Anyone wondering how much a coach’s personality, technical know-how and ability to teach really matters at rugby’s elite level may feel they have an answer in the transformation of the All Blacks’ forwards by new assistant coach Jason Ryan.
It hasn’t necessarily been incremental, either, and nor has it been concentrated on scrum or lineout or maul. It has been across the board – from set piece to breakdown to maul defence and everything in between.
The shifts have been considerable, and while they may raise questions about the make-up of Ian Foster’s previous coaching line-up, the pack at least appears to be heading in the right direction at last.
The forwards were near easy-beats in their two defeats against Ireland in Dunedin and Wellington, and Ryan made public his displeasure at the reputational damage they had received in that series loss.
But they showed improvements in Ryan’s first Test – the loss to the Springboks at Mbombela Stadium – and took huge strides against South Africa in their comeback win at Ellis Park.
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They were good in the most part in Christchurch – dominant at least at the set piece – before taking another step at Waikato Stadium.
Whatever the formula, and some of it has been relatively obvious to many observers – the long-awaited promotion of quality young props Ethan de Groot, 24, and Fletcher Newell, 22, and the steep progress of Tyrel Lomax and hooker Samisoni Takei’aho – it is worth celebrating.
Even the body language of the forwards appears to have changed – in line with the truism that Test rugby is first and foremost about physical dominance - and the reassuringly straight-talking Ryan should get the lion’s share of the credit.
“We’ve made some good shifts there in areas we needed to and there’s some real competition, too,” Ryan said a day after the All Blacks’ 53-3 thrashing of the Pumas.
“The props have been outstanding. We were quite courageous in our selections in South Africa and all the boys are fronting up which is great.
“I think this next Test is a big challenge to see where the All Blacks are really at and where we are as a team. It’s very important. We need to build those habits and we’ve done a lot of work in making some shifts in areas but now we’ve got to back that up with another performance against Australia.”
Ryan was only repeating what his players were saying ahead of the clashes against the Wallabies in Melbourne on September 15 and at Eden Park on September 24 which will decide the fate of the Rugby Championship and Bledisloe Cup.
Lock Brodie Retallick, who enjoyed an excellent cameo off the reserves bench on his return from injury said: “It’s only one week… that’s the challenge now for the team to do it week-in, week-out. The Bledisloe means a lot to this team. It’s a step in the right direction but now the challenge is to keep doing it.”
Second-five David Havili, a creative and solid midfield presence alongside the raw pace of Rieko Ioane added: “The boys are happy but there are a couple of big games coming up.”
But Ryan’s message is important, nevertheless.
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What this team has struggled with more than anything is consistency and two good performances against a similarly inconsistent Wallabies would show another progression, if nothing else. The real test of the All Blacks’ ability to operate under extreme defensive pressure probably won’t come until their November tour of Wales, Scotland and England.
“It’s no secret is it – we’ve been under the pump and we haven’t hidden from that, we haven’t been able to,” Ryan said. “The boys should be confident after that performance, but we need to keep the boys grounded. There’s some stuff that we’ll have to sharpen up on and keep growing.”
The Australians will test the All Blacks in different ways but none of their threats should present surprises; something not necessarily the case against Ireland, South Africa or Argentina.
“I think they’re really well coached,” Ryan said. “Dan McKellar has done a great job with the forward pack. I’ve got a lot of respect for Dan and we get on well. I love what their forwards are doing and they’re really clear on what they’re trying to achieve up front.
“They play with speed, the Aussies, and they can get around you. Their kicking game is good and they’ve got plenty of power so it will be a heck of a Test match.”
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