Following the 71-3 victory for New Zealand over Namibia in Pool A of the Rugby World Cup, right here’s our 5 takeaways from the sport at Stadium de Toulouse.
A super sport to reply
After falling to back-to-back losses to South Africa and France, the All Blacks wanted to get again on the horse and that they did towards an outclassed Namibia. Six tries within the opening half and 5 after the break meant it was a cakewalk for New Zealand as they introduced some positivity again into their World Cup squad.
The crew sheet screamed pleasure, particularly within the half-backs and they didn’t disappoint, with Cam Roigard and Damian McKenzie relishing their alternative to hyperlink up behind a pack that was going ahead at a fee. Exterior them the likes of Anton Lienert-Brown and Leicester Fainga’anuku additionally minimize free at instances as New Zealand flushed these latest defeats out of their system forward of a bye week earlier than they return to motion in a must-win fixture with Italy on September 29.
A large gulf in high quality
Whereas we’ve been delighted to see the progress and competitiveness the likes of Chile and Uruguay have proven within the early levels of the event, it’s powerful seeing such a one-sided match at Rugby World Cup degree. Sadly for Namibia they had been outclassed in just about each division as New Zealand cruised.
Closing the hole on the Tier One groups appears an inconceivable job more often than not however we’ve seen the South American duo – and Japan earlier than them in 2019 – displaying it may be finished. Namibia will after all have focused different video games on this tough pool nevertheless it was onerous to disregard the distinction in high quality on this heavy defeat.
Cam Roigard shines once more
He introduced himself on the worldwide stage within the Rugby World Cup warm-up conflict with the Springboks final month when making a formidable try-scoring cameo late on however this was a particular evening for the Hurricanes star. Accumulating the Participant of the Match after a dream 67-minute displaying, Roigard put in a cultured shift.
Two first-half tries and a few assists as well meant it was the right opening 40 minutes for Roigard and whereas he didn’t hit these heights within the second half, he can take loads from this victory, realizing that he couldn’t have finished rather more to displace Finlay Christie as back-up to Aaron Smith within the huge video games.
With the nice Smith nearing the tip of his Check profession, the long run at quantity 9 appears to be in regular palms, with Roigard dwelling as much as his Tremendous Rugby hype.
DMac should make the squad
Following on from Roigard’s efficiency, it may fairly simply have been McKenzie holding the Participant of the Match award on Friday as he was glorious in a uncommon begin. He went over for 2 tries in his 26-point haul as he frequently provided an injection of tempo to their assault, which trigger Namibia no finish of issues.
Whereas it’s a numbers sport when it comes to backline choices among the many replacements and common starters Richie Mo’unga (fly-half) and Beauden Barrett (fly-half/full-back) don’t assist McKenzie’s case for a bench spot, one can’t assist however really feel the All Blacks want McKenzie within the squad for essential matches as he’s such a menace.
Penalty depend nonetheless a priority
Though his aspect cruised to a snug win, All Blacks head coach Ian Foster can be sad with their excessive penalty depend – one thing which has been protruding like a sore thumb throughout their previous three matches. Of their latest fixture towards the Springboks, they conceded 14 penalties after which leaked 12 towards France.
New Zealand suffered defeats in each these video games and though they had been victorious towards Namibia, self-discipline allow them to down as they coughed up 12 penalties. They had been penalised on the scrums and breakdowns however what was particularly regarding was Ethan de Groot’s yellow card which was later upgraded to pink for an unlawful hit on Adriaan Booysen late within the first interval. There’s loads of work to do for Foster and his crew forward of their subsequent match towards Italy in a fortnight.
READ MORE: New Zealand participant rankings: Cam Roigard stars in one-sided All Blacks win over Namibia
The article New Zealand v Namibia: 5 takeaways from Rugby World Cup conflict as half-backs present their class appeared first on Planetrugby.com.
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