In a break from custom, All Blacks coach Steve Hansen declared himself less than satisfied with a smattering of individuals last night, suggesting there will be some uncomfortable conversions behind closed doors in the next few days.
Hansen isn't one to air his dirty laundry so he didn't get intothe business of naming those who will soon feel his ire. But he obviously felt that that a public rebuke of sorts was necessary to help hammer home the message that there was much about the performance that wasn't good enough.
The scrummaging would have been top of the list as an area of concern, so too discipline, which was lax and dangerously negligent.
"I thought it was a very good game for us in a number of ways," said Hansen. "We got a number of new players on the track who got to understand what it is like to be an All Black.
"We had a group of guys who range from about four to 30 tests who had an experience where they had to lead this week and prepare themselves mentally for an opposition, who with all due respect, we knew we were going to win the game. So there were some great lessons there.
"There were some who did and some who didn't. In the end, I think under the circumstances we scored some great tries and stuck to the systems. Occasionally, we got sucked into playing their game. That helter skelter game. Japan should be credited for contributing to the game in a big way and they played at a pace that only they can play at."
When he was asked if he disappointed by the performance of some of those players, he said: "Some of them, yeah. I'll tell them."
The players were equally harsh on their own efforts. No one said they felt like they really nailed it and there was a general feeling that they had been inaccurate and sloppy at times.
