huge players, still they play like wales in attack. No offloads, men charging alone with late support.
any1 agrees?

By Carlos, at July 23, 2011 8:01 am
Lats86 - let me guess, your favourite outfit has a white hood with two holes cut out for your eyes?

By Anonymous, at July 23, 2011 9:07 am
I have to say I think England have a great chance!!! Slightly worried actually. They always pick it up for world cups and seem to building towards something, plus they are actually good this time around.

Irish

By Anonymous, at July 23, 2011 9:37 am
J - just book your ticket home for after the pool stages. Seeing as your team is going to be humiliated anyway you won't want to stay and therefore don't have to worry about whats happening after the quarters. Or even before the quarters for that matter.

Oh, and You're Welcome.

Well played Fiji. Good structure in defense for the most part, kept the ball in hand and more often than not, made the advantage line.

With dryer grounds and less dew at night these Island teams are gonna be tough to play, especially with the islander flair they are all capable of.

By running rugby, at July 23, 2011 9:43 am
Nice game....About the comments...typical AB arrogance....let's see if you can get the semifinal this time.

By Anonymous, at July 23, 2011 11:35 am
Not a bad performance by NZ considering many key players were out, or on the bench.

Well done to Fiji also. I think the pacific nations will upset some of the NH teams in this world cup.

By Anonymous, at July 23, 2011 11:50 am
For all you haters out there, if we do not happen to make it to the finals we wont be bad sportspeople, we're usually just hard on our team not the rest of the world f*ckwits.

By adakins, at July 23, 2011 1:05 pm
'Lats86 - let me guess, your favourite outfit has a white hood with two holes cut out for your eyes?'

I have one of those ghost outfits too! :)

By J, at July 23, 2011 3:01 pm
Not surprised to watch the AB's score more of 50pts, but the fidji opposition was a bit weak no?
Great attacks from the kiwis but the islander defence was often suspicious.

For the moment, i think the best team is australia, because of Reds contingent and their open-game.
but AB's will be present for sure, can't wait for the match against France.

PS: dickinson, dick ref...

By Colombes, at July 23, 2011 3:47 pm
Running rugby seeing as you dont know who "my team" is, how could you possibly predict that we will be upset and sent home before the quarters lol...

Honestly, there's a good comebacks and then there's pure blind frustration which produces idiotic nonsensical come backs!....and you sir fell into the second category. Seems like you're doubting the mighty cheat blacks so much that you cant quite bring yourself to face the reality that you guys will choke!

:)

By J, at July 23, 2011 6:35 pm
Not everyone chokes on cocks like you J

By Anonymous, at July 23, 2011 10:35 pm
Nope that is true, NZ on the other hand chokes on world cups....

1987 you guys won it... that was when SA weren't in it and it basically didnt count.

lol, you guys honestly have choked at every single WC since!

By J, at July 24, 2011 2:06 am
@J

Which team do you support?

By Anonymous, at July 24, 2011 3:11 am
LOL @ the haters failing to understand sarcasm.

Soon the Pacific nations will be equal with the NH, LMAO! ;)

Thats gotta hurt!

By JDK, at July 24, 2011 3:12 am
J - It was the same rational you used to predict the ABs would be out in the quarters - you know that word... assumption. Pot, kettle, black?

It wasn't meant to be a witty come back, it was supposed to expose you for the hypocritical trolling idiot you are.

Mission Accomplished.

So lets just talk about rugby and the great game that it is.

By running rugby, at July 24, 2011 6:51 am
Running rugby, because it is clear that the all blacks go into every world cup with the inflated ego and a good winning rate, then get boned out of the competition about half way through!!!! LOL!

And as i said, im not trying to cause problems i just want to know where the rest of the games will be held.... you know booking in advance is generally cheaper!!!

By J, at July 24, 2011 4:20 pm
TROOOOOOLLLLLLLLSSSS. That norwegian film maker should have come to this site to make his troll movie. No need for CGI effects, the real trolls are right here.
Like has been said before it's called tall poppy syndrome, Jealousy, the green eyed monster, take your pick.
You also get alot of "the ab's are arrogant". A correction on that, The all blacks go into the game believing they will win, just as every professional sportsman does. The arrogance that is talked about comes from fans, but hey, over the past 10 years the All Blacks win percentage is now upto about 90% so what do you expect.
Get over yourselves and go get a life.

By Anonymous, at July 24, 2011 11:33 pm
^^^ Anonymous, that is the most homosexual comment I have read...

Just because a team does it doesnt mean the fans should do it. Players do it to get themselves pumped and ready for a game in order to push themselves further than they normally go....

Fans who take that approach look like over-inflated ego, one eyed jerks who would stick their tongue so far up the captains anus that they'd be licking the back of his teeth....

You really think fans should go into matches believing they should win? that is probably the dumbest case of humble pie ordering i have ever seen....

If I am a Namibia fan and namibia had to play the AB's do you really think i should go, "yeh, hellyeah, we're gonna win so good"...

.,....you fucking tool..

By Anonymous, at July 25, 2011 12:44 am
Oh and p.s their win percentage is fantastic... how about their wc win percentage?

How about last world cup quarters! LOL

By Anonymous, at July 25, 2011 12:47 am
@Frenchy LOL - France win by a forward pass and your proud of that? France won't make it past the pool games of this cup. The world will once again laugh at the expense of your pussy country!

By Anonymous, at July 25, 2011 3:54 am
^^^TROOOOLLLLL. Yes All Black fans DO think that their teams is the best in the world and therefore is going to win. A winning percentage over every country playing the sport including a 100% win ratio against all but australia, south africa, england, wales and france.
Thats why ab fans haver so much belief in their team.
And yes Namibia should go into a game against the all blacks thinking they are gonna pull off a massive upset. If not then whats the point.
Is the coach before the game supposed to give a rousing speech before the game about "well, we've got no chance in hell so lets try not to lose too badly".

