Grant Nisbett: Bench was great for rusty All Blacks

Sonny Bill Williams makes a break during the All Blacks' opening win over Argentina. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Opinion

Rugby clichés abound these days and the air was blue with them at Wembley on Sunday after the All Blacks win over Argentina. But the one that was most apt for me was "Rugby is now a 23 man game."

It's hard to argue against after the massive impact from the eight bench-warmers which saw the All Blacks go from looking fatigued and ragged to turning the tables on the Pumas and completely changing the course and direction of the match.

The surprising injection of Sonny Bill Williams got it started, Wyatt Crockett and Charlie Faumuina brought a different dimension to the tight stuff and then along comes Beauden Barrett with his tippy-toe running at great pace, while Sam Cane immediately took some of the pressure off the captain as he scavenged in the loose.

Of course it's easier to make an impression when the game is 60 minutes old and the opponents are feeling the pinch but the fact remains that the All Blacks have the depth that is the envy of the other top tier sides at this tournament.

Don't forget we haven't yet seen some players who have turned games in recent seasons - Colin Slade and Malakai Fekitoa spring to mind - while Waisake Naholo has yet to be unleashed.

It wasn't the perfect start but it was never going to be after Steve Hansen predicted several days earlier that the performance would be "rusty". Dead right Steve but I bet one thing that wouldn't have excited him was the first half tackling which at times was well short of All Black standards. Sure, they conceded just the one try but there were several clean breaks from the Pumas that only broke down from a lack of support.

It'll be tough to put this opening win into perspective for the next couple of weeks because the standard of the opposition will fall away dramatically and we'll see the All Blacks rampaging to wins over the likes of Namibia and Georgia and not really giving us much of a clue to their true form.

I personally don't feel any better or worse about the All Blacks overall prospects after watching that opening match. Maybe we just head back to the cliché cabinet - "A win's a win."

- Grant Nisbett is a TAB rugby expert and SKY TV commentator.