All Blacks finally catching a break as they embrace art of deception

Résumé détaillé

Analysis: Three test victories - two against Australia and one against Scotland - is a relatively small sample size, but the All Blacks' recent improvements under the high ball…

Analysis: Three test victories - two against Australia and one against Scotland - is a relatively small sample size, but the All Blacks' recent improvements under the high ball have been among the biggest on-field developments overseen by head coach Dave Rennie.

The biggest and probably the most necessary because something needed to change after the All Blacks' aerial failures were exposed by South Africa in August and September.

Time and again Rennie's men compounded the pressure exerted by the Springboks during the 3-1 series defeat by failing to catch a predictable avalanche of high balls, but they dominated in his area during the Bledisloe Cup series against a Wallabies team which has traditionally done well there.

And that domination continued at the weekend during the 43-21 victory over Scotland at Murrayfield, the All Blacks switching to a contestable kick strategy after halftime after failing to succeed with a longer kicking game that merely led to failures in the visitors' defensive line when the Scots ran the ball back.

Suddenly, the All Blacks were winning more ball on the front foot with a Scottish defensive line in disarray and the whole momentum of what was previously a tight test shifted.

Wing Josh Moorby suggested to the media on Wednesday that it was all down to hard work. "It's obviously a massive focus and I feel over the last few weeks we've been successful at that [improvement]," he said.

"I think it's been down to the effort we've been putting in at the end of training and during training - putting ourselves in those positions to make sure we're winning those the majority of the time."

As Moorby - who scored a try on the left wing in Edinburgh and is likely to be among the starting back three for the All Blacks' next test against Wales in Cardiff on Sunday morning NZT - said: you can't win them all, but claiming a majority of high balls is a non-negotiable.

Unfortunately for the All Blacks, they will have to do it again at the Principality Stadium…

Début de l'article, extrait de RNZ. Pour lire la suite, ouvrez l'article chez le média.