All Blacks: Sydney stand ins fail to stand out

Aaron Cruden was shaky in his first All Black start. Photo / Getty Images

An uneasy feeling will have swept through the All Black camp this morning that they are not quite the complete side everyone thought they were.

They have their unbeaten record intact. They have inflicted more pain on the Wallabies and showed that uncanny ability to escape defeat when hope was fading.

But those on the periphery have more ground to make up than anyone realised and injury to key players could easily derail this team.

Aaron Cruden, brave, resilient and determined, is a long way off running an All Black backline.

He doesn't have a left foot, missed touch from a penalty and his kickoffs weren't good enough. That's the harsh reality he'll have to take on board if he is to remain the preferred back-up to Dan Carter.

It was a torrid night for the 21 year-old. He has ability and qualities, for sure, and the hope has to be that last night was the sort of performance everyone has to put up with while he learns his craft.

Victor Vito also has much to think about. He carried the ball strongly, looked to get himself involved and made his tackles.

But he got himself in a terrible pickle to hand the Wallabies a soft try. Maybe this is unfair, but it was from a turnover from his possession that the Wallabies set themselves up to score their second try.

Again, it's not fair to expect a man of his age to nail a perfect effort. He needs to review the tape, speak to the coaches and look closely at what Jerome Kaino did when he came on.

Kaino made a telling contribution and showed the value of experience. He was similar to Vito in his early days and look where he is now.

Corey Flynn was also exposed as being someway behind the incumbent. Keven Mealamu has been in the form of his career this season and while he's carried the ball and tackled to devastating effect, it's his accuracy at the lineout that the All Blacks most sorely missed.

Flynn took an age to settle and that can't really happen at this level. If the selectors were thinking about taking three hookers on tour, they might now be reconsidering.

"The guys got better as they went along," said All Black coach Graham Henry. "We had a few guys who had not played a lot of test match football and took them a wee while to settle down.

"I think they [Vito and Cruden] will be much better test for the experience. You have to go through that experience. To play at this stadium through that experience is a big ask."

That the All Blacks were able to escape was due to a kind decision to allow McCaw's try to stand when the skipper might have detached early. And as Henry said: "Character, character, character one, two and three. It had a lot to do with composure and leadership of the senior players."