Five Questions for the All Blacks

1 BACK THREE PUNCH

The All Blacks have incredible weaponry to choose from when it comes to their back three.

Ben Smith is the rock solid certainty for them at fullback. The question is, though, who do they use on the wings?

They threw a surprise against the Lions by selecting Rieko Ioane. But he proved his worth. His speed is impressive and now the question is whether Julian Savea and Waisake Naholo can force their way back in.

Will it be a horses for courses type selection? Typically they like to have one auxiliary fullback-type and a power finisher.

But against Australia can they go with two power runners and how much do they want to mix things up against building continuity?

2 DRIVING THE MAUL

The All Blacks admit they didn’t really embrace the driving maul until 2015 when they felt they had to have it in their armoury at the World Cup.

It would have been crazy to have gone to England without that being a genuine attacking option for them.

They developed their work further in that area last year and yet still didn’t use it nearly as often as other teams.

Will we see them, now that they have more confidence and experience in driving lineouts, use that strategy more than we have?

Will it become their go-to option when they have attacking lineouts close to the opposition line?

3 NEXT LEVEL

The All Blacks are all about continuous improvement. They want each performance to be better than the last and the question for them now is can they find another level to their already extraordinary abilities?

What added qualities can they introduce to their game this year? Do they have more tricks up their sleeve or just greater ability to deliver the same basic skills with more accuracy and intensity?

Whatever...they need to be advancing their rugby, becoming a more difficult side to beat and showing that they continue to lead the world in both attacking and defensive innovation.

4 LOCKED IN

What became apparent in Chicago last year is that the All Blacks are super reliant on Sam Whitelock and Brodie Retallick.

They could cope with one of them being injured, but if they both go down, the All Blacks would be in a bit of trouble.

Scott Barrett is an emerging force but he’s not ready to carry the workload those two do. Without Retallick the All Blacks would lack ball-carrying crunch in the middle of the park so they really will need someone – be it Barrett or Luke Romano – to step up if they have to.

5 GOAL KICKING ACE

Beauden Barrett isn’t a bad goalkicker. But he’s not, statistically at least, in the top flight though.

The likes of Leigh Halfpenny and Owen Farrell convert about 85 per cent of their opportunities. Barrett sits around 70 per cent. Last year he didn’t kick particularly well in the Rugby Championship but it hardly mattered – the All Blacks were scoring five tries per game and miles ahead on every test that the extras were never a factor.

But as a player who prides himself on his skill-set and as the All Blacks can’t surely keep romping away, can Barrett improve his accuracy and post improved numbers this year?

Can he make sure that goalkicking does not become a critical weakness within the All Blacks?