The All Blacks have revealed the secret behind their record-setting start to the Rugby Championship: keeping things simple.
While Australian rugby great Michael Lynagh is lamenting the Wallabies' galling lack of fundamental skills, All Blacks captain Kieren Read says old-fashioned catch-and-pass football was the key to their 54-34 rout on Saturday night.
The All Blacks bagged eight tries against the Wallabies for the first time in 81 years and at one point led by 48 points after 48 minutes before clocking off to allow the Wallabies to add a semblance of respectability to the scoreboard
"Any time you can put that number of points and score that many tries against any international team, it feels pretty good," Read said, glowing in the aftermath of the latest Bledisloe Cup bloodbath in Sydney.
"It really just came about for us by doing the simple things well.
"We've got some talented players and if we can give them go-forward ball and look after the ball, things come off and the talent really shines."
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen was similarly delighted, but also offered the Wallabies a word of warning ahead of Saturday's return bout in Dunedin.
"First 50 minutes was probably as good a rugby as you'll see and the last 30 was probably some of the ugliest rugby," he said.
"But I think we probably got a little seduced by the scoreboard and went away from the fundamentals of what we want to do.
"But it's about concentrating right now on what we did really, really well and that first 50 minutes was pretty special."
Lynagh was scathing in his assessment of the Wallabies.
"I can't overestimate how angry I am at seeing an Australian team who have skills that are non-existent," Australia's 1991 World Cup-winning five-eighth said while commentating for Sky Sports in Britain.
"Passing and catching and making tackles and trusting the bloke beside you are pretty basic even at schoolboy level.
"Australia had a month together to try and create stuff ... and they come up with that in the first half. Very, very disappointing."
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