All Blacks No.8 Ardie Savea has come to the defence of the under-fire back-row, as they look to avenge their defeat to Argentina on Saturday.
New Zealand led for much of the Rugby Championship fixture at Orangetheory Stadium, but ultimately fell to another historic loss.
Much of the criticism has been aimed at All Blacks captain Sam Cane's performances this season, as well as question marks over who should play in the No.6 jersey.
Savea has typically been a rare bright spot in an otherwise underwhelming loose forward trio, but fired back when asked about their lack of dominance lately at a press conference.
"I'm not too sure mate, do you feel like we haven't been dominating the last couple of games? Is that what you're meaning? Okay," he quipped back.
"I felt like the loosies have been fronting up and we're just trying to navigate the space of a new breed of players.
"I think for so long, New Zealand has been used to Reids [Kieran], McCaws [Richie] and Jeromes [Kaino] that have been amazing.
"We've got a bunch of new boys coming through, myself as well, that are trying to stamp their mark.
"It's a day-to-do, week-to-week process, but I feel like we're tracking well and we're putting our best foot forward."
All Blacks coach Ian Foster has named an unchanged starting XV for the clash at Hamilton, with the only four changes amongst the bench.
Savea is adamant the run-on side are evolving, and trusts Foster's decision to back the players from the week previous.
"Yeah it is, if you look at the weekend, for the majority of that game, we should've closed out that game and finished it, but we didn't," he said.
"As a player, if you get selected, you get selected, you back yourself and you back the trust in mates that are selected to do a job.
"All I know is the boys that get named never take it for granted, we always try to go out there and be their best, and at the same time, be free and clear and just jam."
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