George Bridge is a terrific footballer. Clever, accurate, a great chaser and defender and the sort of player who brings a solidity and reliability to test football that has an undeniable value.
But Bridge doesn't strike fear into opponents. Bridge is canny and tricky and has to be watchedbut the Wallabies didn't defend him with a sense of dread or desperation in Wellington.
Because they didn't have to and while the usual suspects have been eager to talk this week about the All Blacks having lost a reputation built on almost 115 years of history on the back of one draw, there may be a nugget of truth to mine and refine from that.
What the All Blacks lacked last week and at last year's World Cup was definitive strike power wrapped up in one athlete.
The All Blacks' reputation hasn't been lost, but they have lacked a fear factor in the last 18 months. Opponents have eyed them up, seen a tonne of talent, but not a single, brutish element that has made them build their entire defensive effort to thwart that one threat.
Rugby is a physical contest in the backs as much as it is the forwards and the All Blacks haven't had that destructive piece they need to complete their attacking set.
Caleb Clarke of the All Blacks is tackled during the Bledisloe Cup match between the New Zealand All Blacks and the Australian Wallabies. Photo / Getty Images.
They had ball players in Beauden Barrett and Richie Mo'unga. They had the unorthodox qualities of Anton Lienert-Brown. They had the magical footwork of Sevu Reece and the catch and pass vision of Jack Goodhue.
There was, however, no single weapon with which to bludgeon opponents: no dynamic, destructive, explosive player with the ability to run over defenders and be almost unstoppable from close range.
The All Blacks had all the nice-to-haves in their midst but it turned out that a power wing was a must have and the fact they have now recognised that in the selection of Caleb Clarke to start against the Wallabies at Eden Park will have a significant impact on their attacking game beyond the obvious.
It doesn't take a deep dive into modern history to see the All Blacks have posed more of an attacking threat when they have had a power left wing – a thundering great hunk of humanity with the pace and size to break the first tackle as a given.
When Jonah Lomu was in his prime, the All Blacks were deadly. Joe Rokocoko was injected into the team in 2003 and suddenly the All Blacks had a potency they had been missing for several years.
Hoskins Sotutu, Tupou Vaa'i and Caleb Clarke of the All Blacks pose for a photo after drawing the Bledisloe Cup match. Photo / Getty Images.
When Julian Savea was in his best form, All Blacks centre Conrad Smith said he fell into a subconscious habit of simply passing to his left, knowing instinctively it would always be the best option.
And when Savea ran out of impact, Rieko Ioane came to occupy the No 11 jersey and destroy defences with his mix of muscularity and acceleration.
Even in the 20 minutes he enjoyed in Wellington last week, Clarke managed to change the shape of the Wallaby defence and bring an element of urgency and panic to some of their decision-making that hadn't been visible prior to that.
And that's the real value of Clarke coming into the team. His presence will demand that the Wallabies strategise how they shut him down, because they saw how he was able to bump off defenders and create momentum.
They didn't necessarily fear Bridge having the ball but they will look to rush at Clarke, or better still, focus on making sure the All Blacks can't get the ball to him in the first place.
Either way, Clarke's arrival changes the dynamic and will put greater pressure on the Wallabies defence than the All Blacks did last weekend without a strike runner of his size and calibre.
The great risk for the Wallabies is that in trying to close down Clarke, they leave space for others and that's arguably been the higher value benefit of the All Blacks having a power left wing.
Former All Blacks centre Frank Bunce had the two best years of his career in 1996 and 1997 when defences were paranoid about Lomu.
Smith used to look like he had all the time and space in the world, and he kind of did, mostly because defenders were back-tracking or scrambling to cover Savea.
The injection of Clarke gives the All Blacks something they have been missing since Ioane's form started to tail off at the end of 2018.
It's a return to something basic but proven. A simple but effective means to ask more questions of a Wallabies defence that was supremely well organised in Wellington and almost faultless in picking where the attack was going to strike.
And as a last benefit, now that the All Blacks have a small truck in the No 11 jersey, they have the security of knowing that even if the Wallabies still predict their every attacking move, they have to actually be able to tackle that small truck.
