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Opinion: ABs the best ever? No, no, no

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Opinion: ABs the best ever? No, no, no

3News NZ

The All Blacks were beaten 38-21 by England at Twickenham (Reuters)

The All Blacks were beaten 38-21 by England at Twickenham (Reuters)

The current All Blacks - the best ever? No, no, no and an emphatic no!

A last-minute win over Ireland in Christchurch, an 18-all draw with the woeful Wallabies in Brisbane and a win over a South African team who were without a goal kicker in Dunedin.

Yes, there was already plenty of evidence that talk of the 2012 All Blacks being the best ever was, well, premature.   

And after the weekends record breaking loss at Twickenham the evidence is now compelling. This is a good All Black side. But talk of it being among the greats has now been laid to rest in one foul 80 minute swoop of brutal English dominance.  

How did England do it? Pretty simple really, coach Stuart Lancaster pulled a copy of the All Black V Argentina test from Wellington in September and made his team watch the blue-print of how to potentially beat the All Blacks. As in the men in black are vulnerable up front.

Dominate the All Blacks pack and add a generous sprinkling of backline flair – think Farrell, Tuilagi and Ashton - and Bob’s your uncle.  

Time for change?

Well this England team has an average age of 24. Clearly Lancaster has had a clean out.

So, does Steve Hansen need to follow suit? Probably not just yet, but there’s a ton of evidence that Tony Woodcock, Andrew Hore, Keven Mealamu, Richie McCaw, Piri Weepu, Dan Carter and even Conrad Smith might not be there in 2015.

If Hansen ever wanted a reason for a good clean out a-la Lancaster then the door’s just swung open.   

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Comments

9/12/2012 9:47:44 a.m.

Quasimodo wrote:

Tew has pulled one trick too many. Me thinks the Dunny Monster is in it over his gumboots.

7/12/2012 9:51:53 a.m.

AJF wrote:

As Grant Fox used to say "it's the top 2 inches that matter". NZ rugby hasn't been "smart" rugby for 20 years. And under Hansen I'm not seeing anything different.

3/12/2012 5:11:29 p.m.

Bill wrote:

This team has been going downhill since it was taken over by Hansen and Foster, they lost their best coach to the Chiefs (Smith). Ever since these 2 have taken over they are nothing but a fumbling bumbling team, and Sat night showed that anyone who is prepared to run at them and tackle them will show their weak defence. All teams will be looking at that video and seeing this, and the old men of the team need to be put out to pasture.

3/12/2012 11:11:35 a.m.

Bill wrote:

Sacrifices to the gods must be made or our test cricket team will never win.