By Anonymous, at July 25, 2011 8:46 am
Anonymous when did i say namibia team should not have belief they can win?!?!? read again dipshit, i said if im a namibian FAN.... I already explained players should have all the faith in the world as it psyches them up...

Fans should stop ordering humble pie.

Oh and well done spouting NZ's winning record...100% win record against who sorry? basically a group of second best teams in the world... australia, SA and England,..... then france and wales!!!

To be honest I have a rugby record that could get me into the all blacks easily.... apart from all those games where i've been shit and the worst player on the pitch....

makes sense doesnt it...

LOL, and france won by a forward pass did they??!?!?!

How many times has NZ won by mccaws sneaky little hands, not had players sent off (carter high tackle!) etc etc the list goes on. Just accept the fact you will choke in the quarters and then choke on each others cocks afterwards!

By Anonymous, at July 25, 2011 3:06 pm
^Bahahahahaha, more from the TROOOOOLLLLL!!!!!!
Namibian fans arn't going to think that because they have never beaten the all blacks or anyone close to that level. The all blacks have consistently beaten everyone.

You trying to say the australian rugby league fans don't go in expecting the kangaroo's to win every match. Or USA fans don't expect their basketball side to win all the time.
"100% record against who exactly?"
Well lets see, 100% against Ireland, and team that hast beaten all other top sides on numerous occasions.
100% against scotland who recently humbled a couple of the big boys in the last few years.
100% against samoa who only recently beat australia and in the past have beaten wales
100% against tonga who have also beaten australia.
I hav'nt noticed who you follow. No doubt because their record doesnt come close to the all blacks.

By Anonymous, at July 25, 2011 3:33 pm
With the utter most respect chappy, learn to fucking read!

And to address your 100% record facts...

Right, Ireland, fair enough I'll give you that one, ireland have their moments.

Scotland....Yes big upsets.... but honestly, it is on par with Italy upsetting france... whilst it is amazing it doesnt mean they are going to win every game from now on because of it. Scotland could beat SA one week and lose to something like Namibia the next.

Samoa and Tonga I shall group into one.... impressive... these guys are great players, but what is their track record?!? how good do these guys normally play in things like the rugby world cup?

Take the RWC for example, go onto wikipedia it gives a list of all the finishing stats near the bottom of how many times a team has appeared in either 1st, 2nd, 3rd or 4th....

the first five nations in THIS order are Australia, South Africa, England, New Zealand, France...

so basically saying "yeh NZ has a 100$ record apart from those teams above" is pretty much like saying, "yeh we beat everyone apart from those teams that beat us"

Honestly if you guys actually win a world cup that counts instead of the one when we werent playing then I think I'll acknowledge you guys arent complete chokers, until then, have a nice choke! :)

By Anonymous, at July 25, 2011 11:59 pm
@ Anonymous above^ ^ ^ ^

Well whats YOUR national teams International & WC winning percentages?

Judging by your intense and relentless trolling, these percentages must be much higher than the AB's.

Or do you just hate the AB's so much you must troll them to the death? Poor boy...

By Matty, at July 26, 2011 2:08 am
Why does it matter what team I support?

I don't want to go down the line of "i support this team and we are better"

Im simply picking out the horrendously HUGE faults with what that chimp is saying.

Ofcourse I will NOT denounce the fantastic win streak the AB's have got under their belts and the fact that in friendly matches they are unbeaten for a while, but last year we saw the Aussies beat them in HK...

My simple point is, I could start saying things like "i support England, and england beat italy, and scotland, and samoa, and fiji" etc etc etc... and it wouldnt exactly be a claim to fame. Ofcourse take nothing away from those teams but currently they are not the biggest threats...(saying that, Namibia could be a threat to England these days...)

If he was to turn around and boast my teams record and how we have a 100% win record over South Africa or something Id be impressed, but they dont, they have a 100% win record (which might i add has very little to do with the current team...) For instance if I turn around and say "yeh in the 1991 world cup final Australia beat the AB's to get into the final!" well that is a fact... does it mean anything for the current Australian team?!?

Lets face it when England beat Australia in 2003 that team was full over "just managed to cling on for the world cup" players.... how many retired the same year or a year or so after?!? that means that the fact England went into the 2007 world cup being "world champions" meant pretty much nothing, 90% of their team was different (and they sucked..)

So whilst his records are great, the majority of them don't include SBW, and the majority of them DO include Tana who is NOT involved in this RWC...

So really, your records are wonderful and whilst I am being a troll I can still turn around and say your claim to fame at beating scotland 100% of the time is impressive but it still leaves a dicking by france, south africa, or australia to come along this world cup!

Cough cough choke!

By Anonymous, at July 26, 2011 4:46 am
^^ Man, this guy needs to get a life.

By Anonymous, at July 26, 2011 7:24 am
^ Agreed

By Tim, at July 26, 2011 9:39 am
Ah apologies Anonymous and Tim, I obviously offended you because you are too one eyed to see the truth, dont bother buying this seasons All Black kit, it will be the most embarrassing possession you own.

Not only will they choke out, they will do it at home in front of a home crowd of what? 20,000 people in their minuscule stadiums!

(thats if they're still standing....)

By Anonymous, at July 26, 2011 7:38 pm
i suppose that as the Fijians scored 2 tries against NZ that SA and Wales should be shitting themselves even more?

By Anonymous, at July 28, 2011 1:53 pm