Chris Rattue: All Blacks' arrogance shows through

Blow up the balloons; pull out the silly hats.

It's party time folks - the All Blacks are in fine fettle, and it's only a matter of due course before they pack the Webb Ellis Cup across the Tasman.

I can tell you this because it's official - at their media conference the All Blacks revealed that everything was rosy after dealing to silly old Wales (although they certainly didn't suggest that the trophy was theirs).

Accentuate the positive, John Mitchell announced, which meant lauding the great attacks that brought eight tries.

Don't worry about those silly missed tackles and haywire formations - minor adjustments will sort them out for the quarter-final against South Africa.

As there are only a handful of people in New Zealand who understand rugby, as All Black selector Mark Shaw kindly pointed out before the World Cup began, it is tempting to take the word of Mitchell and his assistant, Robbie Deans.

Then again, you might say their post-match utterances were rugby's answer to the flat-earth society.

Whatever Mitchell and Deans may believe privately, they steadfastly maintained the line that they always expected a major challenge from Wales and we should all be concentrating on the All Blacks' brilliant attacking work.

Forget that Carlos Spencer looked more like a bloke leaning against a lamp-post than a professional rugby player making a tackle as Wales sauntered on through.

Forget that pee-wee wing Shane Williams, who looks as if he would be more at home at Flemington today than on a test wing, embarrassed this carefully constructed defence.

Forget that the Welsh forwards muscled and bustled the All Blacks off their ruck ball, or that Colin Charvis dived through thin air to score from a ruck on the goal line.

Why on earth would this lack of resolve appear most alarmingly just as the World Cup gets real? The All Blacks, with talent to burn, should have desperation in spades. History beckons them.

Yet Wales, who a couple of months ago would have had trouble organising a lunch break, made around 10 line breaks in this game.

Wales have to be applauded. This one-time coal-mining community has been in the pit of rugby despair. It can't be easy living in a nightmare while everyone dreams of the past.

They played with skill and courage, and weren't fazed by a string of heavy defeats against the All Blacks, nor their dazzling opening blitz.

Wales' most unlikely performance turned the game into a thriller, a magical rugby night.

This should not detract from the issues facing the All Blacks going into the quarter-final against South Africa.

The truth has to be that the All Blacks succumbed to arrogance. In their hearts, they didn't take Wales seriously.

They did not seem overly concerned afterwards, either. The media conference line-up included Justin Marshall, who rattled on bizarrely about how he had almost finished his drink bottle when asked what the match meant to him and the team. That left everyone gulping.

A significant question was posed by a non-English speaking journo, who wanted to know from Mitchell where "Mr Umaga Tana" was.

Just as the English backline missed Will Greenwood, so the All Blacks need Umaga to return.

He is not the attacking genius of old, but is a great scrapper in the trenches. He knows the test game and how to keep organisation and composure on defence - when to hold the line, or hurl the kitchen sink.

It is asking a lot of the novice Leon MacDonald to do the same, especially when Aaron Mauger has been out of action for so long and if Spencer remains gun-shy.

What is certain is that confidence gained in the All Blacks from the first half of the Tri-Nations has ebbed away in many people's minds.

The alarm bells rang when a supposedly faltering Australian side fielding a Telly Tubby prop, who was replaced by a rookie from club ranks, almost toppled the All Blacks at Eden Park.

Afterwards, Mr Tubby, the New Zealand-born Glenn Panoho, dared to suggest that Australia were content with what had happened that night.

He had a very good point. These All Blacks are not out of the World Cup hunt, but they are also ripe for the taking.