All Blacks beat ghosts of '07

It might be the game everyone else wants to forget, but the All Blacks were quite happy to stir the ghosts of Cardiff'07 after they beat Wales and achieved a third Grand Slam under Graham Henry.

Up 13-12, with a man in the bin and a referee with whom they failed to make any connection, the echoes of that quarter-final defeat resounded around Millennium Stadium. But everything they lacked three years ago in that final 20 minutes against France - composure, confidence and clarity - they had yesterday.

Stemming from the captaincy of Richie McCaw, which Graham Henry described as outstanding, to the cool-headed guidance at the back from 94-test veteran Mils Muliaina, instead of panicking at their plight, the All Blacks played their smartest quarter of the tour.

Playing on one leg, Hosea Gear scored his second try of the match while the team were reduced to 14 and when Daniel Braid returned from his 10-minute exile, Isaia Toeava and John Afoa added tries that turned a one-point thriller into a 19-point blowout.

Wales' last-minute try offered them some consolation and a fairer scoreline, but the same result as any of the previous 23 played since 1953.

"We were in similar situations as we were in Cardiff against another particular team and today we actually showed our maturity and came through and ended up winning quite comfortably, whereas in that game we didn't and we went home and we all had long faces," Hansen said.

"Today we are smiling and we are happy about it."

The point will be made, and it is valid, that a test against Wales, albeit with a Grand Slam on the line, hardly compares to the knockout stages of the World Cup, but dealing with adversity cannot be learned in practice.

In 2007, the coaches thought brilliance, strength and ball skills would win them the World Cup. Three years later they have come to greatly appreciate the value of experience.

Just 38 of 1108 All Blacks have played 50 or more tests for their country and eight of them - McCaw, Muliaina, Keven Mealamu, Dan Carter, Tony Woodcock, Ma'a Nonu, Brad Thorn and Andrew Hore - took the field yesterday.

In many ways this was an undisciplined All Black performance, but when smart decisions needed to be made at crucial times they kept their collective head.

McCaw, when asked whether he felt the game was slipping away when down to 14 men with half an hour to play, was emphatic. "You don't think like that," said McCaw. "If you start to think like that then you do things wrong. We understood we were keeping them in the game through our ill-discipline. We had to get down the other end of the field and we had to keep doing the things that served us well. When we got into that situation we got down their end of the field and took our opportunities. You can't dwell on what has happened previously, you have to think about how to get your game going.

"Discipline was one of them. We couldn't afford to give away any more penalties and we had to get down the right end of the field and put the pressure on them and that is what we did. When you are in those situations it is about being composed and thinking about task and not emotion."

The All Blacks struggled all day to get on the same page as Irish referee Alan Lewis, particularly at the breakdown and scrums. Again, the comparisons with'07 and their problems with Wayne Barnes were obvious.

The All Blacks were measured, but clearly unhappy with Lewis' handling of the game and on a more general level, unhappy with the policing of the scrums all tour.

"We didn't really get the bounce of the ball with the ref which makes life difficult," Henry said. "On that track, to scrum well was particularly difficult for both sides so I think there needed to be some sensitivity there.

"It is the best stadium in the world, but I think the pitch needs a bit of work."

He is being kind.

The surface was shocking, with divots the size of coffee tables lifted at each scrum.

The set-piece will be exercising the minds of Hansen and scrum coach Mike Cron over the summer months as they try to come up with a ref-pleasing formula that allows them to put pressure on opposition ball. Either that or they will have to stop competing at all, something anathema to Hansen but still under consideration.

"We want to put pressure on them but if they fall over all the time you get penalised so ... we don't put pressure on them, let them win their ball.

"We have tried talking to [officials]. We have tried everything but at the moment we are not making any headway so we are going to have to use the summer months to put our heads together and come up with a solution."