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'This side are changing the rules' - Stuart Barnes blown away by All Blacks display against Argentina

September 10, 2018

Steve Hansen and Ian Foster said the young first-five will learn from the experience. (Source: Other)

Former England first-five turned commentator Stuart Barnes is the latest international critic to fawn over the All Blacks' dominance of the southern hemisphere, blown away by Saturday's 46-24 win over Argentina in Nelson.

Having swept Australia home and away last month, Steve Hansen's men took another step towards yet another Rugby Championship title, as a second string side powered to an emphatic win at Trafalgar Park.

Writing in his weekly column for the Times, Barnes said that the All Blacks were signalling the dawn of a new era in international rugby.

Hansen said he was still happy with the 46-24 win despite the tough Test. (Source: Other)

"More than a hundred years of Test match rugby ideology is coming to an end. As far as the All Blacks are concerned anyway," Barnes says.

"Seventy points, nine tries and defence was barely criticised. This is rugby's positive revolution. Attack is king. Fear, so long the driving force of the sport, has been replaced.

"All those 'defence win titles' scrawls written on changing-room walls are going to become little more than dated graffiti against New Zealand. The mindset has been altered.

"There are, of course, many ways to play the game but New Zealand's record suggests that constant speed against the clout of those who cherish collision is the ideal for the modern game. The 2015 All Blacks were far and away the best team in that competition but this side are changing the rules. They are ripping them up. It looks like anarchy."

Barnes also suggests that should the All Blacks continue at this rate, nothing will stand in the way of a third straight Rugby World Cup title in Japan next year.

"If Steve Hansen's team make it a hat-trick of World Cups, it may be irrevocably so for us all.

Frizell had a big outing against Argentina which he topped off with a try in front of his adopted hometown fans. (Source: Other)

"Watching the All Blacks and Argentina followed by the 'so what' of Australia against South Africa an hour later makes me hope that New Zealand seal their extraordinary era of domination with an exclamation mark in Yokohama.

"There are, of course, many ways to play the game but New Zealand's record suggests that constant speed against the clout of those who cherish collision is the ideal for the modern game. The 2015 All Blacks were far and away the best team in that competition but this side are changing the rules.

"They are ripping them up. It looks like anarchy."

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