The All Blacks will be a better team as a result of the trials and tribulations they experienced during their international campaign of 2017.
That was the word from the world champions’ coach Steve Hansen after the side’s 33-18 triumph over Wales at Millennium Stadium on Saturday.
Hansen believes it was a year that could be marked down in the book as significant for the All Blacks’ future.
He said the win had been close to the sort of effort they had been wanting throughout the tour. They scored some lovely tries after getting over a fragile first five minutes. They and Wales had both played well, he said.
“I’m just extremely proud of the group,” Hansen told Sky Sports.
“We’ve got 11-12 out with injury and not many sides would be able to do what we have done for the whole year and battle our way through.
“It’s been a tough year but a really rewarding year. We’ll end up with some young men really knocking on the door over the next few years to be part of this team.”
Wales’ ability to hang onto the ball for long periods had asked a lot of questions of the All Blacks but he said new defence coach Scott McLeod could be pleased with his defensive work during the week which had been so valuable on the night.
“The attitude was good and the tackles were made,” added Hansen.
“We went bone deep in the preparation this week. That was one of the focuses we had and we achieved that.”
The Welsh Test was yet another demonstration to the side that they needed to turn up with a 10 attitude because if you didn’t and the opposition turned up with a 10 you lessened the odds for your own success.
Captain Sam Whitelock said it had been a tough first half.
“I would hate to know how many tackles we made but I think we really improved in our discipline, especially in that first half when we were on our own line,” he said.
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