The All Blacks celebrate Samisoni Taukei'aho's try. Photo / photosport.nz
The All Blacks celebrate Samisoni Taukei'aho's try. Photo / photosport.nz
OPINION:
In an All Blacks season that has taken some crazy twists and turns this year, giving the Wallabies a proper, old-school thumping feels like it should be seen as a return to the familiar.
But seeing this All Blacks team so in control of the game - so easilyand quickly on top of the Wallabies and never giving them the first sniff of an upset - was a little hard to comprehend.
It felt a little alien to go through 80 minutes with no thoughts of an upset surfacing: with the All Blacks, at no stage, looking like they might self-combust and find a weird and wonderful way to blow up and let the Wallabies back in or pull off an unthinkable win.
Alien but welcome, and whatever frailties this All Blacks side may once have had, they no longer do.
There is a world-class power game within them now and that was what smacked the Wallabies off their feet at Eden Park – this big, black machine that took to them like a combine harvester does a wheat field.
It wasn't an even contest at any stage. The All Blacks had way too much scrum power; a driving maul that the Wallabies unsuccessfully tried every which way to stop – legal and illegal – and a bite and grunt in the collisions that was too hard to contain.
This wasn't a victory built on subtlety and sleight of hand – it was founded on muscularity and toil, epitomised by Ethan de Groot and the way he flung himself about with a need to let the Wallabies know he was out there.
The doubters and the cynics who still want to be unsure and distrust this All Blacks team can question the resistance of the Wallabies and wonder whether they were a little off, lacking the fight or the means to really commit to the contest the way they did in Melbourne.
But even if they aren't quite top-drawer hard nuts in the global scheme of things, the point not to miss is that they would have been in for a hiding even if they were genuine bruisers.
The All Blacks are good enough now, physical and edgy, full of grunt and grit for it to not matter whom they meet.
They have what it takes to thrive against any side in the world now because the arrival of forwards coach Jason Ryan has steel-plated what was once a soft underbelly, and the days of the All Blacks incessantly searching for what they broadly termed 'physicality' are over.
The All Blacks celebrate Samisoni Taukei'aho's try. Photo / photosport.nz
And so too might their search for the right No 12 as Jordie Barrett added hugely to the theme and mood of the night by smashing his way to great effect from the midfield.
He brought that simple, direct, confrontational approach the All Blacks have been missing and iced it with some creative touches and excellent distribution.
But while it was a big win and a performance that did much to further suggest the All Blacks are laying to rest this idea of them being vulnerable and disjointed, it can't be considered emphatic for the simple reason it wasn't.
It was powerful, at times it flowed, and it was way too much for the Wallabies to contain, but it also lacked control and accuracy and that seamless transition from brutal lead-up work to slick finishing.
When it comes down to it, test rugby lives up to the cliche of being all about the key moments – being able to stay calm enough to exploit the half chances, to prise open a defence when it presents just a hint of give.
That's been the missing piece for the All Blacks this year and it was the case again at Eden Park, where they squandered a couple of critical opportunities that had they taken them, could have seen the scoreboard really run away from the Wallabies.
One obvious moment of profligacy came midway through the first half when the All Blacks broke out of their own 22 and sent Rieko Ioane at full blast arcing through the Australian cover defence.
All he needed to was fix the last defender and pass to the supporting Will Jordan, and another seven points would have been collected.
But his eyes lit up at the thought of him going all the way and he neglected to pass, cut in-field and the chance was squandered.
There were plenty other moments like it – good build-up play that was unable to come to anything because there was ill-discipline at the ruck, or a wild pass, dropped ball or failure to connect with a support runner.
That's the next step for this team, to finesse the finish, to get better at capitalising on the many opportunities they now create every time they play.
