'There's more in us': Neil Barnes challenges side to lift standards against Wales

The All Blacks are still clearly searching for more as they prepare to take on Steve Tandy’s Wales this weekend in Cardiff.

Dave Rennie’s men are expected to make several changes for their Round five Nations Championship clash at  Principality Stadium in Cardiff, on the back of a strong second-half performance against Scotland.

The All Blacks headed into the Murrayfield sheds after a mixed first forty minutes last weekend, but adjusted the game plan and made sufficient progress in the second period to overcome Gregor Townsend’s side.

The visitors, in front of over 67 thousand people in Edinburgh, struggled to contain Scotland’s driving maul, conceding two Ewan Ashman tries in the first half.

Assistant coach Neil Barnes addressed the media on Tuesday in Bath, England, where he admitted they have identified small tweaks they must make defensively.

“Look, there’s some finer detail that goes on in your maul defence that we honestly believe we can be better at,” Barnes said on a cold and foggy Bath morning on Tuesday.

“Good on them; they set them up well. We’ve got to learn to accommodate the fact that the referees over here let it go. Back home, that [could] have been a use-it call.

“But 100%. We know we’ve got to be better there, and we’re not proud of it that we let Scotland in for those tries. But good on them; they brought three backs in and exposed us in that area.”

The long-time Taranaki head coach turned All Blacks assistant said his forward pack had a “pretty good day at the office”, pinpointing the growth at scrum time.

“Yeah, we had a pretty good day at the office, but yeah, you’ve got to earn that,” Barnes said.

“So really pleased with the progress we’re making, particularly scrum time with Jason. He’s been chipping away there, and we actually got a lot of dominance in that area.

“And then we managed to pull off a couple of special plays against Scotland as well. So they’re pretty good at defending their mauls over here.

“But we’d like to think if they’re going to put everyone in the maul, there’ll be opportunities around the edges of them.”

While defensively the lineout stumbled, on their own terms, the All Blacks secured all 17 of their lineout attempts, scoring a couple of first-phase strike moves in the process.

Barnes assured reporters they have more up their sleeve going forward, and will assess the best situation to use them in.

“Oh, absolutely. 10 or 20 more. How many do you want? But look, at the end of the day, we just assess each team on how they go about their work, and if there’s an opportunity there, we’ll have a crack at it.”