What a difference a week makes, just 172 little hours (to bastardise a song that I know about one line from)...

A 44 point turn around, and a game plan that worked sweet as a nut (although last weeks game plan may have worked, if the All Blacks did not drop every second pass), and a healthy dollop of passion and commitment in the tight, saw last weeks result turned around, and how!!

The All Blacks went from bunnies to world beaters by getting back to basics.  Winning the collision area, playing for what has become the most important 'P', position, and not dropping the damn ball.  Rugby is a simple game, and coaches try and make it complicated - don't!!  Forwards hit rucks and mauls and try and hurt people, the backs do flash things and score lots of tries, and you just carry on from there, trying to facilitate pain infliction for the forwards, and flash harry moves that make the backs look pretty and fast.

Adding to those basics, the All Black forwards got off their collective arses and had a go at the Wobbly lineout, and proceeded to dismantle it piece by piece - great to see that happening in an All Black test match, but not happening to the All Blacks!

And that kicking game.  With a halfback who can kick, and accurately, the pressure is all off Dan Carter, who then proceeds to kick the stitching off the ball, landing it on a sixpence time and time again.  This time out the All Black kicking game, driving into the corners, made the Wobbly / Crusader kicking game look average.  Bombing into midfield time and time again, and getting defused time and time again, left the Wallabies with nothing.  If the opposing team makes no mistakes, where to go?  Perhaps a few more back line moves might be a good idea...

The officials, solid game from the Ref, but that little black fella on the side line that thought he has better get on TV, as it was his second test running the line and still no one knew his name.  Anyway, what a bloody joke.  First Somerville and Sharp having a knuckle comparison at a ruck, nothing in it, and even the little touchie when explaining it the red sounds like he had no idea why he was reporting it himself.  Just stoked he has seem something I think.  Then the last hit from 'Smith' when Smith had kicked the ball and then been flattened himself in the process.  Blokes as incompetent as that should have been reffing the Whangamata married v singles match this weekend, not running the line in an international between two of the best sides in world rugby.

Anyway, enough about the test, you've all seen it, or read about it, or are reading about it on the forum at the moment, onto the player ratings...

15:  Mils Muliaina  7/10
Back to his best at international level at last.  Always threatening with the ball in hand, and string into contact, showing good strength to keep toi his feet and wait for support to keep the drive going.  Save for then main part under the high ball, and solid in the tackle.  Nice to see him back in form at last, after an up and down Super season, and generally a below par, for his high standards, International season.

14:  Richard Kahui  6/10
Not a game for any of the wingers on the field really.  A solid if not earth shattering game.  One major blemish when he dropped a high kick horribly (with a little help from the recently arrived on the field Tuitavake), but other than that, pretty tidy.  Went for an intercept when Mortlock cup through for his try, but he was one on three at the time, and it was pretty much the only option left for him.  His highlight of the match the bootlace tackle on a flying Tuqiri late in the match that would have seen a try run in had it missed.  Then to centre later in the match when Smith was subbed.

13:  Conrad Smith  6/10
Hands like feet for a period late in the first half, but other than I think it was three dropsies, solid as a rock.  Let Mortlock slip outside him for the try mentioned above, but other than that, a Joe Stanley effort in defence.  Not many opportunities with the ball, even when he caught the damn thing...

12:  Ma'a Nonu  7/10
Found a bit of form again with the ball in hand with some nice busts as the game wore on.  Strong again on defence.  Two tries, the second showing a bit of toe from 50 odd metres out.  Got a big greedy once he found his confidence though, on a couple of occasions he should have moved the ball wider, but good to see the hands back, not trying to force passes, and the breaks coming.  We have yet to see him have a huge game in black this season, lets hope he saves it for Cape Town in a few weeks!! 

11:  Sitiveni Sivivatu  6/10
Not as active as last week by a long way, but looked to get involved without much luck.  Tidy without much ball going his way.  With the All Blacks kicking for position a lot more than last week, there were less chances for the counter attack from the Fijian flyer.  Most be the longest try scoring drought  in his short test career.

10:  Dan Carter  8/10
Dan Carter circa. 2005 is back.  Imperious display of controlled football.  Had the ball on a string with his field kicking, and 19 points off the boot, punishing the Wobblies each time they transgressed within his range.  Kept the scoreboard ticking over, rewarding the All Blacks for their dominant forward display.

9:  Jimmy Cowan  9/10
I bloody hope the Henry Cartel get off their Andy Ellis bandwagon, and play the best halfback, not the halfback they thing might be the best in 20 years if he find a skill set that includes kicking, clearing the ball quickly from breakdown, running strongly with the ball in hand and defending like a fourth loose forward.  Cowan was superb.  Kicked more in this one test, and more accuratly than Cowan has in the entire season - and never once did he thereaten to decapitate his own forwad pack with piss poor kicking.  Am I slightly dirty that Cowan has taken this long to be started, hell yes.  The entire world has been calling for this change since the Pom tests, and finally it happens, and Cowan shows that he is the best 9 in New Zealand (uninjured) by a long way.

