Dave Rennie says New Zealand drew direct lessons from their 3-1 Rugby Championship series defeat to South Africa in putting together a commanding 50-19 win over Australia at Eden Park on Saturday, retaining the Bledisloe Cup for a 23rd consecutive year.
The All Blacks scored five of their seven tries in the second half to extend their unbeaten run at their Auckland home to 54 matches. Rennie was candid about the series loss to the Springboks a month ago, describing it as a failure that sharpened his side's execution.
"We were confident in our ability, we failed in Africa," Rennie said. "There were a number of areas that needed to be better. We just lost key moments in Africa, and we won a lot of those tonight."
Captain Codie Taylor echoed that sentiment, acknowledging the defeat to South Africa had stung. "We were hurting a little bit," he said, while expressing pride in the response his team produced at Eden Park.
Rennie credited the return of Scott Barrett — back in the starting XV for the first time in nearly a year — with adding physicality and leadership to a pack that had struggled in South Africa.
Damian McKenzie contributed 15 points and was influential at fly-half, while back-rower Peter Lakai was among the standout performers. New Zealand led 17-7 at half-time before Cam Roigard and Taylor crossed early in the second period to put the result beyond doubt. Leroy Carter, Josh Moorby and Will Jordan added further tries late, though Carter picked up a leg injury in the act of scoring and is in doubt for next week's second Test in Sydney.
Australia had their moments through Ben Donaldson, who set up both first-half tries for Tom Wright and skipper Harry Wilson, but the Wallabies were unable to capitalise on a promising position at the break. Wilson, whose side had beaten South Africa at home a fortnight earlier, called Saturday's performance "a step back".
"We came here tonight with real belief that we'd get the result, and we didn't," he said. "And gee-whiz, when you give the All Blacks a bit of ball, it's hard to get it back."
The Sydney rematch next weekend carries added weight as both nations will meet at the same venue during the World Cup.