All Blacks v Springboks: Referee Matthew Carley could shape first test

I bet people watching the game on TV around the world stood and applauded loudly in their living rooms when Amashukeli overruled the French TMO trying to convince him a Bulls’ try should be ruled out.

Amashukeli frowned, shook his head, and blew for a try, trusting those things – what are they called again? Oh, yeah … eyes.

In contrast, Carley and his English colleague Karl Dickson have the prim and punctilious air of council inspectors charged with coming to your home to examine your recycling to see that there’s no rogue biscuit packets, toothbrushes or old vacuum cleaners in your bin.

Northern hemisphere refs are also more lenient over breaks in play and some of the delaying tactics the Boks will undoubtedly pull in this series as they try to knock the All Blacks’ fast-paced game out of rhythm.

It’s part of the game up there. You know – the committee meeting before every lineout, injury breaks which may or may not be injuries and so on.

I suppose we should be grateful there are no French refs involved in this series, with Amashukeli controlling the second test, Australia’s Angus Gardner the third, and Dickson the fourth.

Make no mistake, style/tactics will be vital.

We all know what’s coming – the old paradox of the irresistible force versus the immovable object.

The Boks are a far more expansive team these days (who can forget that 43-10 hiding in Wellington last year?), but their DNA is still built around forward power, speedy, smothering defence, physical onslaught at the breakdowns and retrievable high kicks, just as in that 2023 World Cup final.

Against this, the All Blacks will be employing their move-the-ball, fast-paced, offloading game – a classic clash of styles which will depend hugely on minimising mistakes and the referee’s interpretation.

There’s been a hint they might surprise by taking on the Boks at their strengths (scrum, lineout and breakdowns), but that is not how they’ve played so far on tour.

The South Africans have already pulled a masterstroke. The lead-up games against the Stormers, Sharks and Bulls have mostly diluted the tour’s “Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry” marketing schtick.

With 43 Springboks removed, the slogan could so far be altered to: “Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Minus 43 Top Players Who Might Have Helped Whip The All Blacks Into Shape”. Bit long, I guess, but more accurate.

There’s a firm school of thought that putting 50 points on two of the weakened, out-of-season franchises plus an excellent last 20 minutes against the Stormers is the wrong kind of preparation for what’s coming the All Blacks’ way this weekend.

On top of that, three key players – Ardie Savea, Cam Roigard and Will Jordan – haven’t played a minute and injury doubt still surrounds first-choice fullback Damian McKenzie.

That’s why the TAB odds on the winner of the first test showed the Boks at $1.42 and the All Blacks at $2.80 when I looked.

There’s another reason why the All Blacks could yet triumph here – what is known in modern parlance as “engine”; the ability to keep operating at maximum voltage even in today’s energy-sapping game.

The All Blacks have multiple players with that kind of perpetual-motion facility: Savea, Fabian Holland, Segner, Peter Lakai, Codie Taylor, Luke Jacobson, Tupou Vaa’i, and Sam Darry.

It calls to mind the last period of All Blacks domination, the 2015 World Cup-winning team. Those with similar “engines”: Richie McCaw, Brodie Retallick, Sam Whitelock, Jerome Kaino, Sam Cane and Kieran Read.

In selection terms, there are two difficult choices – lock and wing. For me, even though he’s had little game time, Holland must start; he could be one of the greats. Darry could partner him (assuming Vaa’i is at flanker) with Patrick Tuipulotu as impact from the bench.

Wing is a lot harder. Leroy Carter was tremendous against the Bulls, scoring two tries and playing a leading role in three of the other six.

His was another all-energy, look-for-work performance, sniping from rucks and mauls, a la Mark Tele’a and Leicester Fainga’anuku. Josh Moorby is more at home in the outfield, makes excellent rugby decisions, runs clever angles and is a fine finisher; he has more than a touch of Ben Smith about him.

Maybe both will play if Jordan is shifted to fullback for McKenzie.

This team is beginning to hum under Dave Rennie and, if they can escape the physical embrace of the Boks and the whistle of Carley, they could shine.

The celebrated writer Martin Amis, who died a couple of years ago, once said that good writing was “not about coming up with striking adverbs, it’s more about removing as many uglinesses as I can find”.

That’s what the All Blacks must do – minimise the ugly mistakes in their high-risk game.

Paul Lewis writes about rugby, cricket, league, football, yachting, golf, the Olympics and Commonwealth Games.

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