The Test career of Tony Woodcock, the New Zealand prop forward, is over after a serious hamstring injury ruled him out of the World Cup.
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On this occasion however the All Blacks responded impressively, with Beauden Barrett clipping a kick through for Milner-Skudder to get his second try of the night.
The All Blacks’ image as sure-fire Rugby World Cup winners is starting to fade, as not only critics but also fans begin to question coach Steve Hansen’s masterplan.
Tonga’s World Cup dream is not yet over and the Pacific Islanders will be looking to reprise the giantkilling exploits of four years ago, when they stunned France in their final pool match.
Just two New Zealanders – Richie McCaw and Kevin Mealamu – have won more All Blacks caps than Woodcock’s 118, the first of which he earned back in 2002.
The All Blacks stole the throw in, moved the ball wide where Milner-Skudder and Conrad Smith took play inside the Tongan 22 before fullback Ben Smith popped up in support for the try.
“We’ve got to go out there and play our best rugby, play with physical and mental intensity”, Japan coach Eddie Jones said after victory over Samoa.
Tonga were awarded their 11th yellow card in Rugby World Cup history, more than any other side.
“We’ve worked incredibly hard on the training pitch, but it may not have reflected in the quality of the performance that everyone expects from us”, Hansen said.
Captain Kieran Read, sin-binned shortly before the interval, told reporters: “I really put the side under pressure before the halftime break and the guys responded really well…”
By the team’s extremely high standards, it’s been far from vintage New Zealand in their first three games of the pool stage – toughing it out against Argentina, failing to flow against Namibia, and error-strewn against Georgia.
“We’d struggled to beat Wales in the previous test (26-25) and he’d come under quite a bit of flak”.
Read acknowledged that Tonga had exposed shortcomings in the All Blacks’ forwards.
In fact the overriding comment was that the All Blacks are a disappointment and not living up to their reputation. “He has matured into one of the best centres we have ever had, and we are extremely proud of him”.
Tries (7): B Smith, Woodcock, Milner-Skudder 2, Williams, Cane, Nonu. New Zealand then announced that the Auckland Blues prop will be sidelined for atleast three weeks and replaced by Joe Moody.
Both have given the All Blacks headaches in the past.
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New Zealand ran in a glut of second-half tries against Tonga but were slow starters.
