If the All Blacks are losing their aura, Wales may be of the view that they are not losing it quickly enough.
An All Blacks side, supposedly vulnerable and ripe for the plucking, produced arguably their best – certainly their most controlled, disciplined and relentless - performance of theyear in their 55-23 win in Cardiff.
It was a performance marked not by its creativity, of which there was precious little, but their commitment to a physical, direct style of ultra-conservative rugby that left Wales feeling that they were the veritable little brother, pinned down on the couch, weakly and hopelessly trying to fight off an opponent that they had neither the strength nor innovation to repel.
This was a victory for brute strength, clarity of thinking and patience to a simple game plan that was markedly low in ambition.
New Zealand set out to squash Wales and that is exactly what they did.
And what’s maybe been forgotten in this season of ups and downs and roundabouts, is that this time last year the big worry for the All Blacks was their vulnerability when they were confronted with smash and bash rugby.
The horsepower contained within the Northern packs was a bit too much for them and all it took to knock the All Blacks over was a willingness to come at them hard enough.
Jordie Barrett celebrates scoring a try with Beauden Barrett. Photo / Photosport
It was a foundational problem that looked to be a tough job to fix, and one almost impossible to put right after Ireland came to New Zealand this July and smacked them about across the three-test series.
But it clearly wasn’t impossible to fix because this is precisely what has happened.
The frailty has gone and while Wales wouldn’t necessarily rank as the toughest and ugliest of the Six Nations brutes, they offered enough confrontation and grit to put the All Blacks through a reasonably searching examination.
And what became apparent from the earliest exchanges is that the All Blacks had the pre-requisite flinty edge that it takes to win in this part of the world.
There was a directness about their work that hinted at the clarity of their thinking. There was no ambiguity about how they wanted to play, none of the silly side-to-side stuff that got them nowhere in Tokyo and there was no mucking about trying to be clever inside their own territory.
The accuracy wasn’t quite all it needed to be. The lineout mostly functioned, but not always with the cleanliness required to use possession as they wanted.
And there was a perhaps to be expected sporadic sloppiness to some of the handling which reflected that it has been a while between drinks for many of the All Blacks’ frontliners.
New Zealand's Ardie Savea scores his side's sixth try during the Autumn International match between Wales and New Zealand at Principality Stadium on November 5, 2022 in Cardiff, Wales. Photo / Getty
But sometimes, nearly always, November tests in the UK are not about the fine detail, but the big picture.
These are essentially wars of attrition and what matters most is intent and attitude – two things the All Blacks absolutely got right.
They played with confrontation front of mind. They carried hard, tackled hard, kicked high and chased fast.
The patience behind it all was impressive. Every pass was calculated, and the runners just kept lining up close to the ruck, knowing that their mission was to grind out the next metre, recycle and wait for the next guy to do the same.
It was slow but steady wins the day – something the All Blacks of 2022 haven’t always been prepared to stick with.
But in Cardiff they were happy to bludgeon their way to victory, feeling no pressure to show that they have a creative side to their game, too.
It was bash, bash and more bash and Ardie Savea was the spiritual figurehead, playing with his usual, almost insane, desire to stay on his feet and drive the entire Welsh pack over the line every time he had the ball.
Jordie Barrett was the exemplar in the backline, delivering another strong performance in the No 12 jersey that was bang on brand.
He crashed himself over the gain line whenever he needed to and it’s crucial to have a second-five who can time and again drive the ball forward and build momentum in the busiest part of the field.
Maybe even more important, however, was the All Blacks’ attitude. They stayed in the fight in a way they haven’t always this year and whenever Wales counter-punched them, they didn’t fret, or wobble, but shrugged off the blow and got back on task immediately.
That’s a quality that the best teams have, the ability to take back the the initiative quickly and without drama: to not dwell on the mistakes and let doubt invade the system.
