For all that has been achieved under Hansen, the respective back ends of 2012 and 2013 were not the grand finales the All Blacks were after.
The All Blacks had the look of a 400m runner who'd taken the first 300m too fast, desperately trying to hold it together down the back straight.
In 2012 they were loose and lacklustre in Brisbane in this equivalent game and never lifted much from there. They were able to beat Scotland and Italy because, well, who couldn't, and they dug out a decent effort against Wales before going splat against England. It was much the same last year: after a not particularly impressive display against Japan, they were average against France, found a big game to beat England and then used their courage, belief and sheer will power to somehow see off Ireland.
The reason behind the late fall-offs may be that the earlier season also followed a consistent pattern. In 2012 and 2013 the All Blacks came into the third Bledisloe undefeated: they also came off the back of impressively good performances against the Springboks in South Africa.
The pattern has been broken by defeat at Ellis Park and so too does Hansen want to see the next five weeks play out differently.
The edge to his voice at training was there because he wants a line drawn under Johannesburg. He wants the All Blacks to climb steadily to an impressive crescendo in Cardiff - for there to be no doubt that his side is building and not once again watching the chasing pack get uncomfortably close in the rear mirror.
The journey to the summit begins tonight. The standards the All Blacks want for the rest of the year have to be set against Australia and then improved in the US and Europe.
"I know there is an expectation within the group that we have to respond to what happened a fortnight ago and we have to respond with a quality performance," says Hansen.
"I don't think we started poorly in Jo-burg, we just made too many errors. We should have been 17-0 in front after 15 minutes and our skill execution on the pass was poor. We kicked - Barrett's kick when he kicked was executed poorly - and they scored tries off those skill execution problems.
"If we can get those out of our game we are right in it."
While the backs didn't nail their pass and kick, the forwards know they have to lift their intensity and cohesion tonight.
The Boks were able to dominate the tackled ball area and it wasn't until the second half at Ellis Park that the All Black pack began to build momentum and provide the necessary platform.
If they are to build to that crescendo in Cardiff, the tight five need to be ruthless and relentless just as they were when they last played the Wallabies.
Sam Whitelock agreed that performance at Eden Park was the benchmark for the All Black tight five.
"We have got to keep improving. When we played them in Sydney we weren't where we needed to be," he said.
"We need to make sure that we start games well and that as a tight five we have got to do our job."
Late season slide
2012
October 20 4/10
Australia 18-18 New Zealand
November 11 7/10
Scotland 22-51 New Zealand
November 17 6/10
Italy 10-42 New Zealand
November 24 7.5/10
Wales 10-33 New Zealand
December 1 4/10
England 38-21 New Zealand
2013
October 19 6.5/10
New Zealand 41-33 Australia
November 2 5.5/10
Japan 6-54 New Zealand
November 9 6/10
France 19-26 New Zealand
November 16 8/10
England 22-30 New Zealand
November 24 6.5/10
Ireland 22-24 New Zealand
