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So Graham Henry has just been joshing all along. The All Blacks do have a secret gameplan and we got a glimpse of it last night.
The scoreline probably would have flattered the All Blacks more if we had seen an extensive reliance on the bruising pick-and-drive work
of the forwards rather than just sporadic flashes.
Maybe that was deliberate, though. Maybe the forwards were told to do just enough of it to win the game and to alert the public to its existence so they would stop fretting about how the All Blacks will go in France, and relieve some of the pressure that is building on the team.
On those few times we did see those black shirts thundering into contact, backs parallel to the ground and support runners stacking on either side, it was blood-stirring.
Not only for the sheer joy of seeing so many athletic forwards at the peak of their craft, but also for the knowledge that the lateral, go-wide rugby we have had to endure all Tri Nations is not the package the All Blacks will deliver in September.
It was by no means a complete performance. There were still too many basic errors, too many poor decisions to feel really confident - but it was a vast improvement on where Henry's side have been, and there is hope the performance curve will be scaled further.
The sight of Daniel Carter booming the ball so beautifully between the sticks from all over the ground was also something to cherish.
Rugged driving from the forwards and faultless goalkicking - these are qualities that win tight games in the World Cup.
So, too, does a monstrous scrum which delivered the pivotal play when it disintegrated a Wallaby effort so completely that in the wild panic Brendon Leonard snaffled an intercept and hared off to the sticks.
The big units tried to bash over the final yards but couldn't make it. From the ensuing scrum, though, Leonard went again and Tony Woodcock picked and flopped in one neat movement to barrel over at the corner.
It was no coincidence that the first try of the game correlated with the arrival of Leonard. The Waikato halfback has a dynamism and energy about him that make things happen. He will stick to the party line, as he did last week, and he was just in the right place at the right time.
But being in the right place at the right time is a skill in itself.
The man has an instinct for where the ball is going and where the space is going to open up. The opportunities didn't materialise when Byron Kelleher was on the paddock and the man who was barely recognised outside his own house this time last year is shaping as a possible trump card.
The All Blacks certainly needed a blast of energy after half-time.
They drifted in and out of the first half so much that all those people who have been demanding the return of full-blooded tests, proper games where the best men go at each other for the full 80, might have been clamouring for a return to the hanky-panky that had gone before.
It again looked like it sometimes does when the going gets serious, and a battle is on for the inches, a lot of the All Black circuitry packs in.
Like the lineout. Steady enough last week in Christchurch, it was entirely random for most of the first half, seemingly operating on guesswork and vague ideas.
When Keith Robinson was used at the front it was fine and dandy. Anything else, though, usually ended in tears.
On a wet night, the touchline has to be a friend and not an enemy of the All Blacks.
And that shakiness on the touchline remains a reason to be cautious. The Wallabies effectively kept themselves in business by pilfering more ball than they had any right to take.
Once it was in the hands of George Gregan and Stephen Larkham they could build the pressure with the former especially box-kicking to great effect.
The Wallabies were also able to make uncomfortable mileage at times by breaking the first tackle. For all the flaws in the All Black game in recent weeks their defence has remained stiff.
But Henry won't be too dark about that. This was a massive game and his troops came through. Later this year, coming through is all that is going to matter.
New Zealand (T. Woodcock tries; D. Carter 7 pens) Australia (S. Mortlock 3 pens, M. Giteau dg)
