Regaining their status as a significant trendsetter in Test rugby remains the goal for the All Blacks and Saturday’s second Lipovitan-D Rugby Championship Test against Argentina in Hamilton will be another step on that path.
First five-eighths Beauden Barrett said: “We don’t want to be like other teams. We need to be the best team we can be.
“There’s no doubt there will be a little bit of that showing through in weeks to come, but we’ve still got to be the expressive All Blacks that we know we can be.
“We’re figuring out the way we want to play.”
But penalties continue to be a frustration in speeding their transition.
“We can’t let ourselves down, especially if it is individual discipline issues. If it’s around ruck entry, little things like that, we need to tidy up, that’s around our good habits. It’s something at the forefront of our mind and we’re all aware of the implication it has on our team.”
Barrett said there had been some tension around the side, but there was also plenty of determination to take out the Championship.
“It’s a great competition this year, anyone can win on their day, and it’s going to be an interesting few weeks to finish.”
Having recovered from a neck injury sustained in a fall when tackled in the air in Mbombela, South Africa, Barrett said he recognised he needed to strengthen that area and had been working on it in the gym.
There was also a changed emphasis with the combination of Ian Foster and new selector-coach Joe Schmidt.
“It’s all about building good habits and doing it all the time rather than sometimes. Joe has been good in that space.
“There’s no doubt he and Fozzie are finding their feet and how they’re going to run things, but Joe has been awesome, and so has Fozzie.
“I think we’ll see the fruits of that hopefully this weekend and games to come.”
Regaining the instinctual qualities which marked the better All Blacks sides of the past was part of their focus.
“When the pressure comes on, naturally we want to run the ball and keep it in hand. It feels so natural to us.
“We’ve identified that in games we’ve lost – we may need to kick the ball a little bit more. It seems unnatural, but it’s being aware of that. And then looking to attack in different ways – everyone on our feet, chasing kicks, getting those 50-50 bounces, or flooding rucks and looking for turnovers.
“It’s what other teams do well, particularly South Africa, play low-risk games then put the ball up in the air and look to feed off those sorts of errors.
“Again, we’re not going to be like any other team, we’ve just got to figure out, and are figuring out, the way we want to play.”
Barrett expects more of the same from Argentina in Hamilton. They had a good blueprint, although he expected them to move the ball around more. They know what works for them and will continue to back their defence. And they would continue to focus on the breakdown.
“They’re machines, they run around like robots, they’re very efficient with all due respect. They know how to retain ball and they do it very effectively.”
