Rugby: Lessons aplenty but McKenzie pays price

All Blacks captain Richie McCaw. Photo / Getty Images

Steve Hansen is right about one thing - the All Blacks can learn as much about themselves when they win as when they lose.

In terms of performance, they have way more to be unhappy about winning in Brisbane than they did losing at Ellis Park.

They were well off last night.

The Wallabies can take plenty of credit for that - they were the cohesive force they wanted to be on the back of a difficult week. They were also enterprising and accurate and maybe they can be taken seriously after all.

But there's no way Tevita Kuridrani should have been allowed to run as much as he did or the Wallabies stolen so much turnover ball. There's no way they should have found as many holes in the All Black defence as they did.

As good as they were, the All Blacks gave Australia plenty of help in finding their feet and building a rhythm.

Bottom line - the All Blacks made too many mistakes, and made them in too many areas. They will have to look at this business of trying to play so much rugby in front of their own goal-line but, maybe, if their passing was slicker and their running lines sharper, it would be as lethal as they obviously think it can be.

That's a maybe. When the All Blacks drew in Brisbane two years ago, it turned out to not be an aberration - more a hidden warning that their game had fallen into a pattern that others were finding easier to read.

This team are well enough equipped to mix their options and vary what they do - they just haven't done it well enough in recent weeks or been protective enough of the possession they have had.

"We know we didn't play as well as we could in some parts of our game, but we showed a great amount of mental fortitude and we are very proud of our boys," coach Steve Hansen said.

With the Wallabies wanting to play at 100 miles an hour, forfeit kicks for goal and run from everywhere, perhaps the All Blacks should have resisted responding with a similar style.

The more frantic the pace, the more mistakes the All Blacks made and the more confident the Wallabies became.

As long as the All Blacks took risks, they made mistakes. And as long as they made mistakes, the Wallabies had growing hope.

"When the clock winds down, you have it in the back of your mind that they have got pressure as well," All Blacks captain Richie McCaw said. "We are not sitting here thinking we played particularly well."

But again, their bravery, courage and belief got them out of the hole. As McKenzie said: "We took the game at them with zest. I was really pleased with the application and character. They are just brilliant at finishing in those last couple of minutes."

In a dramatic twist last night, Wallaby coach Ewen McKenzie announced that he had resigned from his post earlier in the day. Having fielded questions about the test, a terse McKenzie explained that he felt he had no choice but to move on. He said he was disappointed by too many things within the Wallabies set-up and wasn't willing to hang around to see if everything could be fixed.