Charles Piutau's All Black appearances have been restricted through injury. Photo / Getty Images
Last year, All Black coach Steve Hansen said he felt there were three types of All Blacks.
He'd encountered players such as Daniel Carter and Richie McCaw who were immediately successful in test football, men like Ben Smith who struggled at first, persevered and came good and others who just couldn't come to terms with it at all, played one or two games and were never seen again.
Under Hansen, that last category has rarely been seen. The one-cap wonder has been rendered obsolete.
It is a never-ending quest to determine the secret of the All Blacks' success, to come up with answers to explain why they have managed to lose only one of their last 35 tests before last night. The continuity and stability they have enjoyed from accurate and effective talent identification is perhaps easily overlooked.
They haven't had droves of players come in and just as swiftly drop out. They haven't had obvious strugglers hindering the collective potential and, because they have picked men who have performed, competition has intensified.
Hansen doesn't do disposable All Blacks. He hasn't yet picked a player who has appeared horribly out of his depth and unlikely to last.
He has picked 21 new All Blacks since he became head coach after the last World Cup and, of those, there are four currently not in the squad who are stuck on one cap.
Those four are Frank Halai, Jeffery Toomaga-Allen, Ben Afeaki and Luke Whitelock. The latter was in this year's wider training squad and will, almost certainly in time, force his way into the mix and add to his tally. Toomaga-Allen is barely 22 and looks well equipped to be a major force in coming years. Halai is good enough to play test football but plays in a position of depth of competition and Afeaki has been injured.
There hasn't been a new player who fits that third category, which is unlike previous coaching regimes.
In the decade before Hansen became head coach, there were casualties almost every campaign, a procession of men who never looked like keepers - Mark Ranby, David Hill, Sam Harding, Keith Lowen, Sosene Anesi and Kevin Senio etc.
Hansen, who had eight years as assistant coach before graduating, says the selection template and process in determining which players to make All Blacks hasn't changed particularly. But there has been an orchestrated drive to make it easier for new players to find their feet quickly. Mental skills sessions are now weekly and designed to help all players devise strategies to cope with the stress of test football and the high performance expectations of being an All Black.
"The environment is relaxed but it still has its own high expectations," says Hansen. "We are trying to create an environment where everyone is striving to be better and the young people coming in see that as the norm. At the same time, they can have a laugh and a giggle so some of the pressure can subside.
Richie McCaw excelled as an All Black from early on. Photo / Getty Images
"I think our athletes are well prepared to go out there, especially the first timers. We help them understand what they are feeling is OK and that nervous moments are OK."
A second and equally important part of Hansen's regime has been the 'soft launch' of new players' respective test careers. Of the 21 new boys, 14 have made their debuts off the bench.
Hansen appears to have an uncanny gift of knowing when a player is ready for test action and when best to introduce him. Charles Piutau was a shining example last year. He operated in short bursts off the bench for the first half of the season, impressed, earned a start when injury struck and then played well enough to keep his place.
Conversely, the All Blacks were keen to blood TJ Perenara in Dublin last year but, given the intensity and drama in the final quarter, Hansen didn't feel the youngster was ready.
"We didn't feel it was right to expose him to what was happening in Ireland. He wasn't ready to be in that type of contest.
"We have so far got it right when we introduce these guys to the playing arena."
Hansen's regime flies against the tough-love culture of the amateur era when it was sink or swim for new recruits.
"The toughest survived and many good players didn't. But if the methodology rankles with old-school disciples, the results surely can't.
The black list
One-test All Blacksunder Graham Henry
Steven Bates vs Italy 2004
Kevin Senio vs British Lions 2005
Sosene Anesi vs Fiji 2005
Kevin O'Neill vs South Africa 2008
Lelia Masaga vs Italy 2009
Mike Delany vs Italy 2009
George Whitelock vs Italy 2009
Jamie Mackintosh vs Scotland 2008
Other short-lived All Blacks under Graham Henry
Bryn Evans 2 caps, 2009
Rudi Wulf 3 caps, 2008
Aled de Malmanche 5, 2009-10
Craig Newby 3 caps, 2004-06
Saimone Taumoepau 3, 2004-05
Casey Laulala 2 caps, 2004-06
Scott Hamilton 2 caps, 2006
Clarke Dermody 2 caps, 2006
Angus Macdonald 2 caps, 2005
Campbell Johnstone 3 caps, 2005
Greg Rawlinson 4 caps, 2006-07
John Schwalger 2 caps, 2007-08
New caps under Steve Hansen
Ben Afeaki 1 cap, 2013
Jeffery Toomaga-Allen 1 cap, 2013
Dane Coles Current squad, 2012
Charlie Faumuina Current, 2012
Brodie Retallick Current, 2012
Luke Romano Injured, 2012
Dominic Bird Current squad, 2013
Jeremy Thrush 5 caps, 2013
Steven Luatua Current, 2013
Sam Cane Current squad, 2012
Matt Todd Current squad, 2013
Luke Whitelock 1 cap, 2013
Aaron Smith Current squad, 2012
Tawera Kerr-Barlow Current squad, 2012
Beauden Barrett Current squad, 2012
Tom Taylor 3 caps, 2013
Ryan Crotty Current squad, 2013
Julian Savea Current squad, 2012
Francis Saili 2 caps, 2013
Frank Halai 1 cap, 2013
Charles Piutau Injured, 2013
