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CAPE TOWN - Assistant coach Steve Hansen is sure that results like the 19-0 victory over South Africa at the weekend will hasten the rugby development of the present crop of All Blacks.
The New Zealanders kept their nerve during a tense and physical encounter in Cape Town yesterday in which just five points separated the teams until the visitors finally kicked clear with two late tries.
They also produced some persistent defence to hold the Springboks scoreless, something no other All Black team had achieved in South Africa.
With the present All Black side undergoing rebuilding, with eight players having their first taste of test rugby in the republic, Hansen agreed that the performance at Newlands would accelerate the learning process.
"When you have to go to the depths we did from a physical and a mental point of view and to come out on the positive side it is certainly going to hasten the development of your players," he said today.
"They know they can go to the well, and keep going to well, and that's important."
World champions South Africa had their opportunities during a battle of attrition.
"But perhaps because of pressure from us, or perhaps because of the anxiety of where the scoreboard was, they didn't take them," Hansen said.
"We managed to take ours and I think we finished the game reasonably on top."
Under the present regime of coach Graham Henry and assistants Hansen and Wayne Smith, the All Blacks have now won three and lost three in South Africa since 2004.
The other victories were achieved in Pretoria in 2006 (45-26) and in Durban last year (26-21), and Hansen rated the latest as the best of the lot.
Not only were the present side a young one, but they had to deal with the public and media backlash after they dropped successive tests to South Africa in Dunedin and Australia in Sydney last month.
They hit back by downing the Wallabies in Auckland and followed up with victory in Cape Town.
"This is a new team with a lot of new players in it and it's very young in its infancy," Hansen said.
"We've been under a lot of pressure as a group and we've responded, I think, magnificently. We've had two really top games now, after a lot of people were writing us off. When a side can get up and do that, it's always satisfying."
Hansen wasn't yet prepared to claim favouritism for the All Blacks for the Tri-Nations title.
He said the points table still had a wide open look to it.
New Zealand are five points clear of Australia and nine ahead of South Africa, but both the Wallabies and the Springboks have games in hand.
"I think it's all tied up at the moment," he said.
"Everyone has a chance and it makes for an exciting Tri-Nations."
Australia and South Africa play tests in Durban and Johannesburg over the next two weekends, before the tournament finale between the Wallabies and the All Blacks in Brisbane on September 13.
The All Blacks, who left Cape Town for home today, have a match against Samoa in New Plymouth on September 3 to fill in the break between now and Brisbane.
Hansen conceded that the schedule could threaten the momentum the All Blacks had built up and the Samoa fixture would be important for match fitness and for getting going mentally again.
At the same time, there would be ample motivation leading up to the test with Australia.
"The Bledisloe Cup will be up for grabs and so will the Tri-Nations, so there's plenty to play for."
- NZPA
