AB nil Boks at home

A match that's 5-0 after about 60 minutes doesn't sound that exciting. It certainly wasn't an advert for high-scoring rugby which many detractors think that the ELVs are all about.

However, and it's a big however, what the ELVs do is generate attacking chances if you play precisely, and put an emphasis on defending as well, because of that. To that end, the game was a roaring success and perhaps because the scores were close it was exciting. Much of the game was played within one of the 22's or the other. There were long periods of attack met by equally resolute defence - from both sides it should be said.

The difference? The All Blacks played with fewer mistakes, many fewer mistakes. At the end of the first half Kaino dropped a ball forward that stopped an attack within a few metres of the try line. It was pretty much his only mistake of the game. Muliaina knocked a ball on in the second half (in pretty much neutral territory) and it was his only mistake of the game. I don't remember Smith, Nonu, etc. making a mistake all game.

Ironically, the biggest "disaster" of all was the place kicking. Both Carter and Monty, both hugely experienced international kickers (both with over 800 test points by the end of the game) had an awful day with the boot from hand. No one seems to be sure why, and Carter had his majestic tactical kicking operating to it's inch-perfect best throughout the match, just not from hand. Given how often the Boks were penalised at the breakdown - and often long-arm penalties for deliberate offences - they never really deserved a look-in.

The AB scrum creaked a bit, but not badly, more surprisingly the Bok line out creaked rather badly - whatever Henry and his staff are doing there is obviously working.

There's really only one candidate for man of the match, despite the low error count from all of the ABs. That would be McCaw who played the whole game, beat all 5 of the back row players that the Boks put up against him to just about every breakdown, turned the ball over numerous times, slowed it down every other time and although he may or may not have been the leading tackler, every time you really needed a tackle to stop the attack there was black 7 making it.