Possession, Position, Pace – the Three P’s of rugby preached on a regular basis through his career by the great Otago man Charlie Saxton, and still applicable in this modern era.

But on Saturday night at Eden Park the All Blacks might have been more about the three “A’s”.

Accuracy, Attitude, and Anger?

Skysports

Watching the game with Andrew Mehrtens was a fun experience, amusing and enlightening, and we talked in the first 20 minutes about the All Blacks looking a bit angry after what had happened last week.

Angry not so much over the response from the public and media, but angry that they’d let history slip through their grasp with a below par performance.

Yes the weather was a leveller in Sydney, yes the Wallabies played pretty well and yes there were some oddball moments from the ref, but the bottom line is the All Blacks could still have won with a better effort.

Whether they really were angry only they know, but they certainly appeared to play with a controlled fury that the Wallabies never looked like matching.

It ramped up even further when Richie McCaw was sin-binned.

They had no real cause for complaint with the card – OK, nine times out of ten at that point of the game what McCaw did would be a penalty and a warning, but not in the current climate.

The All Blacks and their skipper in particular are coming in for some heavy scrutiny, and his actions would not exactly rate amongst the smarter moments of his stellar career.

But it only served to galvanise the team, and they threw themselves furiously into their work.

They’ll now face a different kind of challenge against the Pumas and Springboks.

The Pumas have brought back the “Bajadita”, the driving scrum, as evidenced in their two close defeats to the Springboks, while the Boks will be set on snapping a run of four straight defeats to the All Blacks including that controversial loss at Eden Park last year.

The next clutch of matches will put some perspective and context into what we saw over the past fortnight.

Last week there was talk of an “imminent crisis” in New Zealand rugby, but that might be something the Wallabies have taken home with them instead of the Bledisloe Cup.

Already there is some niggle brewing about Ewen McKenzie, with Michael Cheika’s name popping up regularly on the fan forums over the past couple of days.

One gripe airing with some frequency is that McKenzie pointedly went away from the successful Waratahs backline combination in some sort of determination to put his own stamp on things.

Certainly it is hard to justify the selection of the erratic Nic White ahead of the in-form Nick Phipps at halfback, whilst the selection of Kurtley Beale instead of Michael Foley is also a bit of a head scratcher, given how well the Phipps- Foley axis worked for the Waratahs, with Beale operating as a second playmaker outside them, albeit hidden out wide on defence.

Link has some big selection calls to make ahead of the clash with the Springboks in Perth, while he will also have to find a way to get more out of the likes of Sekope Kepu and Wycliff Palu, two powerhouse runners when things are on a roll, but ineffective under fire in Auckland.

McKenzie has tried to change a few things up by getting the players to stand in a staggered formation when facing the haka, so as to appear bigger, and staying on the field at halftime in the “hostile” environment of Eden Park, but in doing so has given those issues too much prominence and conceded to a weakness.

Staying out a halftime gave the chance for the All Blacks to return at their own pace, leaving the Wallabies jumping on the spot for longer than was good for them.

As for the All Blacks, well they should get Ma’a Nonu back, but it’s a real bad break for Ryan Crotty to have to sit out the next two games with a cracked cheekbone.

People tend to use words like “solid”, “sound” and “steady” to describe Crotty, but in the first half at Eden Park he was better than all that.

He switched around a lot, running effectively on the flanks and generally slotting into the high tempo game with aplomb, and without making any mistakes.

It would be quite wrong if he was to miss the end of year tour, and yet that is one possibility if Sonny Bill Williams is included.

If they are taking 14 backs, then the balance is likely to be compromised for a kickoff by the seeming commitment to including all three of Dan Carter, Aaron Cruden and Beauden Barrett.

It’s been common to take three halfbacks on a tour, although not always necessary, but if that’s the case then that’s six of the 14 spots already reserved, with the other eight to come from Dagg, Ben Smith, Savea, Piutau, Jane, Conrad Smith, Fekitoa, Crotty and Sonny Bill Williams.

Much as I’m looking forward to seeing Sonny Bill back in rugby, and anticipate him becoming a big factor in the All Blacks drive for back to back World Cups, I reckon granting him dispensation to go straight back into the national team is both inconsistent and setting a dangerous precedent.

The NZRU have been rightly staunch on not picking players from overseas, but isn’t that effectively what they are allowing here, if he can’t get in some game time with Counties-Manukau?