What a lot happens in a week when you're re out of the loop!

I managed to catch eh All Black French test in the last week, and that's about it.  Hang on, also the Welsh versus Australia second test, but other than that, no rugby for a week - the withdrawal symptoms are almost cleared...

Lets abuse the Welsh first.  When you look up Clueless in the dictionary at the moment, it has a photo of the Welsh touring squad.  They were slack, directionless, skill-less, and just plain 'orrible.  Australia were better, and won by what 30 odd to zero, but still were not world beaters in their own right.  Still, they have moved to second place in the world rankings thanks to that win.

The All Blacks, well, they went better than the Aussies did, beating a team better than that piss poor Welsh outfit, but still not great.

The Frogs looked overawed by the event perhaps, certainly not the psychotic maniacs in blue we have all come to know and love, ripping into everything and everyone with their Gallic flair and brutality.  Nope, it was a soft option (but for their hillbilly at 8) from the Frogs this week.  Certainly the rub of the green, and the blow of the whistle went the All Blacks way, but it was a sub par French team.  Being in country for just four nights before the test started would not have helped either of course!

Expect vast differences this week when they roll out for test two against the Blacks - the brutality and passion will be back - you wait and see.  The talks of 60 point demolitions will not happen...

This test though, 42-11 to the All Blacks.  The result was as comfortable as it sounds, the All Blacks never really threatened.  Even when after 20 odd minutes it was 6-3 to the Men in Black, it was just a matter of time before the points started flowing.

Good to see the All Black scrum continue to behave like a D8* on steroids, even though the boot man Masoe looked like he had not played number eight since his first XV days...  The tight five demolished the French for 80 minutes, it was pretty to watch, and the shape of things to come in World CUp year one would hope.

The lineout too, from throw one it looked a far more polished machine than last season's creaky machine that coughed and spluttered its way through the year.  Good signs early doors for the Cartel, having the two set pieces advanced from last season.

The backline spluttered through the early stages of the test, now and then pulling out something special - Mauger's first try being a case in point.  Other than that, not showing anything to flash, just basics and let the ball do the work.

Speaking of letting the ball do the work, the close in passing game of the All Blacks, the forwards in particular was class.  It's bloody hard getting those close in offloads to the right person at the right time in contact situations with 100 kilo plus Frenchmen trying their best to stop you.  But they did, and I like the look of this.  Relies on being fit, and getting men off the ground real quick, as after two passes you can get isolated way behind enemy lines if you are tackled alone.  So support players have to get off the ground quick, and wider out players, usually the blouses, have to zero in on the breakdown to protect that ball - and perhaps to get another pass.  Nothing better than a couple of short offloads from forward to forward rumbling along, and then a back bursting into the scene - that extra pace can, and does wreck havoc.

A game rating?  Forwards 7/10 for the scrums, would have been more but for Masoe and his mare at the back.  Line outs too 7/10.  Backline in cruise control, I think a pass mark and a bit of 6/10.  Looked a bit inaccurate at times, but Mauger and Toeava were just getting to know each other at the heart of the backline, so expect better things this week...  Overall as a team performance, "looking forward", "starting the journey" or whatever the latest crap corporate speak is, to the RWC, I think a solid passmark, 6/10.

Will rate the individuals performances seperatly.

* D8 - a piss off big bulldozer.  I would have said D10 on steroids, but that scrum belongs to the Boers, but they must use inferior grade fuel, as they get pumped by our D8...