All Blacks skipper Sam Cane backed that paradigm, simply saying: "Defence won us the Test match. "We've got a defence system there that Scott McLeod has built -– we built it basically for Ireland. But you haven't been to a World Cup if you haven’t had a game like that. Defence coach McLeod said that "harsh lessons" from last year's historic home series loss to Ireland had led to a re-build of the All Black's defensive fundamentals. We knew we didn't have to be the best in the world, we just had to be the best on the day."

Source: Stuff October 17, 2023 11:56 UTC