Gregor Paul: Rock solid start for the All Blacks

Victor Vito is tackled by Argentinian defenders. Photo / Brett Phibbs

As this tournament progresses, the All Blacks' opening performance will come to be seen as more impressive than it may originally have appeared.

A 10-point victory against Argentina is a rock solid start and while it was achieved with a giant wobbly patch in the middle of the game, it was still achieved.

The very nature of tournaments is such that they demand grind and graft; they require teams to park any thought of style trumping substance and whatever the situation, deal with it, absorb the pressure and find a way, any way, to end up with more points.

The All Blacks are not here to dazzle the socks off anyone. They are here to win and at World Cups, winning rugby is rarely a thing of beauty.

In that context, there was more good than bad; more reason to believe than not and as may also become apparent, the All Blacks came up against an opponent that could be more semifinalist than quaterfinalist.

This was a tougher assignment than it presented and the All Blacks can be satisfied that as the wagon threatened to hurtle off the track in the last 10 minutes of the first half, there was enough leadership, composure and mental fortitude to steer it to the middle of the road.

The character was easily the most heart-warming quality. The passing, running lines and cohesion can all be fine tuned in the next few weeks.

That bit will come right - there's time to make sure they don't bomb simple opportunities as they twice did at Wembley when Nehe Milner-Skudder and Sam Cane both dropped simple passes.

But resilience can't be learned fast. Those teams that come to the World Cup without it are stuffed.

It's not a new trick for this All Black side to claw their way out of a hole, but it remains a good one. There they were with more than 230 test caps in the sin bin, Argentina rampaging round the fringes and the crowd in danger of losing it and even against that backdrop, there was a refusal to go all headless chicken.

"It was a matter of getting our hands on the ball and trying to control the game," said Daniel Carter. "It was about kicking the ball longer from kickoffs and getting the ball back from the lineout for kick and counter and I think we did that reasonably well.

"We stepped up and it was still early enough in the game that we knew we were going to get them back [McCaw and Smith]."

While the All Blacks' character clinched the victory, their lineout and set piece played a vital supporting role. The All Blacks were superb from the touchline - winning the ball front, middle and back and mixing up whether they played it off the top or drove.

It's apparent, with the lineout drive going to be such a feature at this tournament, that teams need to be able to first win possession in the air and in this the All Blacks can find contentment.

As they can with their speed and urgency at the breakdown - at least in the second half.
"There's no doubt we were rusty, really rusty," said All Black coach Steve Hansen. "There's a lot of apprehension from every team that's played. I've watched most of the games over the weekend and everyone's been probably half a tick off the pace. That's what comes with World Cups, especially the first round.

"I think all the teams will settle down and you'll see an improvement in execution."
There's plenty for the All Blacks to work on and tidy up - which was always going to be the way. But one game in and they have a victory.

One game in and they have lost the inevitable jitters and angst. It's a good start.