All Blacks end of season review: What grade do they get?

Analysis - So what mark do you give the All Blacks this season? To give the conversation a bit of context, right now in South Africa they're hailing the 2024 Springboks as potentially their greatest ever side with a 13 win, two loss record. Scott Robertson's All Blacks finish on 10 wins and four losses, with the public still figuring out just what that means.

Has the team gone forwards, backwards or simply stayed still after last year's World Cup campaign? The answer is all of the above, depending on which way you look at it.

The wins

A slow burn is the best way to describe the way the All Blacks went about winning games this year. Small margins of victory against England, came before a vintage backlash against the Pumas at Eden Park, then a headscratcher and a hiding against the Wallabies. The end of year tour saw more tight ones against England and Ireland, so really the only teams that the All Blacks really put away were ones that we kind of expected them to anyway.

The losses

Some of the wins could have been losses and all of the losses could have been wins. That's not a great summation on the surface, however the further we move away from the tests dropped to the Pumas and Springboks, the slightly more acceptable they become. The All Blacks were very disappointing in the shock result in Wellington, but at least it's become very clear since that Argentina are currently in a very good period for the national team.

We already knew that about the Springboks, who are world champions, and playing tests in South Africa has historically been regarded as by far the toughest assignment the All Blacks have. So the prospect of two losses on that trip was very real no matter what situation they were in, let alone under a new coaching staff.

So really, the French loss stands as the most disappointing. The All Blacks literally threw away a golden chance to go through the end of year tour with five wins, through a combination of bad decisions and worse luck.

Looking forward

You certainly can't fault the one new success story that's come in this year, although had it not been for injuries Wallace Sititi may well not have seen them get anywhere near the gametime he did.

Robertson certainly didn't shy away from admitting that - unlike his predecessor when it came to key positional switches - but the fact that Sititi was included in the first place before making his way into the test side due to injuries to Ethan Blackadder and Luke Jacobson is something the coach can obviously take credit for. The biggest shock of the initial squad was picking the Chiefs number eight over Hoskins Sotutu of the Blues, but it's been more than vindicated.

Cortez Ratima started strongly before a disappointing tour, again though he wouldn't have played had TJ Perenara been fit. Same with Sam Darry thanks to Scott Barrett's injury, but the likes of Billy Proctor and Ruben Love had to wait till the side was rotated. George Bell and Harry Plummer barely got used at all, so it's hard to really assess what the future looks like quite yet.

Instability

Leon MacDonald leaving after only four tests was a massive move, especially since he'd been linked to the Robertson coaching ticket since day one. It also hinted that perhaps there wasn't enough room for the big personalities that had been put together to be in charge of the All Blacks, as well as the perception that Robertson was using this season to essentially audition for an official second in command.

Since then, though, there hasn't been any more rumbling from within. But the ruthless way in which MacDonald was here one day, gone the next shows just how changes can be on the cards if everyone isn't pulling in the same direction.

Conservatism

It said a lot when the team selected for the first test of the year, against England in Dunedin, featured no changes to the one the previous year other than the players who had left. It also said a lot that the team selected for the last test of the year, against Italy in Turin, was as strong as possible. The whole situation around selection has been one of caution, something that could change next year with a slightly softer opening set of tests.

Success stories

Even the most one-eyed South African would concede that the All Black scrum is the strongest in the world and being used to exceptional effect to move the team down the field off penalties. Robertson has managed to take Tupou Vaa'i from being a player whose place in the team was questionable to potentially the best lock in the world, while Tamaiti Williams has gone from being a dependable set piece big unit to all that and one that runs perfect support lines on sweeping counter attacks.

Sititi is now World Rugby's Breakthrough Player of the Year, while Caleb Clarke is in the best form of his career. Despite some yellow cards - some admittedly dumb while some were unavoidable - the All Blacks' discipline has improved dramatically.

Needs work

There is a deeper problem with the much covered points scoring woes at the back end of tests - while it got better, it shows that this All Black side is struggling to unleash the most effective part of their entire legacy. Every other team in the world has, many times over history, thought they were in with a shot of beating the All Blacks only to suddenly have the game snatched out of reach before they even knew it.

The potential is there for Robertson's side to eventually regain that aura, but they need to really come out and hammer their first bunch of opponents next season.

Figurehead of a rebuild

The 'r' word is one that the All Blacks themselves will never utter, so it's one that fans have to somehow make their way to themselves. Robertson has to maintain that he's heading in the right direction, that he and his staff will eventually have their noses in front of the opposition - tactically and strategically - going forward. That's what's made the All Blacks the best team in over history, so that more than anything needs to be the priority

It's unlikely Robertson will attain the sort of cult of personality that Rassie Erasmus has in South Africa, New Zealanders are just too reserved for that, rather just providing the assurance that the All Blacks can crush anyone on their day and head into the next World Cup as deserved favourites.