This wasn’t a case of the All Blacks necessarily modelling a new outfit as it were, more that they had better tailored the old one, wore it better and looked all the sharper for it.
It also helped that they didn’t throw half their dinner over it as has been their tendency, and there was something about the way they played that hinted at there being more to come: that they have finally cottoned on to the need to stay mentally attuned, physically engaged and disciplined.
It was a reassuring if not emphatic way to end a Rugby Championship which has, courtesy of the way things played out in Wellington, left a sense of the All Blacks having grown and learned a few lessons.
Captain Scott Barrett summed it up perfectly when he said: “I guess we are learning, probably not as quick as we would have liked to.”
Three wins and three losses are hardly the sort of return anyone can tolerate long-term, but it was a campaign that ended with a greater focus on the possibilities of what lies ahead rather than the missed opportunities and recidivist offending of the past.
The big positives out of Wellington, aside from ending the dreaded hoodoo, was the way the performance enjoyed a bump in intensity in the second half, and squeezed enough out of the Wallabies to ensure that all hope of them mounting a famous win, was snuffed out with 15 minutes to go.
And while this may seem like a small mercy, it was important for the All Blacks to prove to themselves as much to their fans and critics, that they have it in them to go the full 80 minutes and not fall apart after 50.
Ridiculously, this habit of madly melting down in the second half has been one the All Blacks have tied themselves in knots trying to break – as if they have been the veritable nicotine addicts, trying all sorts of gums, self-help books, and mind tricks to free themselves from the dreaded ciggies.
To finally find a way to hold it all together and not fall into a strategic void, will now, inevitably set off an investigation as to what the magic formula was.
But it was no one thing. There was an increased muscularity about the All Blacks defence after half-time, an urgency and determination about it that hurried and harried the Wallabies and prevented them from building the sort of momentum they needed to stay in the fight.
In fact, the All Blacks defence was a strong feature full-stop – and the way they defended their goal-line when they were under siege for much of the first 20 minutes, was both structurally impressive and a sign of how deeply connected the players have become.
The All Blacks, having found the referee a touch difficult to predict and interpret in the first half, started to get what he wanted to see at the breakdown, and it was an area they were eventually able to frustrate the Wallabies.
Caleb Clarke, who was otherwise superb, was somewhat harshly sin-binned with five minutes remaining to keep up the perfect record of second-half yellow cards, but it distorted the picture as this was not an inevitable consequence of the wild panic spreading through the team.
Ill-discipline was a problem in the first half but not so much the second, and maybe most importantly, the All Blacks were able to hold their attack shape in a more controlled and structured way than they have in any other game this season.
Not all their execution was super sharp, or decision-making on point, but their running lines, their certainty about where they were going and why, all played out with greater conviction and flow than it previously had.
And of course, this will open the question of how much of this could be attributed to the calm brought by Beauden Barrett at No 10.
He showed that it’s possible to make a statement by not trying to make a statement.
In his first test start at first five-eighths in two years, he kept it simple, opting to default with simple passes to the runners who lined up either side of him.
It was steady, patient and although he still suffers from that upright, rigid, awkwardness at times when he’s passing, it was effective.
The unknown will be whether Barrett was a cause of the All Blacks holding their shape better or a symptom – or whether he was possibly both.
Either way, the All Blacks have options at 10 now and the growing confidence to start believing that they are not a one-half team.
