KEY POINTS:
Wednesday in Taranaki was one of those warm fuzzy nights for footy in the provinces, the All Blacks embracing their Samoan cousins - or should that be the backbone of the New Zealand side - full house, fine weather, lots of razzmatazz, history, job well done.
That province-wide
euphoria is probably still continuing after an evening which reminded you of times when rugby sides toured this country.
But several issues grate. The match should not have been given test match status while we also had to listen to another round of platitudes about why the All Blacks could not play in Samoa.
While the Samoans had to gather what troops were available from around the globe and then get to New Plymouth, the All Blacks were unable to pack up, play in Apia and then whizz across to Brisbane for their Tri-Nations decider.
A month-long gap in the programme would have been an ideal time to settle that lingering stain on New Zealand's rugby landscape, travel to the islands and at the same time give the national squad the hit-out they hankered for ahead of the Brisbane test.
However, the decision was made to play in New Plymouth because no doubt both sides could accrue more coin from that scenario and just as New Zealand discovers when confronted with the big bucks in Europe, those with the power and money make the decisions.
But to call this game a test was an insult to the game's heritage.
All Black coach Graham Henry had little choice but to deflect questions about the validity of granting the game full test status as well as delivering that honour to amber and black territory rather than Apia.
A stronger Samoan side played and lost to the New Zealand Maori earlier this season in Hamilton in a game which did not count for test caps. Henry tried to equate this week's game with caps which were given to Portugal and Romania who were thrashed by the All Blacks in the World Cup.
New Zealand had no option in the World Cup, on Wednesday they did not have to award caps although Henry argued it would have been belittling for Samoa had it not counted as a test.
That woolly line of thinking was exposed for what it was when Daniel Carter and Mils Muliaina were cotton-wooled at halftime and even more so when the All Blacks captain for the night, Rodney So'oialo was subbed just after halftime by Sione Lauaki.
The big man loitered as he does in many games these days, one recent cameo for Waikato against Auckland apart, and collected his 17th cap.
Those substitute caps are standard fare these days in a game which is now trumpeted as a 22-man operation. But "giving" Lauaki another cap when he has played average rugby for most of the year underlines the standard of the match, the weakness of the contract system which demands the All Blacks carry an extended squad and grates as much as those nonsensical final two minute appearances when players are given another cap.
Players of yesteryear like Bevan Holmes, Warren Gatland, Vance Stewart and Mark Sayers played more than a dozen matches for the All Blacks (31 in Holmes' case) but never played a test because of stronger contenders or the replacement regulations.
Most of their appearances though, would have been in tougher matches than that in New Plymouth so perhaps they need to be awarded retrospective test caps.
