Rugby: All Blacks' one-track mind part of a bigger picture

The All Blacks have focused exclusively on their running and passing game. Photo / photosport.nz

If it looks like the All Blacks have become a little one-dimensional, it's because they have. But it is deliberate, planned and part of a bigger picture.

In the Rugby Championship tests so far, the All Blacks have been all about their running and passing game. They have attacked relentlessly with ball in hand, barely used their kicking game as a weapon.

It has put them under pressure at times; seen them make mistakes and struggle to work their way past rushing defences that swarm them.

But the All Blacks coaches are happy with that. They feel they need this young side to be challenged more than they were last year.

They want opponents to be in their face, to harry them and force the All Blacks to work not just how to find space against a rush defence, but to also improve their execution of basic skills under pressure.

That didn't happen last year. Not enough certainly. The All Blacks weren't asked enough questions and some of the younger, newer players finished 2016 with a false impression of what test football was all about.

So far this year the coaches have wanted the players to focus almost exclusively on using their pass and run game to deal with the threats they face.

In time, once they become more composed and accurate with ball in hand, they will no doubt introduce more kicking into their repertoire.

"It is about us understanding what depth you can play at," says Hansen about the battle he and the coaching staff face in improving the team's attack against aggressive defending.

"We naturally want to play flat because we want the opposition in our face, but when the opposition are actually running at you at 100 miles an hour you have got to either slow your own leg speed down or as a group come a bit deeper.

"It is about understanding that depth thing. The try that Alby [Anton Lienert-Brown] scored from the kick that was a good response to the fact there was no sweeper, they were charging at us and taking away our time and space out in the centre.

"Beauden did a double around Sonny and even though it wasn't a great pass there was so much time Izzy [Israel Dagg] scored. So they worked out ways they could combat at it.

"It is not something that is totally foreign. The Hurricanes have been doing it, the Highlanders have been doing it and I think the Crusaders tried to do it a little bit this year, too. What that tells me is that those three teams have won the Super competition in the last three years so teams are struggling against them when they are doing it."

In specific regard to the coming week and the critical test against South Africa, Hansen made it clear that there will be selection changes.

He confirmed that Aaron Smith will resume at halfback and it is a fair assumption that Sam Whitelock will come back into the starting team, as will Sam Cane with Ryan Crotty at centre.

A tough choice looms at blindside but Liam Squire is expected to return to the No 6 jersey and Rieko Ioane will no doubt be back on the left wing and Wyatt Crockett will be in for the injured Joe Moody.

"By and large I would say we are going to see some changes obviously, Hansen said. "We saw there is a difference of speed of ball when Aaron [Smith] is there so he'll come back. I think that makes a difference to how we play too.

"We made seven changes [against the Pumas] so the first thing is you have to get your combinations right.

"That will be the selectors' job. Then we have got to tidy up the breakdown but some of that is people not being in the system well enough. We have got to make sure we stay on our feet a little bit longer to make sure that we can get people there and not just flop at defenders' feet so they can get a free shot at the ball."