The All Blacks have adopted a style that wins World Cups. Photo / Getty Images Expand

The All Blacks have adopted a style that wins World Cups. Photo / Getty Images

Given the sensitive nature of these things, what with all those ghosts lingering, the World Cup is a taboo subject for the All Blacks.

They love nothing more than not talking about it; pretending it's not there.

Yet for 80 minutes in Cardiff, they looked every inch a side playing the sort of rugby that has won the most recent World Cups.

For long periods in yesterday morning's match, the All Blacks didn't really look like the All Blacks. The cavalier was displaced by the roundhead. The maverick lay dormant.

The All Blacks have embarked on a new era where their foundation is defence and territory. The difference between the All Blacks in Cardiff and the All Blacks in South Africa during the Tri-Nations points to revolution rather than evolution.

Maybe in time we'll look back and dub those two weeks in the Republic "The Madness of King Henry". This idea that they could run their way out of trouble in the game was, to be kind, misguided. While the coaches and players insisted they had made the right tactical choice to play with no structure or set-piece platform, they clearly didn't believe it.

If they did, they would have to explain how they grafted a win in Cardiff by playing in a style that was the antithesis of their work in Bloemfontein and Pretoria.

Their victory on Sunday morning was achieved on the back of a defensive effort that was as good they have produced in the past decade. The hits just kept coming and Wales, who played with purpose and invention, couldn't execute the critical final pass under such relentless pressure.

Look back at the most recent World Cups and the teams that have won have all built their stall around their defensive effort. It is defence that builds pressure and frustrates opponents and it is cluster tackling that eventually forces turnovers.

The All Blacks were outstanding in their ability to force Wales into channels they didn't want to be in. With no gaps to find, the Welsh found they were attacking wider and wider with fewer bodies to support the ball carrier.

They were fortunate that the All Blacks weren't as effective as they wanted to be in making the transition from defence to attack.

They forced plenty of turnovers, but didn't make them count with potent attacks. That's the big work on for the clash with Italy - to be more clinical after they have used the aggressive defence to win the ball.

The All Blacks will also review whether they kicked too much ball away, particularly in the first half. For those first 40 minutes, the All Blacks were South Africa in disguise. Dan Carter stood deeper than he normally does and hoisted high as his default option.