David Leggat: So when will we see the best XV?

It was a cute little quip at the tail end of the post-test press conference.

Graham Henry had the small smile playing at the corners of his mouth; then again it might have been a trick of the light.

Henry was asked when the national selectors would run out their real, dinky-dye, Bob's Your Uncle first choice XV this year.

In this most unusual All Black year, remember there have been a couple of average performances against Ireland; a scratchy run against Argentina; a strong, resilient display against Australia in Christchurch and now a bits and pieces performance against a plucky South African side seriously lacking quality, spark and even a smidgeon of attacking invention.

All those All Black teams have been significantly different from the previous one, as the selectors have pursued their "give 'em all a go" policy.

On Saturday night, Henry told the questioner "you might have seen the first XV tonight".

If they heard it, Messrs Gear, Collins, Kelleher, Eaton, Mealamu and Woodcock would have been lining up for a spot of one-on-one on yesterday's flight across the Tasman.

Henry then remarked that the best XV had not been finalised "and we mightn't until 18 months' time". You hope he's wrong otherwise they'll be running round in Paris at the same time the Black Caps are tackling Sri Lanka at Eden Park and another country will be flogging the Webb Ellis Cup to their adoring public.

But setting aside his excusable timetable slipup - think 412 days from now - it does raise an interesting point: when will the Real All Black team line up? Perhaps not even in the opening World Cup match, at Marseille against a team called Europe 1, but most likely one more commonly known as Italy.

The first time the world's No 1 ranked team are likely to be seriously extended may not be until September 23 at Murrayfield against Scotland. The other pool C games are against someone called Repechage 1 and Europe 2 (think Ukraine, Spain, Georgia or similar).

If you take a dim view of Scotland's prospects, you could argue the first time the All Blacks are likely to need to fully flex their muscles won't come until October 6, a likely quarter-final against France, Ireland or Argentina.

But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Might the selectors chance their arm and go for broke on the end-of-year tour against England (if the game goes ahead that is, court decision pending), France or Wales?

For now, Henry is sticking with his 'We Are Family' line.

A big family too.

"We've a lot of players of equal ability. We have a team of 30 and it's important they all feel part of it," he said to a rugby public thirsting to see the authentic first XV.

Then again, Henry and his chums might decide the Wallabies, bounding back in hearts and minds after biffing the Boks nine days ago, are worth putting their best to the test in Brisbane on Saturday night.

And what might that XV look like? For what it's worth, perhaps something like this: MacDonald, Gear, Muliaina, Mauger, Rokocoko or Hamilton (take your pick), Carter, Kelleher, So'oialo, McCaw, Collins, Eaton, Jack, Hayman, Mealamu, Woodcock.

Come to think of it, that's the XV (with Hamilton, not Joltin' Joe) who beat Australia a fortnight ago, so maybe we've seen it and didn't recognise it.

Where the selectors may be heading for a cul-de-sac is if they now reveal their hand, call them the first XV and the fare turned out is no different from the bulk of what's been shown so far this year. What then?

They are a bit too smart to announce their top lineup as specifically as that, even if they do pick it, and so the great guessing game has plenty of traction in the months ahead.