THE STRIKING BALANCE
The statistics make a compelling case to justify why the All Blacks have a default mechanism to back their ability to score tries from almost any situation.
Put the All Blacks under pressure and they tend to see that the best way to relieve it is to trust their ability to pass, catch and run. They are a natural ball-playing team – they look up, see space and want to exploit it which is why they have scored more than 2000 test tries in their history while no other side has cracked 1700 yet.
The All Blacks have scored 311 tries at World Cups, while the next highest total is Australia at 209 then France at 171.
If we look at total penalties scored in history, then the All Blacks sit behind England, France, South Africa, Wales and Australia.
All of which helps establish that the All Blacks are brilliant at moving the ball and shifting the scoreboard in multiples of five points.
That's how they best hurt teams – by creating, then exploiting space to free up the legion of powerful runners they always seem to have.
Any test that becomes unstructured, the All Blacks will almost certainly win. They have no peer when it comes to the business of using timing, anticipation, instinctive understanding and immaculate execution of the basic skills.
If there is space they will work it to the point where they score a try. Their decision-making in open play is often brilliant and of course throughout history they have had players such as Christian Cullen, Jeff Wilson, Tana Umaga, Jonah Lomu, Ma'a Nonu, Ben Smith and Julian Savea who have been lethal when left to run.
In recent times that ability to run and conjure miracle tries has been invaluable and seen them win tests that few other teams would have been able to claw back.
Most memorably
