Richard Loe: A good show all round

It was a messy test match, right from that horrible beginning when Dan Carter's kick was charged down and the Springboks scored. But the All Blacks could take a deal of pleasure from the way they wore them down and finished.

The Boks made it tough after getting seven points in 17 seconds and they'd upped their attitude, from last week anyway, so it took the All Blacks a fair while to subdue them.

They'll be a little bit disappointed that they didn't put them away with a bit more finesse. But Graham Henry's men gained control, although a little messily, and wore the Boks down. It was a good hit-out for them and they gained plenty of extra to add to the well of confidence they are developing and the depth they are building.

The scrum was good and the lineout did better when Andrew Hore came on at hooker. Neemia Tialata has a way to go yet but he played very well for 30 minutes and I think he can be happy with his game. He, Carl Hayman and Greg Somerville all get around the field very well and do a lot of work, whereas CJ van der Linde and Os du Randt do little more than push in the scrum.

Hayman got around the field a lot and was pretty influential in the forward exchanges. That shows he wasn't being taxed too hard in the scrums.

Ali Williams also had a fine game. He was in the muscle stuff a lot more and left his Super 14 form well behind.

But I thought the forward game of the night came from Reuben Thorne. I was watching him pretty carefully after making a big fuss about restoring him to the test team and he didn't disappoint. A ton of work, as usual, and deadly accurate in all he did.

He tackled all night, took the ball up, ran support play and tidied up well. He deputised for Piri Weepu a lot round rucks and mauls - a terrific game.

Weepu is a tough little bloke, isn't he? He did well - his try was a beauty and basically broke the Boks - but I still worry about his passing a little.

I spent some time with former Wallaby skipper and halfback Nick Farr-Jones recently and he says he still feels that a halfback is a distributor and not a runner.

He says that George Gregan's improved form this year is because he is focusing more on distribution and less on running and I think Weepu could take a bit of note of that too.

And what do you say about Carter? A couple of lapses but the guy is pure class - kicking, passing or stepping, he is a consummate performer.

In comparison, when the Boks tried to run and pass, they looked laboured and the lapses occurred at vital times.