TRUST
The All Blacks have this total conviction in what they do. The importance of this is hard to overstate. It means that even when they are falling behind on the scoreboard or not performing the way they would like, they continue to trust all the training they have done, the gameplan they have chosen and the skills they have built.
Many times in the last five years it is trust in what they do that has enabled the All Blacks to win test matches late in the piece.
One of those tests was the 14-10 victory against South Africa in 2014, after which halfback Aaron Smith, said: “I guess the biggest turning point for me was against Ireland last year. There was 30 minutes to go and Richie [McCaw] was saying ‘we have got this boys, stay calm, trust our systems and it will work.’ The belief from there has really gone up. They won’t beat us on spirit for the lack of trust. You won’t get anyone going running out of the line to try and make a play. Everyone is trying to stay in the system, trust your insides and trust everyone to make a great decision.”