Paul Lewis: What Ian Foster's critics must concede after All Blacks win over Argentina

OPINION:

So the question now is: why can't the All Blacks play like that all the time?

Consistency of performance is what teams in all sports strive for – that almost indefinable moment when all moving parts act in perfect concert, producing an undeniable surge of efficiency and movement.

Way back at the Los Angeles Olympics, one of New Zealand's rowing eight tried to express how that worked in an eight. It was, he said, almost impossible to explain but it was a "feel". When they got their timing and rhythm right, it seemed to alter the physical properties of the boat, so that it didn't cut through the water so much as seem to plane, almost like the America's Cup yachts do today.

It will not have escaped your notice that a rowing eight has the same number of members as rugby's forward pack. The eight at those Olympics came fourth; they didn't quite find the rhythm.

The All Blacks did in Hamilton, even if we can make the slightly churlish observation that the Pumas left a lot of themselves in Christchurch that previous week. This was a performance of clinical precision and cold ferocity at the breakdown – so often Ian Foster's All Blacks' Achilles heel this year.

All Black head coach Ian Foster. Photo / Getty

With that, and a much improved and varied kicking game (including some short kicks, designed for regathering), the All Blacks were able to indulge their running game, scoring some dashing tries.

This was a coaching performance and a playing performance which validated Foster's selections and approach. Prominent among the stars were players regarded as the villains of last week's historic defeat – Sam Cane, Sam Whitelock, Aaron Smith, Richie Mo'unga and Rieko Ioane.

But I return to the question: why are we going through this rather harrowing cycle of disaster-triumph-disaster-triumph?

Foster's critics - and I must be counted as one - have to concede that this was a coaching response of some note. The set pieces were secure, the Pumas had no answer to the speed and accuracy at the breakdown, leading to penalties and, for once, captain Cane directed the scoring focus at the goalposts and not the lineout.

Mo'unga kicked far more cleverly than last week, Smith varied his game with an occasional run and Ioane showed what he can do when he gets a bit of space. The All Blacks built a lead and then began using the ball more artistically from broken play.

A special word for Cane, of whom I have been particularly critical. This was his best test for a long time; his crunching tackles were back in evidence and he was involved in several of the All Blacks' best attacking moments. It was the real Sam Cane.

Sam Cane had a standout performance against the Pumas. Photo / Photosport

But let's be clear. The way to beat the All Blacks is still in evidence: disrupt the set pieces, attack the breakdowns, employ suffocating defence, kick the goals to build scoreboard pressure to encourage mistakes, and win the aerial stuff.

That strategy is hard to deny if it is executed well. There are a lot of components in there that the team on the receiving end cannot always control, particularly if the referee is on high alert for infringements which, let's face it, they always are.

Part of the dissatisfaction with Foster and this All Blacks campaign has not just been the losses, but the way they've lost. They have persisted with the spread-it-wide running game and have been picked off; made to look naïve at times.

When they get it right, a la Hamilton, they can tear to pieces any side in the world. But they are still vulnerable to the full court-press, the smother strategy.

So here's what I expect to happen over the rest of this season:

• The All Blacks can win the Rugby Championship (and keep the Bledisloe Cup) with two wins over the Wallabies. The team will be little changed; Foster will stick to his chosen men to win the series and validate his appointment and approach.

• It may not be until the northern tour – and maybe not even then – that some of the newer players get a run to help prepare them for the inevitable day when injuries affect the top team.

• Looking further ahead, the World Cup could see a change in style, something much more direct and controlling than the All Blacks are employing. After all, they don't always have to be pretty, just pretty smart – as they were in Hamilton.

There's just one little thing. The disaster-triumph-disaster-triumph wheel is due to click round to the next disaster zone – and the Wallabies have a canny coach in Dave Rennie and a fair record in surprising the All Blacks.

The Springboks did the All Blacks a favour in clearly outpointing the Wallabies in Sydney, with captain and openside flanker Siya Kolisi also leading from the front. If the All Blacks play with that same controlled ferocity as against the Pumas, you doubt the Wallabies ability to hold them.

But, then again, the only consistent thing about the All Blacks so far this year has been inconsistency.