All Blacks coach Ian Foster has identified a couple of key areas of improvement after Saturday's rugged test match against Fiji, which he believes was the ideal antidote off the back of last week's pummeling of Tonga.
One of the main narratives in the build up to the game was the step up in quality of opposition the Fijian would provide, having just put 100 points on a vastly undermanned Tonga side in Auckland.
That was absolutely the case at Forsyth Barr, as the Drua used every ounce of their vaunted physicality across the park to provide Foster and his coaches some timely food for thought.
The 57-23 scoreboard in favour of the All Blacks was undoubtedly flattering to the hosts, as the Fijians remained in the contest throughout, until New Zealand's depth came to the fore off the bench to ram home their advantage.
One area where the Fijians had the upper hand was at the breakdown, where their loose forward trio had the better of their All Blacks counterparts in speed, technique, and execution, earning several defensive turnovers and stifling their opponents' desire for high-tempo rugby.
Foster insists much of that advantage came down to ineffective ball carrying by his players.
"I'm not sure it was physicality, there are a couple of variables at the breakdown," Foster says.
"You've got to look at your ball carrier and was he doing enough ... the speed of the cleaners versus the height they were able to get over the ball.
"It was an area they targeted to slow it down. There was obviously a high penalty count in that position.
"But if we want to play at the tempo we want, we have to improve in that space."
Some of the All Blacks' newcomers - particularly flanker Ethan Blackadder - struggled to come to grips with the Fijian's size and presence at ruck time, which assistant coach John Plumtree acknowledged will be a big focus this week heading into the second test in Hamilton.
"We got a nice test up front, particularly in that first half when they drove us a couple of times, and put us under pressure," says Plumtree.
"So, there is some good learnings there. Like Fozzie mentioned earlier, it was the test match we needed at this stage of the season."
Foster also identified the All Blacks' "sloppy" restarts as an area for improvement but admits, on the whole, he's satisfied with the hitout from a high quality and rapidly improving Fjian side.
"I'm pretty pleased really," Foster says. "They offered a pretty stern challenge.
"They showed they are great athletes and obviously had moments in that game where they put us under quite a bit of pressure.
"But overall, pleased with the way we came through that. It highlighted a few areas we're obviously going to have to tidy up a little bit, but I guess the composure to come back and win by nine tries against a team that chucked everything at us was pretty pleasing."
On the other side of the ledger, Fiji head coach Vern Cotter was hugely encouraged by the efforts of his men but rued the absence of his first-choice halfbacks, who he thinks would've seen the contest even tighter.
"As soon as we lost our halfback we lost a bit of shape as well," Cotter says. "It was unfortunate.
"We had a fullback who then had to go into halfback, and I think if we had been able to maintain fast ball and vary those points attack by having a quick release around the ruck, we could have scored a few more points."
The performance supported Cotter's claims during the week that Fiji deserved more tests against Tier One nations, and a similar outing next weekend will make those undeniable.
Join us from 7pm, Saturday for live updates of the second test between All Blacks and Fiji
