OK, been half a week since the All Blacks lost to the Wobblies.  The Forum has been a hot bed for over-reaction, and doom and gloom, and woe is us threads flooding the place.

Time for a more balanced look at this, but there is no one balanced here on the Fern, so you'll have to listen up to my ramblings.

First, turn those alarm bells down.  Not off, down.  These games, as the whole season, and in fact any game prior to the Rugby World Cup knockout stages, mean sod all, and have as much influence on the games as the ramblings and predictions on the forums here!

Really, what has this game told us that we didn't know?  Nothing.  And before anyone talks about cracking under pressure and all that jazz, bollocks.  The lost to a team that played better on the day.  The week before, they excelled under pressure from the Bokke to come from a similar sort of defecit to win.  Last season they came back from an 11 point halftime deficit to beat the Wobblies.  It's just rugby at its best - you win some, and you lose some, it's the nature of the beast.

OK, finger pointing time.  Our backline as a whole, for the entire season, has been stuttering like a Ferarri running on used vegetable oil.  This of course comes from individuals in the backline are horribly out of form, hence the backline unit being rubbish.

No one is blameless here either.  It starts from Kelleher, who looks like he is auditioning to be a dummy half runner in a boofball game.  His clearance from rucks and mauls makes Justin bloody Marshall look like greased lightning.  Weepu looks better, but even then, still not that flash.  It's that old coaching maxim that used to be drilled into players, "don't shovel shit".  If you get a bad pass, and you pass that on, you are exponentially increasing the chances of a foul up further out.  So if you get a bad ball, tuck it under your wing, and start things again - crash it up and set a new phase.

Carter is not looking his old self - the man that tore the British Lions apart in 2005.  We've all been waiting for him to arrive back, and he has shown flashes, but it is still not there.  Maybe that Lions side was even craper than we thought after there three nil series loss.  Cheap shots at the Lions aside, Carter is not on form, and an average Carter is a sad thing to watch - sort of like those veteran heavyweight boxers that keep coming back as shadows of themselves, and making dicks of themselves.  Carter is quality though, it is just a matter of finding the key to that, and perhaps, perhaps the key lies in the number nine jersey, and the player wearing it.

The midfield is not looking the flashest either.  The best looking version has seen Toeava at centre.  Perhaps he should be teamed up with Lucky Luke, as Aaron Mauger has been a bit like Carter, just not playing at his usual high level.  Again though, like Carter, form is temporary, class is forever, and once the shit stops getting shoveled out to him, everything will start coming up roses.

We do though, need to play a specialist centre in real games.  Hell, even Ma'a Nonu would have been a better option at centre this last weekend!! You would think that the Cartel would have learned from lessons past that 'make do' centre don't 'make do'!  Leon MacDonald and Christian Cullen will tell you that in spades.  So last weekend, Nick Evans to fullback, and Muliaina at centre would have been the best option, and the closest to a specialist centre that we could have fielded.

Mind you, you can see where the Cartel were coming from with the selections that they made.  There are three very high quality players they want to get onto the field, and only two spot to fit them into.  Carter, Mauger and McAlister, three into two does not go.  If this had worked, than it would have been a master stroke.  It didn't so the Cartel are lambasted.  Better in this match, PRE RWC, than in a knock out match during!  Wait and see, if injuries like this strike in France, you will see the best centres being played, not the best players, but playing out of position.  Hell, I would even choose a Casey Laulala, a specialist centre ahead of Lucky Luke!

We needn't worry though, Toeava and Smith, with Muliaina as back up will have the thirteen jersey covered during the RWC.

The six back three boys have been a mixed bag.  MacDonald, Sivivatu and Rokocoko all in form (Panadol after a slow start).  The other three, Muliaina, Howlett and Gear lacking.  Howlett only one game, sure, but he didn't look to be in the class of the Rock and Sivi anymore.  Gear, well, ship him off north now, he can start counting up his pounds and pence already.  Ma'a Nonu a better option than both these wingers now I think, thanks to him being a centre who can play wing, as centre seems to be the achillies heal (not achillies tendon, as Mr Willie Looser mangles on Radio Sport) in the New Zealand backline come RWC time!

The forward pack.  I really don't think there is much more they can do around the paddock and at scrum time.  They are as good as it gets there.

The lineout though, a different story.  However, we have survived with this creaking for so many years we forget about it now, and expect it to be crap, and even when it is not crap, we still lament it.  Hell, we could win all out own ball, 50% of the oppositions, and there would still be moaning!!  Still, an improvement here would be grand.  On the EOYT last season it looked to be starting to come together, but that run of lock injuries put paid to that development real quick.  But the last three standing, Jack, Robinson and Williams are more than adequate to win the ball when it matters.  Just need to get them onto the field!

As a unit the forwards are going pretty well, but what about the individuals.  Who has been shown up?  Sorry fans, I think there is just one that has been tried, and found wanting.  Yes, Troy Flavell.  The big man is just not big enough to be an international lock.  Super 14 level, fine, he can get away with storming runs and the like, and shirking his tight duties, but not at international level.  Brain explosions here will cost test matches.  S perhaps the injuries to all the genuine locks has been a good thing, as we;ve been able to trial Flavell, and see where he is at, and that will be, hopefully, on the couch come RWC time.  However, with the need for a 4th lock, perhaps he will get a trip anyway - it might be Thorne who is left at home, time'll tell..

So the All Black problems all stem from shovelling shit, so how to fix that?  It seems to start from position 9 outwards, sooooo...?

Simple.  Find a halfback whose pass is better than anyone else's, get him to pass the ball to Carter, and get Carter to run the game.  Once Carter starts running the show, and with the time to do it, his form will return quicker than you can say 'four more years'.  I think that halfback has been found, and has not had much game time over the last few weeks.

Brendon Leonard, yes, the rookie halfback is the one.  He will just knuckle down and do his job - won't think that he should be running the show as a 50 test veteran might do.  He'll just pass, and pass, and pass, and then when that gap appears, he'll take it like a scalded cat, and make a break, not get thumped time and time again like some others might...

Right, so problem solved, test team for the Boers in a fortnight as follows, one that'll bring all 'n' sundry back into form in one fell swoop...

15 Muliaina, 14 Rokocoko, 13 Toeava, 12 Mauger, 11 Sivivatu, 10 Carter, 9 Leonard, 8 So'oialo, 7 McCaw (c), 6 Collins, 5 Jack, 4 Robinson, 3 Hayman, 2 Oliver, 1 Woodcock.  16 Mealamu, 17 Tialata, 18 Filipo, 19 Masoe, 20 Weepu, 21 McAlister, 22 MacDonald.

Everybody happy now...?