England is nice but the Springboks will be a true test of the All Blacks' mettle

It’ll be September before we know a thing about this All Blacks team.

Look, we probably underestimated Ireland this time two years ago and are at risk of doing the same with England this time around.

But I just don’t see this England team throwing up a huge challenge in the next couple of weeks, nor Fiji or Argentina.

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It’s not until the All Blacks meet the Springboks in South Africa in September that we’ll be able to judge if this coaching group and players are any better than what we’ve since the team began a steady decline in 2017.

I look at the team picked to play England in Dunedin on Saturday and it’s okay.

The tight five is good and the loose forwards useful.

But when I see the names of those picked in the backline, I wonder if they have the accuracy and consistency to stave off legitimate opposition.

I try not to pick on individuals. It’s kind of mean and certainly doesn’t endear you to anyone.

It’s easier to make statements about the collective than to say so and so isn’t up to it.

My disappointment, in this instance, is we’re not going to learn whether they are or not during the next two months of footy.

Let’s assume they beat England handily. We all know how that’s going to be greeted.

We’ll be told about the fresh environment and ideas in the camp and how this player and that player has matured beyond belief during the Super Rugby Pacific season and is twice the footballer they were before.

It’ll be ‘fabulous’ this and ‘wonderful’ that, forgetting that Super Rugby and average-to-weak test opposition are no barometer of success or development.

I have a degree of sympathy for new coach Scott Robertson in that regard.

His players are likely to be praised to absurd levels, given our collective thirst to see a return to All Blacks supremacy.

Only nothing weakens the resolve of people like praise.

I know there will be fans that say we have to treat the start of a new era with optimism.

People who believe teams deserve a honeymoon period, where we all get behind them until proven otherwise.

I actually believe this is a time for pragmatism and caution, even scepticism. A time to stay off the bandwagon at least until the Springboks are beaten in Johannesburg and Cape Town in September.

If Robertson can keep this team from getting lazy and complacent after the victories that appear to await them between now and then, I’ll be mightily impressed.

It’s at that point, that I’ll start talking about a team that’s potentially turned a corner and which has an idea about what excellence looks like.

For now, this looks like an All Black team with some holes to fill. Particularly in the backs.

A team that hopes to do well against elite competition, but hasn’t yet got the personnel or belief to do it consistently.

We’ll get a better idea of their 2027 Rugby World Cup credentials come September.