All Blacks never say die

The All Blacks started the 2014 festival season in good style.

Historically they've been slow to start in games but not today! Straight from the get go they made in-roads into the opposition and defended for all their worth. Tackling was the best we've seen all season from the boys and with the pre-match talk about not panicking trying to off load the ball when it's not practical to do so ringing in their ears the recycling was much better this week.

In all four pool matches the opposition were much bigger and very physical but this didn't deter the AB's as they more than matched the opposition. A couple of purple patches in the middle of each game meant the AB's propped up the bottom of the pool and therefore didn't progress through to the final but they can take a lot from today's games, the tacking, and recycling got better and better as the day went on. We also have a couple of things to work on next week.

All of the boys were absolutely shattered after the final game having tacked their little hearts out against much bigger opposition they couldn't have done anymore in defense today and for that and their spirit I'm incredibly proud of this group of courageous players they continue to build in confidence and ability and always finish each game with a smile on their faces showing they are enjoying their rugby and that to me is key!

Well done boys

A very proud coach Stevie