The All Black forwards might have comprehensively outplayed their Australian counterparts last night but Wallabies coach John Connolly warned to forget any ideas about a psychological advantage ahead of the World Cup.
In fact, like the Springboks last week, he believed the biggest difference between the two sideslast week was the referee.
"I don't think so at all," Connolly said when asked whether the All Blacks had gained an important mental edge ahead of the World Cup. "It's one game all this year. There's not much between the two teams.
"Most games swing on close decisions. We saw that in Melbourne and we saw that here."
The close decisions Connolly, and later Mortlock, were referring to was a penalty awarded against Mortlock for a dubious high tackle on Doug Howlett that cost points; the awarding of a penalty against Adam Ashley-Cooper just before halftime; the awarding of the try to Tony Woodcock when there appeared to be no conclusive evidence; and the crucial intercept by Brendon Leonard which led to the try, with the Australians believing he was a couple of feet offside.
"In big games, little things seem to have massive repercussions and I was a little disappointed," Mortlock added. "It did seem to turn the game... they seemed to get a leg up from it.
"The penalty count was 2-1 in their favour. When you play a team as good as the ABs, you can't afford to give them a leg-up," Mortlock continued.
It would be churlish to suggest Nigel Owens was the only reason the All Blacks won and Connolly would be the first to admit that.
In a grinding game, the All Blacks tight five was dominant in the second 40 after cutting back on the frills of the first half.
The lineout was a shambles in the first half and they were again guilty of playing too laterally.
"The scrums were very good," Graham Henry said, "which led to the try and the lineout got better as the game went on. Our ability around ruck time was good, we went through the middle quite a bit and put heat on around the fringes. The forwards' performance was excellent."
Forwards coach Steve Hansen said in the first half they didn't have enough ball to participate in the game.
"All we were doing was defending. Once we simplified what we wanted to do in the conditions, we won lineout ball.
"It's really hard to get territory and dominate a game if you're not controlling the ball in wet weather."
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