McAlister worsens pivot poser
Sun, 28 Jun 2009 12:04
All Blacks flyhalf Luke McAlister, who had his first match for more than two years in the All Blacks No. 10 jersey, had an error-ridden game against Italy on Saturday, which could be blamed only in part on the failure of the New Zealand forwards to give him quality ball.
McAlister and Stephen Donald have been given the chance to prove themselves but neither of them produced a convincing performances this season. And with Dan Carter still sidelined the All Blacks are still waiting for a solution in the important flyhalf position.
McAlister has been a favourite of the All Blacks selectors before and after his two-year break from international rugby to play for the English club Sale. He has played either flyhalf or inside center.
The New Zealand forwards were unable to subdue a gallant Italy pack and failed to lay the foundation on which the All Blacks' attacking game could be built.
From an even share of possession, Italy produced a more intelligent kicking game which gave them a territorial advantage of almost 70 percent over the course of the match.
McAlister felt both he and the All Blacks settled to their task better in the second half after a mid-match talk from Henry that he'd not seen the likes of in his time.
"He was pretty fiery. He gave us a bit of a rark-up which I think we needed, McAlister said.
"Towards the end of the game we got a bit more comfortable and started hitting the gain-line a bit harder. Once we held the ball a bit more we were also able to build pressure."
But McAlister felt there was no need to panic ahead of the Tri-Nations despite a trio of unconvincing performances over the past few weeks.
"I just think it's small things. Just holding the ball. We dropped a lot of ball and there were a few poor decisions. Once we get that right we should be sweet."
"This is a new team. We had five new All Blacks tonight. You can't expect miracles. You can't just wave a magic wand and we play like world champions. It's going to take time."
All Blacks back coach Wayne Smith also felt that McAlister got better as the game went on
"He got better as the game went on," Smith said.
"He played with some confidence in the last quarter of an hour, and started to make some good decisions."
Head coach Graham Henry insisted the All Blacks would improve before the first Tri-Nations test against Australia on July 18 in Auckland.
"When we find ourselves in these situations we need to get tight as a group of players and work out the next step and what we need to do to improve," Henry said.
"We have met these challenges before and we will do what we have to do."
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