KEY POINTS:
Graham Henry is not done with coaching in Wales.
There is a World Cup quarter-final at the Millennium Stadium if the All Blacks win their pool and a notion he might link up with the Cardiff club after the tournament.
The 60-year-old's contract to coach the All Blacks
ends after the World Cup and there is a widespread belief that, win or lose, it would be an opportune time for Henry to retire from international duty.
Henry has denied one report in the French newspaper Midi Olympique that suggested he is thinking that way. The NZRFU put out a statement saying Henry was focused on the World Cup campaign and there had been no decision about his future.
However, the Herald has learned there has been some dialogue between Henry and the Cardiff club about some coaching or development work beyond the World Cup.
>>View our tour picture wrap-up
Those close to Henry believe he will be unable to make a clean break from coaching after 32 years' involvement. But they think he will leave New Zealand as much for his space as giving some leeway to his successor.
Henry has an affinity with Wales that began when he was lured to coach the national team in 1998.
He also has strong connections to the Cardiff club where friend Peter Thomas is chairman. Henry knows coach Dai Young well and invited the former Lions prop to study the All Blacks in camp in his first year in charge.
Meanwhile, the All Blacks' clout at the breakdown was no shock to Welsh flanker Martyn Williams; it had been the main difference between New Zealand and the rest of the world for some time.
He felt that force during the Lions tour and again yesterday in the All Blacks' 45-10 triumph, which reinforced the work Wales needed to do to challenge the best sides at the World Cup.
"Even the provincial sides in New Zealand are way more intense than we are up here in the contact and breakdown area," said Williams.
"Some of them would equal what we find in the Six Nations," he continued.
Everyone in the All Blacks was so competent at the contact area, it did not matter whether it was the loose forwards or two wings, they all attacked the breakdown the same.
"In the nicest possible sense of the word, Richie McCaw is a freak and having him in the team makes a heck of a difference as well," Williams said.
"I'm glad we played the All Blacks. That was a real lesson they gave us and if we can learn from that, then we can develop. Everyone is chasing them.
"They don't frighten us but they are so good at what they do. In the first 20 minutes they did not do a lot; they kicked to us and we made mistakes and they had a big lead."
All Blacks fullback Mils Muliaina said the team decided to play a lot of field position and put pressure on Wales in their half of the field.
"I think we went into halftime pretty happy with how we had gone."
The defence was hugely pleasing, they had kept Wales behind the advantage line and, when they were forced to kick, the All Blacks looked to work off that possession.
The All Blacks had capitalised on Welsh mistakes, they had taken points when they were on offer through Daniel Carter and the game plan to counter Wales had been sharp.
The intensity needed for the test was shaped when the All Blacks performed the haka in their changing room for those members of the touring squad not playing yesterday at Cardiff.
"I think that helped us in the end," Muliaina said. "It definitely gave us confidence and guys really wanted to get out there and play. It fired us up even more."
The All Blacks were still a young side but they had gathered a lot of experience throughout the squad and were playing at a higher standard than they had on the Grand Slam tour a year ago.
"We are happy with the way things have gone but it is going to be a massive year next year and we have to stay cool on the job," said Muliaina.
Man of the match Jerry Collins said he was going home for a rest, though he felt he could still have played another game. His dry humour was still strong.
"I'm not going to touch a rugby ball for a while," he said. "We get a small window and you do what you have to do, not what you want to do, and the first thing I will do when I get home is pay the bills.
"I suppose I will be six weeks overdue, I have been away that long."
It had been a tough week with the mudslinging in the media but the All Blacks made sure the kerfuffle about the haka did not affect them.
They made a stand and then had to back that up on the field.
"I think we have done that pretty well," Collins said. "That is the best way to answer the critics."
Three-try star Sitiveni Sivivatu revealed how homesickness used to gnaw away at his confidence when he was overseas for any period. To some extent he had overcome that anxiety in his three tests on tour. He had also worked through a spate of injuries that had troubled him for the last two years.
Assistant coach Wayne Smith said he thought Sivivatu had an outstanding game.
"His workrate, his toughness in the collisions, Siti has shown he can play away from home as well as he does at home."
The wing, who has scored 14 tries in 12 tests, said his favourite in his hat-trick was his third, in support of a Nick Evans break.
