Mitchell unfazed by Wales scare

New Zealand will head into their World Cup quarter-final against South Africa determined to prove that their poor defensive effort against Wales was a timely wake-up call rather than a disastrous exposure of major problems.

The All Blacks provided enough gaps in their lines for Wales to score four tries, and they also seemed slow to react on the field, exemplified by Robert Jones performing a chip-and-regather trick twice in identical situations.

But coach John Mitchell has defended suggestions his team were playing too loose and were too focused on attack.

“I didn’t think we were loose at all. It wasn’t flawless by any means, but you have to look at the quality of the start and you also have to look at the quality of the finish,” said Mitchell.

“There were some lapses that allowed them to get back in the game,” he admitted.

“But we did still score eight tries and created an enormous amount of opportunities, so the contest that we got was very much in need and in a lot of ways created a realisation of what we’re about to head into.

“While I thought there were areas we needed to improve, I was encouraged by aspects of the performance.”

Backs coach Robbie Deans agreed, saying the Welsh had forced a reassessment of some areas, but also jogged a general improvement in standards.

“There was a breakdown in the team method and there were a couple of lapses,” said Deans.

“If you look at the performance, what you got was a raising of the bar, a raising of the intensity, and you’ve got to give credit where credit is due - Wales put us under pressure and we responded to that ultimately.

“We actually raised our level, believe it or not. We analyse our performance pretty closely and statistically it was a raising of the bar.”

Meanwhile, the All Blacks go into Saturday’s clash without veteran Tana Umaga for the fourth match in succession.

The Wellington centre has not yet recovered from a posterior cruciate ligament injury in his knee, and his place at the heart of the backline goes to Leon MacDonald, who also filled in against Wales.

While MacDonald is nominally a full-back, scrum-half Justin Marshall believes his Crusaders team-mate has what it takes to wear the number 13 jersey against the Springboks.

“It’s great to have a player of his quality being able to slot into the backline at any stage,” said Marshall.

“Not only switching positions but having the responsibility of kicking goals as well, I think that he’s been excellent.

“It’s great to see that a player like him can respond to the questions asked of him by the coaches and fill in the position.”

There was also support from Mitchell for inside centre Aaron Mauger, who will win his 17th cap when he runs out against South Africa.

“Aaron’s a class act and while it took a while for him to get into his work last week I think his performance in the last 20 minutes was quite outstanding,” said Mitchell, who gave Mauger his debut against Ireland on the 2001 tour to Europe.

“He was unfortunate not to be rewarded for an excellent piece of skill right at the end with the grubber.

“Those are the kinds of skills that he does have, so we’re fortunate that we have great depth in that area. We have enormous confidence in Aaron.”