Eddie Jones says the All Blacks are unsure how they want to play on attack and singled out Beauden Barrett as part of the problem.
The Japan coach dissected the All Blacks’ record 43-10 loss to the Springboks in Wellington on the Rugby Unity podcast.
Jones pointed to New Zealand’s lack of penetration despite similar 22 entries to the previous week’s 24-17 win at Eden Park and slammed their obsession with going wide without momentum.
“The key stat is that South Africa had 110 carries for 629 metres, and New Zealand had slightly less, 95 for 262 metres,” he said. “Unfortunately, you don’t get any points for going to the sideline … that’s the game, mate.”
He said the Boks were superior in every other area too.
“South Africa won the aerial contest – I think the first 10 balls, they won eight or nine of them. They won the lineouts, they had the advantage in the scrum in the first half. So, you put all that together, it’s a pretty conclusive victory.”
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Jones believes the All Blacks are still trying to figure out their attacking identity under Scott Robertson, who has been in the job for just 18 months, and suggested Barrett’s shifting between fullback and flyhalf has disrupted their shape.
“New Zealand are an interesting team in attack. I think they’re still trying to find their way, and I don’t think they’re quite sure how they want to play, which is symbolic of a team that’s growing,” Jones said.
“They don’t have really established players at 10 and 15. That’s a bit of a contradiction because Barrett has played over 100 Tests, but hasn’t played a lot of rugby at 10 over the last period of time.
“He seems to loathe taking the ball as a first receiver. He seems to like taking it as a second receiver, and that means now they’re playing so deep that unless everything absolutely clicks, they’re a long way from the gain line and their forwards have got a long way to go back to attack again. That resulted in the smaller number of metres they gained.”
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Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images
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