All Blacks: Henry's men soar on new self-belief

Wing Rene Ranger stretches out to score in the All Blacks' domination of the Springboks on Saturday. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Ten days ago the All Blacks were uncertain about their Tri-Nations chances.

They were doubtful whether they had closed the gap on the Springbok champions, twitchy about whether they could impose their revised game plans and how they would stand up to the rigours of top-quality test rugby.

Twin bonus-point victories later, they have reinforced their new self-belief and earned a week's rest, shaken the competition and the Boks to their core and suggested to the rest of the world they have some distance to make up in their standards.

It is a seriously good place to be - for now - for the All Blacks, who have no doubt reclaimed some of those agnostics who were left in sporting limbo by last year's performances.

Early this month it was the All Blacks fingering the worry beads. Now they can sit back and contemplate plans for their next outing against the Wallabies in Melbourne, while those foes get bashed on Saturday in Brisbane.

The 31-17 victory in Wellington came in conditions which were tougher than Eden Park and against a much more committed Springbok foe. They contested far better, gave the All Black lineout some gyp and smashed into their defence - but were undone by their lack of subtlety and variation.

Coach Peter de Villiers claimed his side had suffered because they had been refereed differently in each of their six tests this season.

The Boks were perplexed by ruck interpretations they felt had changed from the Super 14.

"I do not like to prepare guys to cheat and it seems to me to be the only way forward if you want to be on top of those kind of things, and that's 70 per cent of our game," he complained.

In truth, his side struggled with self-inflicted wounds and could not match the All Blacks' skill level.

Lock Danie Rossouw did not deserve to be sent to the sin bin, but he was foolish enough to transgress early, right near referee Alain Rolland, and copped the reaction.

His absence kick-started the All Blacks, who delivered tries through Ma'a Nonu and Mils Muliaina before Rossouw could return to the field.

Two second-half tries, to Rene Ranger and a magnificent solo thrust from his replacement, Israel Dagg, secured the bonus point after the side had a mid-game lull and the Boks racheted up their intensity.

Beaming coach Graham Henry was heartened by his team's attacking thrust, though he accepted they were not as clinical as they had been in Auckland. Both teams had pounded each other physically and he had felt tense when the All Blacks were warned about serial offending as they held their line and clung to a small lead with the last quarter left.

Several turnovers helped as the magnificent All Black loose-forward trio of Richie McCaw, Jerome Kaino and Kieran Read bashed into their work behind a committed tight five.

And when the backs got their chances from the strong service and adventure of Piri Weepu, they showed a great deal of snap and enterprise.

Assistant coach Wayne Smith thought the halfback would be extremely happy with his first start in two years, but the media were unable to catch those thoughts as Weepu was whisked away to hospital for the approaching birth of his baby.

Henry acknowledged that the law changes allowed his side to play more rugby because they were comfortable that they could recycle possession at the breakdowns.

"It was a major influence on how the game was played," he said. "It allows you to build, and our guys have got the patience from a fair way back in the field to do that."

The All Blacks' defence had also been strong, repelling a number of determined Springbok efforts.

"These two weeks were going to be a big test of where we were at," McCaw said. "We will be able to have a week off now and assess things that went well, and there will be things to work on.

"I think the will to play and the effort the guys have put in to be on the same page - to know what we are going to try and do it well, about taking the right options and stuff, not chucking the ball around willy-nilly but looking for space - is what has been particularly pleasing about these two weeks.


"And also fronting up physically. That's what I thought was frustrating last year: we did not get our game going like we wanted to," the captain said.

"We are only a third of the way through the Tri-Nations and once we reassess this week, there are two big challenges in Melbourne and back in Christchurch we have to get ready for.

"It's not a bad start, though, considering where we were."