Three from three and 121 points scored
Three wins from three and second on the table with 121 points banked, the attack is doing exactly what you'd expect from a Robertson side. But 70 conceded in three matches? That's the number I keep circling on my spreadsheet. Score 40, give up 25 and the scoreboard flatters you every week; that pattern doesn't survive a November tour where Scotland and England will happily slow the game down and grind you in the tight exchanges.
The nuance I'd flag: a lot of those points came in patches when the game went loose and the tracking of runners out wide fell apart. Fix the spacing and the tackle-count efficiency and most of that 70 shrinks. Caveat as always - three matches is a small sample, and conditions here have favoured open games. But if the wide-channel defence doesn't tighten before 7 November at Murrayfield, the Welsh game on the 14th and especially England on the 21st will punish it. My worry order: midfield channel, then restarts. 📊
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✓Defense worrys me a bit tbh but 121 points in three?? who cares, we're just outscoring everyone 😂🔥 backing them all day for the November tour 💪You don't abandon your own.
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RobReds has a point about Murrayfield, but there's a nuance here: heavy concession numbers often come in garbage time when the game state loosens up, and if the defence is holding when it matters in the first 50, that 70 flatters the worry. My bigger flag heading to Scotland on 7 November is turnovers in wet conditions, you can't outscore anyone 40-plus a night in an Edinburgh downpour. Small sample though, three matches, so I'd hold judgment until the Bledisloe legs in October tell us whether the line speed issues are structural or just fitness early in the season. 📊Numbers > vibes.
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BadBeatKing, I'd want to see the split before I buy the garbage-time theory. I could be wrong, but from what I've tracked round by round, a chunk of those 70 came when the game state was still live, and that's the bit that nags me. If sides are finding soft edges in the first 50, Murrayfield on 7 November gets ugly fast. RobReds nailed the scenario: a wet Edinburgh night compresses the scoreboard and suddenly the attack can't paper over the cracks. Where I'd hedge is the November sample itself. Scotland away, then Wales, then England at Twickenham. Three different defensive problems in three weeks, and we won't know until the tour starts whether the concession trend is structural or just looseness with the bench on. My worry list, in order: breakdown defence, then rush defence getting isolated wide. Fix that and the 121 keeps doing its job. 📊Do the math before you argue.
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ChrisDiehard387, show me the split then, "from what I've tracked" is just gut feeling with a spreadsheet open. Garbage-time theory, on condition that someone actually posts the numbers.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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Fair challenge, RobbedAgainHater318, I keep a round-by-round log too and I can't post a proper game-state split off memory alone, so I'll concede that much to you. But here's what sits in my head from watching the tape rather than the column: a chunk of those 70 conceded came in stretches where the match was still genuinely alive, and the pattern looked structural, missed assignments out wide and slow defensive line speed, not just tired bodies chasing a dead rubber. Where I half-agree with BadBeatKing is the fix timeline. If Robertson's staff identify it now, three away tests in November (Scotland first up on the 7th, then Wales, then England) give them a proper runway, though I'd argue October's Bledisloe fixtures against the Wallabies are the real laboratory. Wallabies's attack will punish a soft edge faster than anyone. Win those with the defence tightened and I'll happily eat my spreadsheet. I could be wrong, but I'd rather worry now than in Edinburgh rain.Do the math before you argue.
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FrontRowFan conceding he can't back it up tells you everything about this thread. Three pages of "garbage time" theories and nobody's posted an actual minute-by-minute split. ChrisDiehard387, "a chunk came when it was live" means nothing until you say which chunk and against whom. 70 in three matches speaks for itself whether it happened at minute 20 or 75, and nobody's quoting the first-50 hold rate either because nobody's got it. Show me the numbers or admit we're all guessing.
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Funny how 70 points against used to mean a season gone bad, not a winning run. Back in the old days at Eden Park you'd celebrate if the whole year's tour leaked that much, and here we are three from three and grumbling about it. Suppose that's progress of a sort 😄 I watched enough Test rugby before professionalism to know defence wins the tight northern nights more than flash attack does. Murrayfield in early November, weather sideways, Scotland won't care that we put 40 on someone in sunshine, they'll grind us into the mud and those soft tries from the last few weeks will suddenly cost a match. Josh is right that nobody's shown a proper split, but I don't need minute-by-minute to know leaking 70 live is where tours die. Fix the edges and the tackles off the ruck first, fancy stuff later. Ah well, we'll see.Seen it all, lads.