By MARC HINTON in Sydney - Stuff
Last updated 06:11 12/09/2010
Graham Henry's first three words at the post-match press conference said it all: "Character, character, character - first, second and third," when the All Blacks coach was asked to sum up his side's latest victory.
It was that all right, the All Blacks forced to dig as deep as they had three weeks earlier in Soweto, maybe more, as they came back from 22-9 down with 20 minutes to play to snatch a 23-22 victory over the Wallabies.
The win saw the All Blacks enter record territory with their 10th straight against the Australians and also saw them complete the first 6-0 Tri-Nations season. But, as in Soweto, it was a close run thing, and needed composure of the highest order.
"I thought the guys got better as the game went on," added Henry. "We were pretty rusty initially. We had a few new guys who hadn't played a lot of test football playing as well and it took them a wee while to settle down.
"But the guys just showed huge character and really hung in there and got better as the game went on and pulled it out of the fire. Beautiful."
Having stormed through their first three games of the Tri-Nations, the All Blacks have had to call on all their intrinsic qualities to topple the Wallabies in Christchurch, the Boks in Soweto and now the Wallabies again at the Olympic venue.
"That's got a lot to do with the composure on the field and the leadership of the senior players, Richie [McCaw] in particular," said the All Blacks coach. "It's hugely pleasing."
Henry felt the key moment of a compelling test came shortly after the third-quarter mark when McCaw elected to take, first, a lineout option and then the scrum one from successive penalties. Eventually the skip himself thundered over off an 8-7 move that worked to precision, even if the Wallabies later complained it had featured an early detachment.
"That was a good decision, and it gave us a bit more momentum," said Henry of a score that saw the All Blacks close to within a half-dozen with still plenty of time left. "We got better as the game went on, we got some go-forward and went through the guts and got in behind them a bit. We had some control for the first time in that last 20."
Henry also had some high praise for stand-in goalkicker Piri Weepu who coolly slotted all five of his shots at goal, which contrasted sharply with Matt Giteau's less than 50 percent record for the Australians.
"He kicked magnificently, and played very well," said Henry. "He's a very special player."
Henry confirmed that hooker Keven Mealamu had suffered a calf muscle tear and would likely be out of rugby for 4-5 weeks. The loss of the in-form hooker after just a dozen minutes was another factor in the All Blacks' shaky first half.
Assistant coach Steve Hansen said the most pleasing aspect of the win for him had been the way the All Blacks had changed their game as they searched for answers with 25 minutes remaining.
"We started to go up the guts a bit and that allowed our forwards to come into the game. We spent a lot of time in the course of the match going from side to side which probably suited the Australian way of defence. Once our forwards came into the game they got excited."
Defensive specialist Wayne Smith also found some fault in the overall performance. "Areas of our game weren't great. As defence coach I felt we were on our heels too much and weren't coming forward. That affected us, as every time they dropped the ball we didn't get benefit because we weren't coming forward."
Hansen felt his forwards had been "scratchy" and gave them 6.5 or 7 out of 10.
But then he made an important point: "We won't remember that in a half-hour or so. We'll just enjoy the win because they're bloody hard to get against Australia and it's important you celebrate your successes."
By the looks of the relieved All Blacks brains trust as they filed back out of the press conference room, it seemed like they fully intended to do that.
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