Graham Henry admitted to a mixture of relief and satisfaction after New Zealand's 33-6 win over Australia.
All Blacks end Tri-Nations campaign on winning note
New Zealand's 33-6 Tri-Nations victory over Australia in Wellington was greeted with a mixture of relief and immense satisfaction by All Blacks coach Graham Henry.
The three-tries-to-nil triumph was by far the All Blacks' best performance of the campaign and came after weeks of criticism directed at Henry, assistant coaches Steve Hansen and Wayne Smith and the players following several sub-standard efforts - particularly against new champions South Africa.
"We're delighted with the performance. It's been a while coming and the guys played well in all facets of the game," said Henry.
"The team's been under huge pressure and they have responded to that pressure and played particularly well tonight.
"We got some really good first phase ball at the line-out and scrum and as the game went on that got more and more."
Dominance
Henry singled out the loose forward trio of captain Richie McCaw, Adam Thomson and Kieran Read, who totally dominated their opposites David Pocock, Rocky Elsom and George Smith, who was substituted late in the game, at the breakdown.
"The work at the tackle area by the forwards in general, but particularly the loose forwards, was exceptional," the coach added.
"We had a big game in the loose with Richie, Adam and Reado. They played well there and were backed up by the tight five. We turned over a lot of ball and put the pressure on.
"We played well on attack and well on defence. It was a good all round game."
The forward dominance gave the backs space and time - something that has been missing in earlier games - and they thrived with Cory Jane, Ma'a Nonu and Joe Rokocoko all crossing the whitewash.
Daniel Carter successfully converted all three tries as well as four penalties. Australia's six points came from a Matt Giteau penalty and a Berrick Barnes drop-goal.
Even New Zealand's line-out, which has been an area of concern for most of the season, came right.
"The big thing is to get the belief right and get those little jobs right and we did that tonight," said McCaw.
"The big thing we didn't do was panic. We went back and fixed those mistakes that we needed to fix."
Rolled over
Australia coach Robbie Deans said the biggest disappointment was the way his side had allowed Nonu and Rokocoko to score after they had been denied a try by some staunch All Blacks defence.
"The All Blacks were hugely desperate and played very well," Deans said. "The most disappointing thing from our perspective was that we essentially capitulated once the game was gone which was pretty late.
"We were hammering away but the All Blacks defended well and they denied us a score which would have put us within one try.
"But at that point when we weren't successful in scoring and the All Blacks did, we rolled over and that's what disappointed me.
"This young group took a step in Brisbane but they have now experienced both extremes and it was an experience we were hopeful of avoiding obviously."
