The All Blacks are choosing to concentrate on what's going right instead of what's going wrong as they build towards their Rugby Championship opener against South Africa on Sunday.
Ahead of their trip to South Africa, coach Ian Foster's side suffered their first series defeat to Ireland - going down 2-1 - and have lost four of their last five test matches, as rival sides appear to have worked out how to beat New Zealand's traditional game plan.
Up front, the All Blacks' forwards have struggled against opposing packs' physicality, while the backline has found itself contained by rival defences.
Centre Rieko Ioane on Tuesday highlighted the backline's struggles as a key improvement needed if the All Blacks are going to shake their recent woes.
But up against the Springboks, the All Blacks face a daunting task; travelling to South Africa for the first time since 2018, with multiple players doing so for the first time, and taking on the world champions at home.
For captain Sam Cane though, the attention towards any perceived flaws has been misguided - emphasising his side's failings aren't as big as they have been made out to be.
"I think it's important we don't focus on all these things that are going wrong," Cane said. "The truth is, there are not heaps of things going wrong.
"With the top teams, there are small margins between games. For example, [in] the last game we lost by 10 but let in two rolling maul tries.
"As an All Black forward pack, that's something we don't see as acceptable. To fix that is one big rock to sort out.
"What we do is focus on what we do. There's actually a lot of stuff we are doing well, instead of always drilling down on what's not going well."
Aiding the All Blacks has been the arrival of former Crusaders assistant coach Jason Ryan.
Taking over from John Plumtree in charge of the forwards, Ryan has been tasked with restoring the All Blacks' pack to its former glory and himself admitted the side had been "dented" in the defeat to Ireland.
But for Cane, who has had multiple experiences of playing against Ryan's forwards for the Chiefs in Super Rugby, the Crusaders' mastermind has been a welcome addition to the All Blacks plans.
"Jase has been outstanding," Cane added. "He's come in and sort of taken control and found his feet straight away.
"He's clearly very knowledgeable and knows what he wants out of our forward pack.
"So I feel like we've made some good strides already in the last couple of days."
The All Blacks face South Africa in Mbombela on Sunday, before travelling for the second game at Johannesburg's famous Ellis Park on August 14 (NZ time).
Join Newshub for live updates of the All Blacks v South Africa from 3am Sunday.
