KEY POINTS:
The All Black coaches carried on with their honesty theme last night, with Graham Henry admitting that he was feeling under real pressure during the week.
Henry and his team have been reluctant to acknowledge the weight of animosity against their reappointment and the declining interest in the code. But during the week assistant coach Wayne Smith said he had been out-coached in Sydney and then Henry revealed that the 39-10 victory was up there with the biggest tests of his career.
"I have been under a bit of pressure this week. I don't know why that is," he joked. "Perhaps you lose two in the row and it makes a huge difference to your life.
"I was probably showing a bit of emotion and a bit of relief. I think it was a special day. We have had a bit of a roll in the last four years. We are developing a new team and New Zealand rugby is under a bit of pressure, created by the World Cup loss I guess.
"They tell me there is reduced interest in the game and I think everybody involved in New Zealand rugby, from the board, the All Blacks and the public wanted a big performance."
There was a danger, though, with so many young players feeling the pressure and the coaching panel determined to put things right, that the All Blacks could have been overwhelmed with emotion.
Minds had to stay focused during the preparation and the emphasis had to be on the process rather than the outcome. That the All Blacks were able to achieve what they wanted was a credit to their mental resilience as well as their massive tactical improvement.
Henry said there was no need for him to explain the importance of the occasion and there was little need for either him or his coaching staff to get round the players and fire them up.
The Wallabies had done all that for them, said Henry. "I think last Saturday created the edge. Just sitting in the dressing shed after the game, it was like a morgue. That would have created the edge - just thinking back on that. It was a matter of getting the tactics right and playing the game well and the guys did that."
One player definitely feeling on edge was Jimmy Cowan. The halfback enjoyed easily the best performance of his career.
It was a performance he delivered on what turned out to be a very long day for the Southlander.
He had worried most of the night about his bruised knee, waking up to ice it frequently. Even when he got to the ground he was still thinking about it, more so when he felt it was a little sore while warming up.
There were those thoughts and then, of course, there were much deeper thoughts about the debt he owed the coaching panel and his teammates for sticking with him through his alcohol-related troubles.
But by the time the game kicked off, he had eliminated all thoughts of his creaky joint and jumped into the armchair his dominant forward pack provided.
"First and foremast it was about me doing me proud," he said. "I have got a great family and friend network and they have been fantastic these last six weeks.
"It was a long day. I tried to keep asleep in the afternoon but I couldn't. It always is but it felt like an extraordinary long day today.
"I was up every couple of hours last night [Friday] icing it [knee]. I actually had a heavy workload on Thursday. I did dome icing and took a couple of pills and woke up today feeling a lot better.
"It was pretty easy for me tonight with that platform."
He says it was easy, but Cowan made it easy with his control, commitment and vision.
Halfback has been a problem for the All Blacks this season. Andy Ellis hasn't nailed his opportunities and Brendon Leonard is injured.
Cowan looked to be at least a stop-gap option until Leonard gets back. Maybe even more. There was an urgency to his work that spread through to the forwards and when he came under pressure, he responded well.
But both Cowan and Henry were wary of getting too far ahead of themselves, and the latter provided a sobering warning about what lies ahead.
"I think the next contest [against Australia] is going to be massive. As Smithy [Wayne Smith] said, every dog has its day and it happened to be our day today.
