Australian rugby great David Campese says there are clear signs that the 2020 version of the All Blacks is not living up to the side's historically high standards.
Speaking with Simon Barnett and Phil Gifford on Newstalk ZB on Tuesday, Campese used the example of Rieko Ioane's botched try attemptas a sign of the cracking of what was once a consistently-dominant side.
Ioane was denied his 25th test try after dropping the ball attempting his signature dive over the line, a mistake Campese believes would not have been allowed to happen in the past.
"Back in 1989 I got in trouble for the British Lions pass. All of Australia bagged me, they got into me and yet an All Black dives on the weekend and - as soon as he put the ball down I said to my son Jason... 'he didn't score that!' - that's not what normal All Blacks do.
"I know it's a different era, I know I'm old, but that changed the game, that allowed the Wallabies to have some self-belief and get back into the game, one little mistake."
Rieko Ioane fumbles the ball as he dives over the Australian tryline in the 2020 Bledisloe Cup opener. Photo / Photosport
Campese went on to say that Ioane's mistake was just one of many pieces of evidence in the Bledisloe opener of a side lacking the class of years gone by.
"You can just see little things starting to creep in that weren't there before, maybe a lot of older guys are not there like Kieran Read and obviously the Richie McCaws who were so entrenched in the traditions and all that.
"Little things change games and that was just one of the things that I noticed... also the amount of mistakes under pressure the All Blacks made last week - yes, it's the first test and we've had a lack of rugby - but that's just uncharacteristic of the All Blacks."
Campese suspects new All Blacks head coach Ian Foster is the source of this change and suggested New Zealand Rugby showed a lack of faith in him by signing him to a relatively short contract in charge of the side.
"The All Blacks - very, very strange that they've given the coach a two-year contract, instead of the normal four, so obviously they've seen something there that they're not real sure of."
However, this lack of faith in Foster was also extended to his own country as Campese refused to predict a win for the Wallabies at Eden Park this coming Sunday.
"The last time we won there was when I played there in 1986, but I think, after last week... this young team, there's a lot of potential there, I just hope they play like they did last week and if they do I think we'll go very, very close."
