'Man-made' machine Richie McCaw proudly led his All-Black troops to another historic victory over their traditional rivals in a close-fought encounter.

A third of the team that started this gruelling Test had played comparatively little rugby in recent months, but thankfully McCaw, Rodney So’oialo, Andrew Hore and Sitiveni Sivivatu steadied the ship - and the rest of the pack had enough temperament and character to follow their lead.

And how extremely handy that the other lieutenants, Keven Mealamu and Piri Weepu, were perfectly subbed at the right moment and continued to dominate their opponents.

Kieran Read also did his job well, although he would be quite happy that ex-All Black captain and strict disciplinarian Sean Fitzpatrick wasn’t around when he uncharacteristically dropped a wayward bomb.

Legend has it that Fitzy once grilled even the great Christian Cullen at training for dropping a high ball and promptly enforced a ‘gentle’ reminder that: “You’re an All Black, you don’t drop any high ball!” Enough said.

It was just the fundamental stuff and as the game wore on, the All Blacks muscled up big time and – apart from the early hiccup - their defence was absolutely superb.

The Wallabies exploded out of the blocks to post the first points of the night through a deft try by former Bronco Berrick Barnes, with Matt Giteau slotting over the extras.

Giteau added a penalty not long after and suddenly the Australians were in cruising mode, leading 10-0 in as many minutes.

Enter McCaw, who, after much unfair scrutiny and question marks over his lack of rugby beforehand, sent his critics back to the corner of the classroom and reminded them just why you should never ever criticise the ‘teacher’.

This guy has constantly been painted as a cheater but, ever the ultimate competitor that he is, continues to be the consummate professional. And so he goes on to score the try in reply.

Somehow, a fast-approaching black tsunami made the early Wallabies tidal-wave onslaught look more like a tiny sardine splash as the All Blacks simply took over matters.

The revival was kiick-started by Barnes's brain snap in not passing to his captain Stirling Mortlock, running the angle in what could have resulted in a huge confidence-boosting lead, and also by Ma’a Nonu’s monster hit on Barnes himself.

The New Zealand forwards were magnificent and worked the trenches like there was no tomorrow, with Jerome Kaino a shining beacon, giving less experienced halves combination Jimmy Cowan and Stephen Donald enough time and space to ignite a pretty hefty backline.

Keeping a level head, Donald was impressive. He may be tiring of the comparisons with Dan Carter and he certainly displayed enough to show he has the tools to make his own name.

Considering the typical conditions of a wintry night in Auckland, Donald made the most of his difficult goal-kicking opportunities and was stable in terms of directing traffic in general.

Otherwise, collectively the All Blacks all saw enough ball to share the load and so it was difficult to nominate a standout man-of-the-match. Take your pick, because they all performed admirably in a fantastic team effort.

As predicted, the breakdown was a fierce warfare where both teams lived up to the hype and it was obvious that from the outset, nobody was prepared to take a backward step... nobody.

All of a sudden, it didn’t even matter that specialist ball scavengers like Phil Waugh and David Pocock were sitting on the Wallabies bench as they weren’t even required because there were plenty of backs playing like forwards anyway.

Then again, newest Test centurion George Smith was the lone ranger to combat McCaw.

These days, every player is expected to master the art of ball-stealing whilst legally on his feet and it’s certainly not easy to develop such a crucial skill.

It's as if their CV has to include “also capable of playing like a loose forward”, and this no-one demonstrated this better than midfielders Conrad Smith and Nonu. Mils Muliaina and Corey Jane were also in the thick of things, amply putting their bodies on the line.

This is exactly why McCaw is simply the best. He is ‘The Specialist’ who makes it look easy.

Another All Blacks captain, Tana Umaga, was one of the gutsiest backs and a master of pilfering, which probably led to the importance of other backs chiming in and playing their part.

On a scale of one to 10, I personally would rate this an 8.5 - yet another fast and furious Bledisloe Test match featuring all that had been expected of it.

The All Blacks have already flown out to climb  another mountain in the shape of world champions South Africa, who recently completed a strenuous and tough 2-1 series win over the British and Irish Lions on the high veldt.

Another Tri-Nations classic is on the cards.