KEY POINTS:
The All Blacks have joined their coaches in issuing a blanket apology for failing to counteract Australia's superior tactics during last weekend's chastening Bledisloe Cup rugby experience in Sydney.
Hard on the heels of Graham Henry admitting his coaching team had been outwitted by Wallabies counterpart Robbie Deans,
the players stepped up to share the blame for a demoralising 34-19 Tri-Nations defeat on Saturday night.
Henry yesterday acknowledged he, Wayne Smith and Steve Hansen were still getting to grips with coaching under the experimental law variations (Elvs); senior players that spent an entire Super 14 season playing under them admitted they too contributed to the All Blacks' demise.
"We're all a unit, we all take the blame as players and coaches and it's up to all of us to fix it," said halfback Jimmy Cowan.
"We all understand we didn't play our best rugby on Saturday, we had a lot of ball and we played at the wrong end of the park."
Mils Muliaina, who is poised to return at fullback for a concussed Leon MacDonald, said the players were simply not quick enough to change tack when Australia's defence pinned them down.
"A lot of the game reflected the tactics we took into the game, we didn't change them and that comes down to the players," he said.
The All Blacks reluctance to kick possession away undermined their performance as the Wallabies muscled up at the breakdown to secure valuable turnover ball when their opponents tried to run out of trouble.
Backs coach Wayne Smith, who shouldered part of the blame for the All Blacks not putting Australia's back three under pressure, agreed the players were also culpable.
"Sometimes you enter a game with a mind set and it's hard to change when you're out there," he said, before revealing the coaching team were often wary of interfering.
"We don't give a hell of a lot of messages," he said.
"I think our job is to become as redundant as possible during game time. We're trying to teach them to take responsibility and run the game. Under pressure sometimes that theory goes west and we give a few instructions but generally they run it."
Muliaina, one of the All Blacks' better performers at ANZ Stadium, was confident the team could bounce back, noting they made several linebreaks albeit with out finishing them off.
"I definitely believe there are still a lot of opportunities for us, there's a lot of talent in this team. If we can get the ball retention right and execution I think we'll be a different team altogether."
Richie McCaw is one obvious alteration, with the captain and flanker pronouncing himself fit six weeks after damaging ankle ligaments against England.
McCaw was looking forward to negating the influence of long-time adversaries George Smith and Phil Waugh at the breakdown but admitted it would be a challenge due to his lack of game time.
"For the last 2-1/2 weeks I've been doing a bit of running but that's never going to make up for match play," he said.
"Hopefully the adrenaline kicks in. It'll hurt but you have to get on with it.
"George had a pretty good game last week, he ensured we didn't get the front foot ball we were after and with Waugh there - two of them will be real menaces."
Meanwhile, the All Blacks expect to finalise their starting line-up later today. A replacement wing for reconstituted fullback Muliaina will be named along with the halfback and hooker.
Cowan was expected to start behind the scrum while the medical staff were hopeful Andrew Hore would recover from his bruised hip.
- NZPA
