Sean Fitzpatrick: Fielding the best team each week paying off

Kieran Read of the All Blacks looks to evade Gurthro Steenkamp of the Springboks. Photo / Getty Images

I know Graham Henry didn't think this All Black performance was as good as last week - but I did.

The Springboks put the All Blacks under more pressure this week - at lineout and at scrum - and they still delivered.

The Boks were surprised in the first test. They knew what was coming this time. They still couldn't handle it.

I was delighted to see the All Black team again contain the best players; the No 1 outfit.

I have talked about this many times in the past - the need to play the best team and develop combinations week in and week out and that is precisely what Henry, Steve Hansen and Wayne Smith are doing.

There were only two changes and we are seeing the team grow and develop their play together.

The most obvious example of that was the loose forwards, particularly Richie McCaw and Kieran Read. McCaw was terrific but Read, in that first half hour, was phenomenal. He is just getting better and better.

I must also mention Jerome Kaino. The three of them are developing a real combination now and Kaino reminds me of AJ Whetton when I was playing. He was nothing flashy, he just played his game and did his work - and didn't he make Michael Jones, Zinzan Brooke and Buck Shelford look good?

Kaino is doing the same things and he is getting through a power of work in the tackle, the rucks and mauls and in taking the ball up.

That's where the All Blacks were superior. They were better and smarter at getting the ball over the advantage line - whereas the Boks just kept banging it up the old No 1 channel; and got crushed.

This South African team looks tired to me. John Smit looks tired and Bryan Habana, Ricky Januarie and Jean de Villiers all seem off the pace.

For the All Blacks, I thought Piri Weepu was man of the match and he more than justified his starting place.

Like I said last week, we can't get too carried away. But we are definitely heading in the right direction. If my guess is right, Graham Henry and McCaw, when they finally relaxed last night, would have been able to think that they have moved to another level and that things are going as they should.

The All Black attitude is right. We can't get carried away but we can enjoy the improvement.