It says something about the expectations put on the All Blacks that last night's 47-9 win over Italy has been widely greeted with ridicule and dismay, with most coming before the first half had even ended.
Passes were dropped, tackles missed and discipline was shocking from the All Blacks in Rome, Jamie Wall writes. Photo: © Photosport Ltd 2021
To be fair, the criticism was richly deserved. This was a trash game, very difficult to watch or enjoy, made harder by the fact that it has zero bearing on what will happen over the next fortnight.
The half-empty Stadio Olimpico didn't even get its usual reference to Peter Snell and Murray Halberg's 1960 heroics during the Sky broadcast, probably because the commentators couldn't stomach conflating that glorious day with the utter garbage that was being presented by the All Blacks.
Passes were dropped, tackles missed and discipline was shocking, with the first try fittingly coming because the All Blacks had knocked on and then the ball came squirting out the back of the subsequent scrum for Finlay Christie to fall on and score.
All Blacks Hoskins Sotutu, left, and Finlay Christie Photo: © Photosport Ltd 2021
In a sign of just how quickly they wanted to put it behind them, only Ian Foster and Sam Cane were put up for the post match press conference, not that many journalists bothered to make it onto that 4:30am Zoom call anyway.
The only real positive from an All Black point of view is that, like last weekend in Cardiff, the bench came on and made a difference, although by that stage their opposition looked gassed and disorganised anyway.
Perhaps the hosts put in a spirited effort on defence in reaction to the All Blacks' disrespectful social media post about pineapple belonging on pizza, less a joke than it is an effective way of getting yourself cursed and spat at by any self-respecting Italian.
Pineapple on pizza. Yes or no? #ITAvNZL pic.twitter.com/Jk2A27qDXm
— All Blacks (@AllBlacks) November 5, 2021
But the fact still remains they won by 38 points. It's another win in the books, but really from a black jersey point of view the more important game is tomorrow morning in Northampton.
Black Ferns under pressure after resounding loss
It was said on Friday that the Black Ferns deserve scrutiny, well here it is.
This is shaping as their biggest challenge perhaps ever in their extremely successful history, as they've never had to go into a test off the back of such a resounding loss. Even in World Cup finals they've been favourites with no real need to change the way they've played, as across the park they've always had better players.
Except last weekend. Hopes weren't high for a side missing Olympic gold medallists Portia Woodman and Kelly Brazier, even though neither had played much (if any) fifteens this season.
But to be demolished 43-12 by an England team that was unlucky not to get more came as a serious shock. Especially since the current world champions were often the architects of their own demise, with ball kicked away aimlessly and lineouts butchered at an alarmingly regular rate, so now the real pressure is on them to bounce back.
Black Fern Krystal Murray on the charge during last weekend's disappointing loss to England in Exeter. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Coach Glenn Moore has rung the changes, but that could mean a team that was starting all over again last week after a long pandemic-enforced break will be in the same situation again in the second test.
There are only five caps worth of experience between the starting hooker Grace Houpapa-Barrett and locks Joanah Ngan-Woo and Kelsie Wills, so the one area that they need to clean up fast if they are to be any chance rests on a combination that has only been training together for a week.
Presumably the idea will be to get the ball into Woodman and Ayesha Leti-I'iga's hands as fast and often as possible, which admittedly has worked in the past but will be put to the test against this professional England outfit. That's professional in the fullest sense of the word, too - while plenty has been made about Super Rugby Aupiki and the benefits it will bring to the Black Ferns, another defeat here will really show just how much ground has to be made up on what the RFU are doing in terms of women's rugby.
In terms of what this tour now represents with a home World Cup coming up next year, this test is where the rubber meets the road for the Black Ferns. No one involved in their set-up can afford another disaster like last weekend.
