Talking Points

New Zealand's stout defending claimed the majority of the credit for the 20-6 semi-final win over Australia on Sunday, but it was the breathless opening blast of turbo-charged attacking rugby that undoubtedly laid the foundation for the landmark victory.

That fact was not lost on experienced front rower Keven Mealamu. "If we didn't come out like that we would have probably lost," said the hooker. "It was important to get a good start and impose ourselves."

Starved of territory, Australia produced an escape act of the highest order in defeating South Africa in their quarter-final but faced with the same problem against New Zealand they just couldn't repeat the trick.

For all their dominance of the Wallabies, South Africa's biggest failings in defeat were: 1) being unable or unwilling to vary their attack, opting time and again for slow and powerful ball retention and relatively narrow channels to try and get the ball over the advantage line - a tactic that suited the tackle-hungry Wallabies, and 2) not forcing the Wallabies into errors that cost them kickable penalties.

Naturally more dynamic attackers than the Springboks, the All Blacks posed a markedly different threat and more importantly they didn't wait for Australia to settle before unloading their full arsenal. The Wallabies simply weren't prepared.

Conscious of the grand expectations on the home side to get a result, Australia captain James Horwill won the toss and opted to kick with the intention of putting New Zealand under pressure right from the word go. His plan was immediately undermined when Quade Cooper overcooked his kick-off into touch.

Unerring motion

New Zealand got possession from the scrum on halfway, Piri Weepu kicked to touch within five metres of the Australian try-line to put the pressure back on the Wallabies and the All Blacks machine had been set in unerring motion.

The difference in attacking speed and dynamism between the All Blacks and the Springboks was evident from the opening exchanges, with the pacy back three of Richard Kahui, Cory Jane and the recalled Israel Dagg all prominent in taking the ball to the Australian line with a mixture of incisive tactics.

Indeed, Dagg's first run into the Wallabies' half with ball in hand clearly illustrated the point. Even with Australia's forwards fresh, full back Dagg immediately targeted them, scything his way through Stephen Moore and Rocky Elsom at full pace before making his way into the opposition 22 to set up a ruck on the near side of the field. Six swift passes across the park and less than 10 seconds later Radike Samo was forced to drag down Ma'a Nonu on the far side with the try-line beckoning.

Still within the opening minutes, Kahui came charging in from the left wing, cutting back inside a left-drifting Aaron Cruden to find a neat angle against Australia's laterally shifting defence, while Jane made the most of quickly despatched ball to fend off Digby Ioane on the near touchline before chipping into Australia's in-goal where James O'Connor was forced to concede a five-metre scrum.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it was the marauding Dagg who was key to the All Blacks' opening score. He went in to take the ball outside Cruden at second receiver with an angled run just outside Australia's 22, then headed straight for newcomer Anthony Faingaa at outside centre.

Breathless opening

He used Jane outside him to sell Faingaa a half dummy. Faingaa bought it but Ioane had already come out of the line to take care of Jane, so Dagg slipped himself through Faingaa's gap, fended off the covering Elsom, headed for the space vacated behind Ioane, committed Cooper to the tackle and then expertly offloaded inside for Nonu to score.
It was a breathless opening and the All Blacks' lightning attack had taken less than six minutes to do to Australia what the Springboks had failed to do in 80 the previous week, and it didn't stop there.

In the ninth minute Brad Thorn stole a lineout on Australia's 22-metre line and seconds later the All Blacks received their first penalty when David Pocock went off his feet at a ruck in his own 22. Weepu hit a post with the kick but the All Blacks scrambled, claimed the rebound and back they went at the Wallabies. Less than three minutes later, after Cruden had picked out prop Ben Alexander defending in midfield to make his way into the 22, Pocock was again penalised and this time Weepu made no mistake.

"We put them under pressure at the right end of the field and that pressure turned into points," said grinning All Blacks captain Richie McCaw.

New Zealand's innovation was not limited to creating try-scoring chances either, as another interesting tactic designed to nullify Pocock's threat at the breakdown revealed itself. The All Blacks deliberately targeted Pocock with ball carries in order to keep the Wallabies' flanker on the ground.

The tactic was shown by the fact that at half-time, Pocock had made 16 tackles, double the number of any other player on the field. Pocock admitted it was tough to slow down New Zealand's ball and described the game as "very frustrating".

Game management

“We made sure that we ran at him at every opportunity," said All Blacks flanker Jerome Kaino, confirming the strategy. "We kept him away from our ball for a lot of the time and it allowed us to play at our own pace.”

To their credit, Australia fought back and even got within five points of the All Blacks just after the half hour, but that was as close as they got and Weepu kicked another penalty before the break to make it 14-6 at the turnaround.

The All Blacks' measured quarter-final victory against Argentina had revealed previously unseen RWC composure and their game management was again on show in the second half against the Wallabies.

Daylight on the scoreboard meant the All Blacks could change tactics at the break, control second-half territory, muscle up in defence and force Australia to try and play out of their own half. After the restart New Zealand maintained territorial dominance of 62 per cent for the match and made 64 tackles, 50 per cent more than they had in the first. Australia just couldn't get close enough to force another score.

It was the All Blacks' first RWC victory against Australia and, to add salt into the wound, the 14-point deficit also represented the Wallabies' largest RWC loss.

Frustrated Australia centre Berrick Barnes accepted the All Blacks had controlled the match with their tactics. "The pressure they put us under at every breakdown and every time we went to kick was just immense," he said. "We didn't cope with it as well as we should have."