Christian Cullen: Take the hits and move on

It was a bit of a scratchy effort from the All Blacks in Apia. Photo / Dean Purcell

The Samoan game was a tough one to judge but the All Blacks will ultimately benefit from the hit-out before the Rugby Championship begins.

While it was a bit of a scratchy effort from the All Blacks in Apia, I think there were a lot of mitigating factors.

Seventeen guys were sitting back here after the Super Rugby final, there were a few new players fronting up and a lot who hadn't played rugby in three or four weeks. The team arrived in Samoa on the Monday and then, to top it all off, it was 30 degrees.

Those are extremely difficult conditions and I heard Sonny Bill Williams say there was lactic acid in the legs before the guys even ran out on to the pitch. And it looked that way - it almost looked as if the guys were a bit lethargic.

But as a physical test to see where they were at, you couldn't get much better. Because, boy, was it physical. The boys had to hang in there and take a lot of punishment and I don't think they'll face a tougher physical test than that this year.

It was like that right from kickoff and, after Kieran Read went down early, I think the coaches would have been pretty pleased just to get out of there without any serious injuries.

But I don't think you can read too much into the performance. Some guys stood up but I bet the selectors already had a picture in their mind of who they were going to play against Argentina.

I imagine they would have foreseen having two New Zealand teams in the Super Rugby final and, even before the Samoan game, formed a plan about who they would start against Argentina on Friday.

It's going to be a different team this week, but it's tricky to judge whether the All Blacks should play their first-choice XV. Obviously you don't want to lose these test matches and miss out on the chance to build a bit of momentum heading into the World Cup, but some top-line guys might need a break while others such as Israel Dagg need another crack.

Dagg had played only three or four games this year and it would have been great for him to have had a big game, but it just didn't work out that way. It wasn't his sort of game - it was crash and bash and all about survival.

So do you give him another chance or do you overhaul the team? It's a really difficult one for Steve Hansen and the coaches to assess. But one thing is for sure - with the Highlanders and Hurricanes players available, it will make quite a big difference.

When they can call on the senior guys who were missing and then add a few of the new guys, such as Waisake Naholo and Nehe Milner-Skudder, the team will be much stronger whichever way the selectors opt to play it.