8:  Rodney So'oialo  8/10
With the pressure off, no 'c' beside his name on the team sheet, and back to his home at the back of the scrum, Rodders was superb.  Apart from that chip kick he pulled out from the depths.  That was shite.  Other than that though, his work at the rucks and mauls was great, hitting and driving off the belly flopping Aussies, giving Cowan a nice ride at half, and conversely, giving the little Aussie 9 ugly pill to work with.  Twice the player when he is wingman to Richie McCaw.

7:  Richie McCaw  8/10
How he was missed last week.  And who would know he had been off the field for 6 weeks.  Eighty minutes of guts from the skipper, and as mentioned above, a 44 point turnaround as a result!  Just McCaw at his best - annoying and effecive at the breakdown, winning the battle there against the two Aussie sevens in a landslide.  Hell, was Waugh on the fieeld even, I never noticed him, apart from when the swarm of tweety birds flooded the screen flying around his head after copping an elbow to the jaw.  I think that experiment will be shelved quick smart.  But McCaw, great to see him back on the field.  Not his 'A' game though, his support play not quite where it normally is, but give the man a break, his lungs must have been bursting!

6:  Jerome Kaino  7/10
Solid display again, and back where he should be, at 6, doing the hard yards in support of the ball carrier.  Perhaps move him back to the 8 jersey when Rodders moves on, and he has a few more tests and experience under his belt - and a season of Super rugby there too...  Anyway, great lineout option, snaring four of the wins off the Aussie throw, and taking a majority of the All Black wins too if I recall correctly.  Strong defensive game, and like Rodney and McCaw, a real pain in the arse at rucks and mauls.

5:  Ali Williams  8/10
A different player from last week.  This week the big hard skilled lock, as opposed to last weeks wide ranging seagull!  What we expect week in and week out from the senior All Black lock.  Part of the powerful All Black scrum, a lineout that made a pain of itself for the Wobblies (instead of itself for a change), and as mentioned, put himself about the field like a super sized number six!

4:  Brad Thorn  7/10
Any game where the big man doesn't get a card is a good one...  Another grafting game, filled with ruck demolitions, crunching tackles, and no nonsense ball carries.  The ideal foil for big Ali in the big games. 

3:  Greg Somerville  6/10
A better effort by a long way than last weeks, but still found wanting on occasion on the tackle - his lateral movement not the sharpest in the defensive line, and that is found out by the better of the international teams.  Still, scrummed well and his work at ruck and maul was spot on.  Not seen much about the field at all on attack, just busy making sure the phase ball was won.  Basics!

2:  Andrew Hore  8/10
Getting better and better and better the more he plays.  Now clearly the best hooker in New Zealand, and would have to be rated up there on the international scene too.  Just so hard to pull down when he carries the ball forward in the close quarter combat areas, keeps the legs driving and twists and turns, looking to gain every millimetre of ground.  Lineout throwing is good, most times when things turn turkey it being the fault of the entire lineout, not shite throws.  This test will be stoked with a hundred percent record in that department.  Has scrummaging no problem at this level now - as opposed to how one R Loe a B Man thought a few short weeks ago...

1:   Tony Woodcock  9/10
What any team in the world would give to have a Woody in their test team.  The premier international prop on the scene today.  Has it all, strength in the set pieces, a tackle rate that rivals loose forwards, ball carrying ab ility that frees up loose forwads, and this week, a nose for the tryline - two dots in five minutes making his test, and making the day for thousands of old front rowers around the country too!!  Best of all, he adhered to the rules, almost.  After the first five pointer no emotion crossed his dial as he ran back to wait for the conversion and restart.  However, after the second, there was a little grin on his face, so points off for that, but hell, how often do fatties score twice in five minutes, apart from in the dining room.  Not bad for a Myth eh...

16:  Kevin Mealamu  7/10
Two weeks of tidy performances off the bench for the veteran rake.  Starting to play to the level that saw him rated right up there among world hookers a year ago.  Good to see.

17:  John Afoa  7/10
Again did nothing wrong in his bried stint on the field.  Adds much more around the paddock than veteran Somerville. Has great ball skills and some serious pace for a fat boy frontrower.

18:  Anthony Boric
On the field almost long enough to raise a sweat, but not long enough to get a rating!!

19:   Adam Thomson
Like Boric, hardly there long enough to raise a sweat.  Long enough to give away a couple of penalties though, something he needs to reduce no end.  Just be a bit smarter.

20:  Piri Weepu
Again, no rating, but would love to see him stay there on the bench behind Cowan, with Ellis slotted back into that Canterbury side with instruction to learn how to pass and to kick.  Skills that would be nice to have as an All Black half...

21:  Stephen Donald
First touch of the ball managed to kick it out on the full, other than that, tidy, got stuck in, made some tackled and fitted into the game style nicely.  Would still like to see him have a go at 12 at some stage...

22:  Anthony Tuitavake
Added bugger all, once nice trademark spot tackle, but other than that, like the rest of the wingmen on the field tonight, did not much.