Laurie Mains believes a lack of \u201ccohesion\u201d among the All Blacks coaches and the team\u2019s inability to change their game-plan cost them Saturday\u2019s match against England.<\/b><\/p>\n
The All Blacks came into that encounter at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham in a confident mood after making a bright start to their Grand Slam campaign following back-to-back victories over Ireland in Chicago and Scotland at Murrayfield.<\/p>\n
Scott Robertson\u2019s troops made a positive opening to their clash against the Red Rose as they raced into a 12-0 lead thanks to tries from Leicester Fainga\u2019anuku and Codie Taylor but the home side did not panic and reduced the deficit to just one point by half-time courtesy of a try from Ollie Lawrence and two drop goals from George Ford.<\/p>\n
England took control of proceedings after the interval as further tries from Sam Underhill, Fraser Dingwall and Tom Roebuck, as well as accurate goal-kicking from Ford, secured their victory with Will Jordan crossing for a converted try for the men in black during that period.<\/p>\n
Loss to England ruins Grand Slam dream<\/p>\n
The All Blacks<\/a>\u2018 defeat means their Grand Slam dream is ruined and they will be hoping to finish their end-of-year tour on a high when they face Wales at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday.<\/p>\n Mains<\/a> was recently interviewed by Sean Plunkett on The Platform NZ<\/a> podcast and the show\u2019s host put it to him that the current All Blacks side were a very different version of previous ones and asked whether New Zealanders still cared about their national team, to which Mains replied: \u201cYes, of course we do.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re going through a bit of an unsettled time at the moment, and I don\u2019t know whether they can find a game-plan they want to use, or what.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t know. It looks to me like there may not be 100% unity among the coaches, or cohesion might be a better word, among the coaches, as to the game-plan they\u2019re going to play.\u201d<\/p>\n Prior to their fine start against England, the All Blacks also held a 17-0 lead against Scotland before their opponents drew level at 17-17 but the men in black fought back and eventually clinched a 25-17 victory in that clash.<\/p>\n Mains believes the All Blacks\u2019 inability to adapt when losing key players to injury, is a major reason for their current woes.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the last two matches, we\u2019ve started the game so well. And it looked to me like the game-plan was solid. But the opposition have been able to knock us off that game-plan,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd we don\u2019t seem to have a plan B to bring it back. And, we have to say this, and I know every team has injury problems, but losing Fabian Holland and then just after half-time losing Cam Roigard were huge events for the All Blacks.<\/p>\n