"There's a lot of good things in it. We'll go away and grow and learn even more about ourselves. That seems to be the song we're singing this year but it's not a bad song."
Indeed, in a match where the Springboks used their big ball carries - the brilliantly brutal Malcolm Marx, Steven Kitshoff and Eben Etzebeth - to get a roll on and gradually grow in self-belief, the All Blacks survived their toughest test since the British and Irish Lions series.
This is exactly what we expect from this great rivalry.
On the back of the 57-0 hiding in Albany, most outside the All Blacks camp thought this would be another comfortable victory. It was anything but. With Milner-Skudder dislocating his shoulder and Beauden Barrett exiting after a head knock, both in the first half, the All Blacks needed Lima Sopoaga, David Havili and Damian McKenzie step up in a cauldron of duress.
Sopoaga showed immense composure to slot crucial kicks; McKenzie scored a late try which turned the match with one jink and a 50 metre burst of speed. Between the pair, they have fewer than 20 tests.
Listen to Nigel Yalden's call: All Blacks v Springboks
Hansen clearly wasn't happy with all aspects of his team's performance, noting they should have kicked the ball out rather than playing on for 10 added minutes at the end of the first half. That completely changed the picture of how he planned to use his substitutes.
But he lauded their courage and character after being forced to make 52 more tackles (144 in total) than the Boks.
"You get greater pleasure when you see people performing under pressure. You want contests. Tonight we know we won a test match where both teams really played well. When you win those games, there's probably a bit more satisfaction.
"We tried to tell anyone that would listen Albany, even though the score looked ridiculous, it wasn't reflective of how the game went. In that game we took every opportunity and tonight we didn't."
Hansen likened McKenzie to a fly in a bottle, saying sometimes he comes off and other times he hits the side.
"He's getting better and better at it as he understands what test rugby is all about which is really pleasing. There's been times where even he didn't know what he was going to do he just did it. But tonight he was calculated in most of the things he did. He's growing all the time. I'm on record saying he's going to be a better 10 than he is 15 but he's starting to tell me that might not be right but we'll wait and see."
Kieran Read suggested the All Blacks lacked intensity from the outset, possibly due to a light training week after their long-haul journey from Argentina. The skipper also agreed with Hansen that playing on at the end of the first spell almost proved costly.
"The Boks showed their intent and our egos maybe got in the way of what was, perhaps, a smart decision," Read said. "Our guys wanted to give it back to them and hold onto the ball. It's test match footy and it turned into a spectacle but we made ourselves work a bit harder than we should've. To not concede in that period probably kept us in that contest.
"In Albany they were there for maybe 20 or 40 minutes but they kept coming tonight. They are a quality side when they get that roll on and momentum and it was hard for us to stem that so we'll look at how we can do that later on."
