New Zealand have already won this year’s Rugby Championship, but they cemented their dominance with a clinical 36-17 victory over Argentina in Buenos Aires. The All Blacks were razor sharp in the first half and having been pressed hard for the opening half an hour, unleashed their clinical streak by scoring three tries in five minutes.
Naturally when this happens, one tends to look at the defending team for answers, but in the video below you will see that the Kiwis have a more natural knack of finding gaps where most other teams simply cannot.
The mantra of “The ball will always beat the man” is something New Zealand have deployed for decades, but this year they have made use of it in the most efficient way.
So far in the 2016 Rugby Championship they have scored 29 tries in five games, against 10 for Argentina, 9 for Australia and just 8 for South Africa.
In doesn’t take a rugby genius to see that the All Blacks are miles ahead of the competition and have been year-in, year-out. They are three-times World Champions and have an incredible talent pool in all categories – whether it’s their women’s team, the 7s, Super Rugby franchises or National Provincial Championship (Mitre 10 Cup) teams.
The conveyor belt of high quality players is almost infinite but that doesn’t explain why the Kiwis are at times, unbeatable.
Rugby is ingrained in young New Zealanders’ lives from an early age, it’s the national sport. The omnipresence of school rugby – which is televised across the country – and availability of back-to-basics coaches both play a huge role in developing the next Dan Carter, or Beauden Barrett.
And that is perhaps why New Zealand can make a game with such intricate rules look so easy.
The awareness of space, the execution of an overlap, exploiting a rushing defence to chip into space and knowing when to pass and when to keep the ball.
These are the basics we all learn in junior rugby. The difference with the All Blacks is that they have the ability and self belief to execute on the biggest stage, under the highest pressure possible.
With five minutes left in the half and trailing 10-3, Argentina will have thought they were doing well against the World Champs, but that is when the wheels fell off and the visitors kicked into gear.
What do you think makes New Zealand so unbeatable? Leave your comments below!
credit: rugbyxv
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