Bledisloe Cup: What really happened in All Blacks changing rooms post-match

All Black assistant coach Ian Foster and TJ Perenara. Photo / Getty Images.

Some cynics across the ditch have attempted to frame the release of video footage of the Wallabies visiting the All Blacks' changing room after the Bledisloe 1 draw in Wellington last weekend as a public relations blitz by New Zealand Rugby in order to deflect attention from the recent difficulties between the two rugby nations.

They've got it completely wrong of course because it was the Wallabies who filmed the thing – All Blacks skipper Sam Cane presenting his counterpart Michael Hooper with what he described as "some of New Zealand's best red wine, I'm not sure where it's from", and two teams sharing a moment after one of the best finishes to a Bledisloe Cup test ever.

And regardless, it's difficult to remember a time when the bond between the All Blacks and Wallabies – enemies on the field and occasionally off it but a bond that has been forged in wars no less and one that hopefully will remain forever – has been so important.

While the rest of the world deals with the Covid-19 pandemic – some far better than others – and the United States and United Kingdom flail about in new and increasingly bizarre directions under inherently flawed leadership, while the world champion Springboks delay and likely cancel their departure for the Rugby Championship in Australia and, well, who knows what shape Argentina will turn up in for that, the All Blacks and Wallabies just played a test in front of 31,000 people. There's another coming up this Sunday at Eden Park and the result, truly, could go either way.

The final score during the Bledisloe Cup match between the New Zealand All Blacks and the Australian Wallabies at Sky Stadium. Photo / Getty Images.

Clearly, a new era for the All Blacks and Wallabies in terms of coaches has demanded a fresh start in terms of relations and the presence in the Australian camp of New Zealander Dave Rennie, a tough but fair and level-headed man who can bind a team together like few others, has helped that.

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But while the Aussies who made fools of themselves for gleefully highlighting what they feel was a distracting PR move by NZ Rugby and who have put the boot into the All Blacks' "dirty" tactics at Sky Stadium while conveniently missing the various late and damaging hits on Richie Mo'unga in that test are missing the point entirely, so are those from this side of the ditch already calling time in Ian Foster's leadership and - just one other example - Mo'unga's ability to control a game.

Because the Wallabies were incredible in Wellington. After two weeks in managed isolation in Christchurch and a flight to the capital a day before the game, they put in one of their bravest performances ever.

Players line up for the national anthems during the Bledisloe Cup match between the New Zealand All Blacks and the Australian Wallabies at Sky Stadium. Photo / Getty Images.

There were four debutants in the team and it was all held together by James O'Connor at No10, a flawed but hugely talented character who now appears to be a perfect symbol for the early part of Rennie's reign.

They rattled the All Blacks then and they rattle them still. Selector Grant Fox appeared ready to jump out of his skin at the slightest provocation when fronting Sky Sport's Breakdown show on Tuesday night and how else to explain assistant coach John Plumtree's response on Wednesday, unprompted, regarding what he described as "niggly" off-the-ball incidents by the opposition?

Further to that, his "All Blacks don't cry – we just get on with it" quote will go down as one of the most memorable to emerge from an All Blacks press conference and one that will be aired time and again by Wallabies supporters if their team break a 34-year drought on Sunday.

Rennie and his side simply haven't been given the credit they deserve in New Zealand.

For the moment at least the two rugby nations are closer off the field as well as on it, and for the successful future of both that has to be celebrated to the fullest – perhaps with one or two of New Zealand's finest reds, cynics be damned.