Brendan Gallagher’s autumn verdict: McCaw & co look like world champions elect to me

England gave it a rattle and for once New Zealand seemed to come off second best with the ref but still the All Blacks, without ever hitting top gear, won without alarm and undue panic. History shows us that no side had ever retained the World Cup but I’m off down the bookies at the earliest opportunity to make a modest investment in Steve Hansen’s squad.
And the really bad news is that New Zealand were some way short of their best on Saturday as England’s muscular pack set all sorts of problems. The All Blacks creaked and groaned in the tight and had to accommodate the early loss of centurian Dan Carter and more than once coach Hansen was seen with his head in his hands but their marquee players redoubled their efforts and fought off a rousing England effort.
Kieran Read confirmed his status as the IRB World Player of  Year elect with a wonderous performance for 70 minutes – he won’t be happy with his sin-bin in the first half and ten minutes enforced rest – while Ma’a Nonu, now a veteran in midfield, was always a rallying point when the going was toughest. Israel Dagg was superb at full-back, Julian Savea was predatory out on the wing and Richie McCaw, as ever, was a rock.
The rest, in all honesty, contributed rather than starred but a match day squad boasting 948 Test caps knows how to win tight games. Winning is what the All Blacks have become the world leaders in.
A few statistics just to emphasise that addiction. Since Hansen took over as head coach when Graham Henry stood down after their 2011 World Cup triumph, New Zealand have played 27 Test matches, won 25, drawn one and lost that solitary game to England at Twickenham a year ago.
If they win in Dublin next week they will become the first All Blacks side to boast a 100 per-cent record in a calender year since Buck Shelford’s team achieved that feat in 1989.
Normally after a World Cup triumph the foot is taken very slightly off the pedal as players and management pause for breath and smell the roses before committing themselves to the next World Cup cycle – having climbed Everest another summit bid can seem quite daunting in the short term.
But not with this New Zealand team. To these eyes they are a markedly better team than that which scraped a fortuitous World Cup final win over France.
The hunger – and indeed the pathological need to win – is the same but in their pomp they play an even better brand of rugby, the mix of old and new seems more judicious. Hansen has had them fired up right from the start and has also expanded their game.
They are boxing clever.  McCaw gives the impression of being ageless but even the world’s best flanker needs a break so the NZRFU swayed with the wind and granted him a six month sabbatical from the strains and stresses of Super Rugby. The pay-off for that clear headed thinking has been there for all to see since McCaw returned in the summer.
Similarly Dan Carter – who was presented with his ceremonial 100th cap on the pitch after the game last night – has been granted the first half of next year off to recharge the batteries and to increase the chance of him getting through to 2015 with his body in one piece.
On Saturday he departed with an Achilles injury which Hansen revealed afterwards has been rumbling for some time and you fancy that break next year will determine whether it really is realistic to expect him to feature in RWC2015.
McCaw did the honours with the cap cermony and talked in admiring terms about his Canterbury colleague afterwards: “Dan Carter’s contribution to the All Blacks has been phenomenal. I’ve been lucky enough to play alongside him for many of those 100 Tests and when you are the captain you really appreciate him. His skills and calm-headedness make it so much easier. You begin to take the great things he achieves and does almost for granted.”
Indeed and even England supporters will have felt a tinge of disappointment as he limped off on Saturday.
The “oldies” have been given the leeway their achievements deserve while others have been given their head.
Read has been a revelation in the last 18 months, transforming himself from yet another talented Kiwi loosie into a player of genuine world class and to a certain extend overshadowing even his skipper.
At fly-half, when Carter has been absent, Aaron Cruden continues to improve apace while every time the New Zealand Press tries to write off Nonu he ups his game.  Ben Smith, a back three player by preference but doing service on Saturday at centre, has put his hand up in a big way as has livewire wing Charles Piutau while we already knew of Savea’s abundant talent on the wing.
The All Blacks are not without their problems and Hansen will know that depsite their victorious march through 2013.
They are short of cover and emerging talent at hooker – Keven Mealamu is nowhere near the player he was – and you fancy Tony Woodcock might not make it through to RWC2015 so there could be front row issues ahead.
After a startling beginning to his international career scrum-half Aaron Smith has looked vulnerable on occasions and England showed on Saturday that a big mauling pack can still make life very difficult.
Win, lose or draw in Dublin next week the All Blacks think-tank will be working overtime after Christmas plotting the road ahead which, among other things, includes an incoming three Test tour from England next June.
New Zealand are back at Twickenham again next November and if I am reading the tea-leaves right they will be back again 11 months later contesting the World Cup Final again.