With the dust barely settled on an emphatic start to 2023, the All Blacks' focus has immediately shifted to what comes next - world champions South Africa.
On Sunday, coach Ian Foster's side opened their season with a dominant 41-12 victory away over Argentina at Mendoza, showing little sign of the rust that's dogged them in recent years.
Even with such an emphatic scoreline, the All Blacks sit second on the Rugby Championship table, after South Africa's huge victory over Australia.
Next, the two leaders will square off against each other, with the Springboks and All Blacks both travelling to New Zealand from South Africa and Argentina respectively.
The archrivals meet for the first time this year at Go Media Stadium Mt Smart next Saturday, the first time they have faced off on NZ soil since 2019.
To make matters more interesting, most of the South African side have already touched down in Aotearoa, making no bones of their focus on beating the All Blacks at home.
According to Man of the Match Jordie Barrett, that challenge is among the most daunting in the modern game.
"There are some big, fresh-bodied South Africans," said Barrett. "It's going to be tough.
"It's tough in any arena. It's a great challenge for us - if you want to be the best, you've got to test yourself against the best.
"There's no bigger challenge for us boys than a big physical South African team at Mt Smart.
"We'll take what we can from this game, pick the bones out of it and then put a smile on our faces, and look forward to next week."
The All Blacks ran in seven tries at Mendoza, with five during a brutal first half to silence the home crowd, but even after such a convincing first-up display, Barrett concedes defeating Argentina now counts for very little.
"It is important to start like that, but as you know, [with] test match footy, you've got to go back to zero very quickly," he said. "Between now and Monday, when we arrive back in New Zealand, we've got to take everything we can out of this game.
"South Africa have half their squad in New Zealand waiting for us. That's a pretty daunting week for us, but it's one we'll walk towards.
"It's a great challenge. In the test arena, it's hard enough backing a performance like that up.
"We've just got to control our week - like we did this week."
All up, the All Blacks have faced South Africa 103 times in test rugby, with New Zealand leading the head-to-head 61-38, with four draws.
New Zealand haven't beaten South Africa on home soil since 2017, with a draw and loss in their last two results - both at Wellington.
