Tamati Ellison: All Blacks assistant coach on the All Blacks' loss to England

There's disappointment among Kiwi fans after the All Blacks got knocked out of the Grand Slam.

England has beaten New Zealand 33-19 at Twickenham, dashing hopes of a first Grand Slam since 2010.

All Blacks assistant coach Tamati Ellison joined Piney to discuss.

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from Newstalks b.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Your Blacks aren't going anywhere.

Speaker 3 (00:15):
The ball Colla nipped ahead, reget it.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
England thirty three All Blacks nineteen. All Black's assistant coach
Tamothy Ellison is with us. Tomody, thanks for joining us.
What's your overall evaluation of the All Blacks performance today?

Speaker 3 (00:37):
You probably didn't take opportunities in the first half. They
took beers, you know they and then started well after
the half.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
What areas in particular are going to be most important
for you to review and address.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
I think a couple of structural on the defensive side
of the ball, just off the line out there and
off the scrum. Probably a couple of individual pieces, but
it'll be the job of helping each other and being
clear on who's doing what pre prescome engagement before the
ball comes out of the line out.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
Is the team implementing the game plan that you're asking
them to?

Speaker 3 (01:20):
Yeah, I think when you when you see the boys
play with speed, you use their feet and I think
you saw, you know, when we created those opportunities on
the edges in the first half. I was really clear
with the spot the space was and so we had
more opportunities to get there as well. So you know,
I think we look really good in those moments.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
What did you make of the yellow card to Cody Taylor.

Speaker 3 (01:45):
Yeah, it's fair. You know, the rest are coming down
now on on cynical plan that was deemed cynical. So yeah,
if you're going to steal the ball, you're going to
steal it while they're still in the air, not once
it's at the ground.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
Why is the twenty minute period after halftime such an
issue for you at the moment?

Speaker 3 (02:04):
I think that you know, in the game context, you know,
the opposition teams have have come out and really fired
the first shot, So I think it's important that we're
really clear on what that looks like and that team's
really come out after half with that intent. At the
same time, I thought that they started with intent as well,

(02:26):
regardless of the score, their their collisions and their carry
and clean and the time they stolen the tackle. They
did a really good job there.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
What's fatigue a factor at all today?

Speaker 3 (02:38):
I think it's always the fact that it's something that
you have to manage and you and you do the best.
As I said in the part we've got Nick Gil here,
we're really lucky and he structures the week around load
of what the boys need. And obviously he's he's done
that for a long time, so there's always going to
be fatigued. Butcially just this end of the season for

(03:00):
teams that are coming towards the end. So it's just
just making sure that we're really clear with the comment
and and when someone's had enough, like in any equalision
support that you get the next guy on.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
And what about the aerial game, Tamot, how much more
improvement do you perceive there is still required there?

Speaker 3 (03:18):
Yeah? I think in all the games, you know, like
the Spring Box Italy game earlier, the amount of you know,
clean catches that weren't taken. It's more the work after
the catch and the scraps on the ground that we're
seeing more and more. You know, It's it's a constant
work on for us for sure, but it's also constant

(03:40):
work on for for everyone now adapting to the rules,
not just in the air but on the ground also.
You see when when the board bobbles, who's first to
get that?

Speaker 2 (03:51):
Have you seen improvements in general terms on this all
black side in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 3 (03:56):
Yeah, I think so. I definitely do you know different
different players coming in and executing, for sure, And.

Speaker 2 (04:09):
If you're looking for areas where more improvement is still needed,
where would you be focusing?

Speaker 3 (04:15):
But you always start with my area that you know
something I lead around the defense and I'm stealing time
in the techle. We did a good job against the
Scotts last week of slowing them down defending for long phases,
which you have to do at times, whereas tonight we
didn't probably steal as much time in a tackle and
they were able to play with more speed than we

(04:37):
would have liked.

Speaker 2 (04:39):
So we're about to reach the midway point of the
World Cup cycle. How far from where you want to be?
Are you?

Speaker 3 (04:47):
Oh? This this is definitely still a gift, and you
know we're always chasing and building towards where we want
to get to for sure. And then they're continuing to
adapt to the game. As you mentioned, the aerial game
is something and it's it's been massive the year across
all the international so that these individual areas and it's

(05:08):
a matter of continuing to develop the individuals for those roles.

Speaker 2 (05:14):
And I know it's not your particular brief, but in
terms of attack, is there's still some work to do
around around sparking the backline more regularly rather than relying
on individual flashes of brilliance to score tries.

Speaker 3 (05:28):
I think I think it's both. You know, we really
back our athletes in one on one situations. At the
same time, you're always trying to drive more cohesion and
more rhythm. So it's definitely both. We've got a great
individual athletes and we want them to fully express themselves.
So they said that there's a gap in all the areas,

(05:49):
and so they should be because of the standard that
we're chasing.

Speaker 2 (05:54):
Is this a gutting loss for you?

Speaker 3 (05:58):
It is definitely is yes. I mean you only have
to come into the changing room to see that and
see how much the group feels it. You know. The
important thing now is we've bounced back quick because you
know the losses, we've copped the shoe. We have had
a week off at the end of the RC before
going into a new team, so we'll have to bounce fast,

(06:21):
all right.

Speaker 2 (06:21):
Tommody, Hey, thanks for taking our call. Appreciate it. That's
Tomothy Ellison, one of the assistant coaches of the All Blacks.

Speaker 1 (06:28):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to News Talk sed B weekends from midday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio