All Blacks: Your mission... just win

Forget all the pre-match talk about the need for rugby to find new ways to entertain. Last night was never going to be the time for the All Blacks to worry about whether people got their money's worth.

They simply had to win to avoid the dreaded hat-trick of losses which hasn't been inflicted since 1998.

Graham Henry knew that better than anyone, which is why he paired Daniel Carter with Luke McAlister - to give the All Blacks dual kicking options to grind the Wallabies into submission.

That's why Owen Franks started at prop - he was there to give the set-piece stability that Neemia Tialata failed to deliver in South Africa.

That's why Kieran Read started at No 8 - to ensure the All Blacks loose forwards were ever-present at the collision. There couldn't be any free ball on the ground.

Tactically, the All Blacks had to be smarter than they were in South Africa. They also had to avoid making the mistake of worrying about the Wallabies second-guessing them.

So what if the Wallabies might have picked that Carter and McAlister would boom it long and play for territory? They were also never going to pass up the opportunity to test 19-year-old James O'Connor.

So what if the Wallabies were expecting a ferocious onslaught at the breakdown?

So what if the Wallabies might have been expecting some more pick-and-drive, greater use of the forwards as ball-carriers and more runners to work off Carter's shoulder?

The Wallabies might have known what was coming but if it was done well, done with aggression and accuracy, the All Blacks were going to cause problems. Intelligence would not necessarily be the Wallabies' friend.

Brad Thorn would still have to be put down. The space around Carter would still have to be closed and the kick returns would still have to be spot on.

The other key to the All Black performance was the set piece. No one was happy with the quality of work in South Africa. The lineout, a liability all season, had to be fixed. There had to be confidence for Carter and McAlister to play to the touchlines. There also had to be real pressure exerted on a Wallaby lineout that was just as bad, if not worse, against South Africa.

Scrummaging was also going to be an area where the All Blacks could spread doubt through the Wallabies. Australia scrummed well against the Springboks, building belief as a result.

That had to be destroyed early. Franks was there to hold steady and leave Tony Woodcock to work over Al Baxter.

Henry had done his bit earlier in the week by calling into question the legality of the Wallaby prop's binding in Auckland.