Time for All Blacks' day of judgment

The early trials are over and tomorrow the All Black selectors' pruning talents will be revealed ahead of the Tri-Nations series.

With trials come tribulations, and yesterday Argentina did what the Irish had done in the previous fortnight: asked some serious questions of All Blacks, most of whom had been without matchplay for several weeks.

The big positive out of Buenos Aires was that the All Blacks won (25-19). When sifting through the problem areas, better by far to be doing it from a winning standpoint.

But that alone is certainly no reason to break out the bunting. It was pretty tough viewing and the collective display contained more scratches than a sprint through a gorse bush.

The flak would have been flying had Chris Masoe not pulled off a critical steal four minutes from the end as the Pumas launched a series of rumbles towards the All Black line.

Imagine if the All Black defensive line had not stood firm in those edgy final couple of minutes and the Argentine forward juggernaut had nailed a historic first win?

No doubt the wrath of a historically unforgiving rugby public - who, so far, seem to have gone along with the selectors' "pick 'em all" policies - would have rained down.

It would not have changed Graham Henry and his panel's thinking a jot, but you'd imagine life would be easier if you're not repeatedly having to justify virtually every selection.

The selectors must have settled on their Tri-Nations 30, which will be announced tomorrow morning. Most are not hard picks.

But have the selectors really learned much they didn't know before the first three tests of the year? You suspect not, so there won't be any surprises tomorrow. The big questions won't be answered until the starting XV to face the Wallabies in Christchurch on July 8 are named.

Mils Muliaina or Leon MacDonald? Byron Kelleher or Piri Weepu? Ali Williams or Jason Eaton? Isaia Toeava or Ma'a Nonu or Casey Laulala?

And so on.

A plus from a stop-start match in Buenos Aires, in which you felt like biffing a book at the officious figure of Welsh referee Nigel Whitehouse, was the late display of will and defensive resolve as Argentina pressed hard.

The forwards will be the better for a gruelling workout against powerful men who live for the maul and scrum.

Going forward, Daniel Carter, Rico Gear and Toeava all had their moments and Scott Hamilton showed the right attitude and will be in the chosen 30 tomorrow.

But this looked like what it was: a team who've done plenty of training ground work, studied screeds of tape, but haven't been out in the trenches for weeks.

The All Blacks lineouts were a mess. One botchup directly led to Argentina's try. Several throw-ins went to the Pumas, for whom their captain and No 8 Gonzalo Longo was one of the standout figures on the field.

And the All Blacks seemed short of real fizz. If the intention was to speed up the game in the second half to catch out tired Argentine legs it didn't work because the hosts were still pounding away at the end.

For the third straight week, the All Blacks encountered spiritedly resolute defence and were left puzzling.

The days when Argentina would clump about for an hour before folding neatly like a scoutmaster's tent are over. They're still more comfortable using the boot than trusting their backs, but they are tough professionals and had Federico Todeschini's kicking radar been up to its usual efficiency, Argentina - despite a one try to three deficit - would probably have won.

Whether that outcome would have been warranted is another matter.

The All Blacks deserved to win. It was a display loaded with errors, but they scored more points than the opposition - invariably a good indicator.

So to the Wallabies. Did their 37-15 win over Ireland on Saturday night offer much food for thought?

Ireland pressed hard before being undone in the final quarter - sound familiar? - but the relevance of the scoreline diminishes when you compare a fine evening and firm ground in Perth with a grubby, rain-lashed night which Auckland could have borrowed from Limerick nine days ago.

And the third Tri-Nation, South Africa, who fancy they're making real progress, took a dusting from a resurgent French side in Cape Town yesterday.

Interesting times lie ahead.