McCaw smiles at deserved silverware
Sat, 13 Sep 2008 14:56
All Black captain Richie McCaw applauded his side's second-half comeback to take the Tri-Nations and Bledisloe Cup titles with an emphatic 28-24 victory over Australia in Brisbane on Saturday.
Australia threatened to regain the lead in the dying stages, but thanks to some powerful counter-rucking, the All Blacks summed up a match that showed true Kiwi resource after going into the half-time break with a three-point deficit.
"In the first half they [Australia] were more original than us," McCaw said shortly after securing the Tri-Nations title at the Suncorp Stadium.
"The coaches gave us a bit of a rev at half-time, which was deserved, because we hadn't got into the game.
"But the way we used the ball in the second half got us home in the end."
The All Blacks were blown out of the water five minutes before and after the interval, which McCaw admitted caused him some concern at the time.
"It's always said that those are critical times to score tries [before and after half-time].
"It wasn't ideal, but we toughed it out and waited for opportunities to start running because we were looking a bit lethargic there just before half-time."
The All Black coaching staff thus made some crucial replacements around the 50 minute mark, which duly turned the game around for the Kiwis who went on to score 21 unanswered points in the next 20 minute period.
Keven Mealamu, John Afoa and Stephen Donald all came on the 50th minute, while Piri Weepu replaced Jimmy Cowan in the 54th minute - all of whom had a significant impact on the match.
"With fresh legs you always expect that, but with quality individuals like Piri Weepu and Keven Mealamu coming and getting straight in, is a luxury I suppose," said McCaw.
The New Zealand defence was especially telling on Saturday, with certain individuals setting the standard early on.
"With guys like Jerome Kaino and the hits he was putting in, it showed the way for the rest of us," he added.
McCaw noted how critical the breakdown area was going to be on the final outcome of the game, who saw his side take a much more offensive stance in the second half.
"We tried to maximise the game [at the breakdown], but were on the back end at the end of the first half and going backwards," said the breakdown specialist.
"Once we started to go for it [in the second half], it made it a lot easier for us," McCaw added.
