Wynne Gray: All Blacks show Eagles how to fly higher

Sam Cane of the All Blacks scores a try during the match against United States of America. Photo / Getty Images

There'll be no need to invoke any "Y'all come back now ya hear" pleas to those who watched the All Blacks at Soldier Field.

All the expats, supporters' tours and inquisitive locals will be even more active advocates for rugby Stateside after the premier side in the world delivered a try-laden 74-6 exhibition.

The All Blacks did the business. This was no Harlem Globetrotters show-pony poncing about sort of sport.

This was a missionary expedition combined with a demonstration of strong calibre.

Who knows whether it will persuade all those eyeballs glued to the TV channels that they should take up the game or encourage little Johnny Appleseed he's better off playing rugby than American football. Or whether the fusty IRB will think they should put more effort into breaking into the American market.

As a contest, it did not match up. First against 18th in the world. The All Blacks second-stringers were way too good for the Eagles, who had only arrived in camp last week.

There will be many observations about the entertainment and sporting components of this match, which had to be a financial windfall for both the NZRU and the USA unions.

The pre-match anthems and the haka were just the sort of colour to get the 61,500 crowd and the global TV audience buzzing.

Shame about the coverage though.

Each American network knows how to cover gridiron, baseball, basketball and soccer with every camera angle and statistic available to the panel of commentators and those running the production.

The shots we got of the play at Soldier Field were functional but nothing more, nowhere near the standards we are used to from Sky and brother networks in Australia, South Africa and Europe. It seemed Grant Nisbett and Co battled to cope with the lack of close-up camera work, action replays and all those bits which usually complement their commentaries.

There wasn't much the All Blacks failed to deal with. They were too good at set-piece and their dexterity and speed of ball movement left the Eagles defenders with a mountain of problems.

In close, though, the USA held up against the rolling mauls, brought some sting and bent the advantage line but lacked the cohesion to take advantage of that power.

Regular video replays of the test will be a must for the Eagles.

It will show them how they have to get more players in motion and in support of the ball-carriers if they are going to make advances in their game.

Who knows how long it will take, whether the All Blacks visit will open another petal in the flowering ambitions of USA rugby, or if it will help ramp up the intensity of their local competitions.