All Black express stutters into life

Like a train ride into Britomart, this 30-13 All Black victory against Australia last night arrived late and was largely uncomfortable but was ultimately satisfying that it at least arrived at the correct destination.

It was a victory for persperation rather than inspiration, although Joe Rokocoko's match-winning try fell into the latter rather than the former camp.

The scoreline ultimately made this look like a stroll in the park. It was anything but.

Another shaky start tested the All Blacks but, unlike in Cape Town, it didn't evaporate like spilled petrol.

And with composure came the incredible ball retention.

Sure there were plenty of horrid errors to make Graham Henry's blood boil but the All Blacks will have rarely held on to the ball better than they did last night. Until the crucial moment, that is.

Nor will there be many able to recall a more aggressive scrummaging performance.

It's the frustration of those last-pass errors, though, that will live longer in the memory, because if they'd been kept at bay, the All Blacks would have been out of sight early in the second half.

First Rico Gear inexplicably did a Jeff Wilson and lost the ball in the act of going over the line, then Piri Weepu and Rokocoko both somehow failed to gather a kick ahead with no Aussie jersey in the vicinity.

The list of errors eventually became much too depressing.

That made for an unnecessarily nervy final quarter.

When Henry should have been thinking about resting a few prized limbs, he was instead burdened by a racing heart.

When the chances kept going begging in those final 20 minutes it looked for all the world that yet another tombstone was going to be hammered into Telstra's lush turf.

And the epitaph on last night's tombstone would have read the same as all the others of recent seasons: here lies an All Black team that contrived to lose a game that was theirs for the taking.

That fate was avoided when Richie McCaw took a quick tap penalty and ploughed through a wall of yellow shirts with George Gregan at the front of it.

Rokocoko went the full length of the field - recovering his own kick along the way - from turnover ball late in the game to secure the result but it didn't provide any great cause for celebration.

Henry will feel that so many stray passes were flung wildly and too many receivers flapped their big mitts more with hope than expectation.

 

The lineout malfunctioned too often to provide a stable platform and some players had seemingly got erroneous word that the new player collective agreement will acutally exempt them from tackling.

Drew Mitchell was allowed to make a dream debut in the Wallaby No 15 shirt thanks to some tackling a wet fish wouldn't put its name to.

When the time comes to watch the reply of Mitchell's first-half try, every All Black eye will be focused on their shoes.

It was a score that had significance, not just because the Wallabies were 10-0 up, but that it sent a clear message that the All Blacks had once again left the changing rooms without their A game.

Maybe the memories of previous defeats at this ground roamed the conscious of this All Black side.

That may be why they took so long to put away a Wallaby side whose front five would struggle to monster a decent NPC pack.

There were some big positives, however. The performance of Rokocoko was heart-warming.

The Auckland wing, who for most of the early part of this season was spluttering like a second-hand Skoda, was back powering like a Rolls Royce.

He spent much of the last six months developing his leg power, which was used to great effect to blast away from his opponents last night.

The industrious Weepu gave another assured display at halfback and Tana Umaga was able to exert much more influence, both in his play and captaincy.

Australia 13 (D. Mitchell try; M. Giteau, con; Giteau 2 pens). New Zealand 30 (P. Weepu, R. McCaw, J. Rokocoko tries; D. Carter 2, McAlister, cons; D. Carter 3 pens).

- Herald on Sunday