Wynne Gray: All Black after quick cure for hiccups

All Blacks coach Steve Hansen, during the All Blacks training session, held at North Sydney Oval, Sydney. Photo / Brett Phibbs.

The All Blacks have hit a rough patch which is the worst in the six years Steve Hansen has supervised the best side in the world.

There are degrees of sporting rough from the knee-high fescue on some golf-courses to the failures at the Warriors or the stumbles from the All Blacks in their series against the Lions.

Defeat in the second test at Wellington followed by the controversial Eden Park stalemate is the worst sequence since Hansen took over as coach after the 2011 World Cup win but there has to be some context put around those glitches.

He, his staff and the players have embellished their prestige and polished the All Black results chart with 64 wins, three draws and only five defeats in tests around the globe.

They've won the World Cup again and hold the Rugby Championship title, the Bledisloe Cup and other cups, trophies and shields.

But they are burdened by an inflammation, a niggle which has been gnawing at them for the last six weeks.

In their appraisal, the All Blacks were disappointed with their production in the three test series with the Lions where their work fell short of the standards they set themselves for that once in a lifetime quest. The Lions brought a high quality inspection which improved as the tour continued and the All Blacks were unable to find a convincing retort.

Their decisions and skills did not always hold up under pressure exerted by the Lions and the All Blacks had spent extra time on those shortfalls and the lessons of collective leadership as they prepared for the start of the Bledisloe Cup campaign and Rugby Championship.

They were comfortable returning to their Double Bay hotel where Bug-Gate germinated last year but were not prepared for a further installment of Dunny-Gate and Aaron Smith's recollection of his tryst in a disabled toilet.

It was an awkward wobble in a game of Tetris, a disturbance for the team and a time-consuming distraction for the New Zealand Rugby Union and All Black staff but of more allure to their rivals and the public than it was to the players.

They adhere to a master template and everyone trains to that, players are interchangeable if illness, injury or other issues intervene.

Pressure swirls around every test match. It is an absolute truth for every All Black whether they are in the World Cup final, used off the bench against the Galapagos Islands or picked for tomorrow's Bledisloe Cup in Sydney.

Selection tweaks have been made and with those come some uncertainty.

The All Blacks believe Damian McKenzie is more suited to five eighths and want to see him play there more but have picked him in his Chiefs role at fullback because of their back three template.

Injury removed Liam Squire from a lot of Super rugby action but he gets a run at blindside where he needs to deliver the powerful work with the ball and on defence which has marked Jerome Kaino's contribution in that role.

No Dane Coles either, Sonny Bill Williams is only a club run back from a month's ban and Owen Franks has been careful with a pesky achilles for some time. They are more issues than usual as the All Blacks look to restore their winning sequence against a fitter but unproven Wallaby side.