SENSE and SENSIBILITY

There was a bit of madness in the midst of the Bledisloe Cup that made it difficult to know whether the All Blacks are all but broken, on track with a re-build or simply making things up as they went along with no real plan.

It can often be like this in the build-up to a World Cup. It's a difficult period to assess because the serious contenders are all trying to build towards the tournament so they take selection risks, introduce new plays while holding other things back and don't mind about results the way they normally do.

For the All Blacks, the immediate pre-World Cup period has been particularly volatile in the recent past. In 2011 they lost to South Africa in the Tri Nations and then suffered a consecutive defeat when Australia beat them in Brisbane.

Those back-to-back losses created a sense of public fear and nervousness heading into the tournament but they weren't a reflection of a team pulling up lame in the home straight.

The All Blacks had left half their normal starting team in Auckland for the test in Port Elizabeth and then had the unusual business of naming their World Cup squad in the week of the Bledisloe fixture.

The release of tension from that announcement was later blamed for a poor performance and the All Blacks not only won the World Cup, they went undefeated through 20 tests [there was a draw with Australia in Brisbane] before England walloped them at the end of 2012.

It wasn't so different in 2015. The All Blacks had a scratchy win against Samoa, two unconvincing performances against Argentina and South Africa that yielded victories and then a loss to the Wallabies in Sydney.

After that Bledisloe defeat there were various concerns mounting about the readiness of some of the older, more experienced players in the team, but the All Blacks turned the screw at Eden Park, blew the Wallabies away