ROKOCOKO BACK IN BUSINESS

The flying Fijian scored two tries in the All Blacks’ 26-25 win against Wales on Sunday (NZT), and with the second, Rokocoko showed he was back to his brilliant best.

With New Zealand trailing 19-18, and 55 minutes gone, Rokocoko took the ball five metres inside his half with players all around him.

Last week, against Italy, he threw a poor pass in a similar position and the movement died. Yesterday he backed himself, showed the ball to opposite wing Tom Shanklin, then beat him on the inside.

“I wasn’t pleased with myself last week,” Rokocoko said, adding his poor display had haunted him in the lead-up to Saturday’s game in Cardiff.

“You might only get one opportunity in the game and you have to take it. This time I didn’t want to leave the field with any regrets. Once I got the ball I was going to back myself.”

Rokocoko said the change in mindset followed a talk he had with his father, Joe Sr, earlier in the week. “He just told me to `use the speed you have and back yourself when you get the opportunity’.”

Rokocoko did that and finished the try with his signature suspended dive over the line.

It was the ninth time that Rokocoko has scored two or more tries in a Test. He now has 27 tries from 22 Tests.

As superb as Rokocoko was yesterday, fullback Mils Muliaina was just as good. He scored a difficult try, racing into the corner and crashing over in the tackles of two players.

Though he has said he prefers centre, Muliaina is easily New Zealand’s top fullback.

His attacking skills are well known, but his reliable defence and sound positional play mark him as a quality fullback and make it no surprise that he has now played 24 consecutive Tests since his debut against England last year.

Backs coach Wayne Smith said Muliaina had put a lot of work into his game, particularly his kicking, which had not been a strong point.

“It’s a string to his bow now. Rather than always being a runner, you become more dangerous if you can also kick and pass to put others into space.”