Julian Savea scored a hat-trick of tries but New Zealand’s rugby superstars took a battering before they overcame Georgia to become the first nation into the World Cup quarter-finals.
The 43-10 result did not reflect the struggle by the All Blacks in the Millennium Stadium where the biggest cheer went to Georgia’s tough tackling hero Mamuka Gorgodze as he was named man-of-the-match.
Captain Richie McCaw and coach Steve Hansen both admitted that it was not a great night for the team seeking to become the first to win back-to-back Rugby World Cup titles. But both said there was no reason to panic.
“I was a little disappointed with some of the errors we made, but that’s an easy thing to fix,” McCaw said.
“We’re under no illusions, it wasn’t perfect out there, but I thought the intensity around some of those contact areas was a definite step up.”
“There’s a lot of things we could have done better for sure. Our execution at times was not great,” said Hansen.
Georgia physically matched the world champions, forcing them into elementary errors.
Lost lineouts and scrums, passes fired into empty spaces and penalties not finding touch – Dan Carter missed three conversions out of seven – showed the All Blacks were well out of tune with only one game against Tonga left before the knockout stages.
Starting their top available side against a Georgia team resting many of their best players, the All Blacks were expected to win comfortably. But they were only 22-10 up at half-time before adding three tries in the second half.
They were rattled by a Georgia team that used bone-jarring tackles and their powerful forward pack to shake the All Blacks.
Georgia’s coach Milton Haig still came away a “proud” man.
“I asked the boys during the week and before the game to play with a bit of pride, for their country, to show the rugby world what Georgian rugby is about. For large parts of the game tonight that’s what we did.”
Although qualified for the last eight, there will undoubtedly be work to do before New Zealand meet Tonga next Friday in Newcastle.
“If we had one problem I think would be the easiest to fix in this team it would be skill execution. We’ve got plenty of talent,” said Hansen.
“But at the moment we are working on some other things and the things we were working on tonight were pretty good. I wouldn’t say our game was great but it doesn’t have to be at the moment.”
Hansen said even if the All Blacks had won by a much bigger score it would have done nothing for them.
McCaw went off in the second half and put an ice-pack on his leg, but dismissed fears of a serious injury.
“I just got a couple of bruises on my shin and quad. I could have carried on. A couple of days rest, and I will be fine,” he said.
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