These All Blacks can be beaten

11 October 2015 - 02:00 By ARCHIE HENDERSON

For the first 50 minutes on Friday night against Tonga in Newcastle, the rugby world champions muddled rather than middled. They were like a batsman playing it off the edge of the bat before finding the sweet spot in the final 30. Then, for the first time in this tournament - and after four games - the All Blacks found their groove.story_article_left1Early into the second half, the All Blacks led only 14-6 before the Tongan effort began to falter. The champions exploited this with five tries to add to the two from the first half.All Blacks star Dan Carter said afterwards that he felt the team were in control of most the game, but that was an exaggeration. The Tongans were at least equal to them for much of the game despite a poor lineout.The Tongans showed how vulnerable the All Blacks can be defending against the maul and were unlucky not to get a penalty try when stand-in Kiwi skipper Kieran Read was yellow-carded for collapsing it on his tryline. Had referee John Lacey awarded the penalty try, it would have made the score 14-10 to the All Blacks and who knows how the game might have turned out then.However, the Tongans were unable to cut down the All Blacks' space, something which opponents in the play-offs will not allow so easily. Then again, New Zealand don't need much space. Their first try came through an amazing piece of play where they had less than a 10m width to work with over about 50m. Four players were involved in quick interpassing before fullback Ben Smith opened the score.The All Blacks will know by this evening who their opponents will be in the quarterfinals. France and Ireland meet in Cardiff to decide Pool D and the losers face the ABs.Kiwi coach Steve Hansen said it didn't matter whom they would meet, but he will be all too aware of the All Blacks' history against France at World Cups. The French have twice been the All Blacks' nemesis - in 1999 when they staged a stunning comeback in the semifinals to eliminate the New Zealanders and eight years later when the referee missed a French forward pass to put them out of the 2007 tournament in the quarters.But if the Boks and All Blacks do indeed meet in the semifinal at Twickenham in two Saturdays' time, South African coach Heyneke Meyer will know how to take them on. He has beaten the All Blacks only once, but his team has improved gradually while - until those final 30 minutes on Friday night - the New Zealanders have failed to convince completely.story_article_right2A key weapon in the Bok arsenal is that maul from the lineout - and the Bok lineout has been the best at this tournament. The Boks would also force the New Zealanders to play a lot tighter, eliminating the space with which to work out wide.Hansen, however, will not have the Boks in mind as he prepares the team for Saturday's quarterfinal at the Millennium Stadium. He has a problem at loosehead where Tony Woodcock was outscrummed by Halani Aulika. It even looked as if the 117-test veteran was scrumming illegally. That aside, Woodcock also has a hamstring injury and the combined problems probably mean his World Cup - and possibly an illustrious international career - are over.Waisake Naholo on the left wing was a contrast to Nene Milner-Skudder on the right. Naholo, who made a near-miraculous recovery from a broken leg 11 weeks ago, knocked on with the tryline beckoning and looked out of place. Conrad Smith, in the Kiwi midfield, was also anonymous for much of the game.Hansen, looking back at an unconvincing pool stage, said: "Whatever happened has happened in the last month, so it is irrelevant." Maybe so, but the coach has much work to do.sports@timesmedia.co.za..

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