The format of the TriNations has been changed from six matches to nine matches. No other reason except pure greed, gu-gugreed. Again, it's down to revenue generation and to hell with the players. But to a certain extent, their gambit will not pay off this season. New Zealand have already won the competition.

The Kiwis only occasionally got into third gear but they ran over a pretty lame Australia that lived off scraps and their wits for large portions of this game. Speaking of the number seven, it was Richie McCaw who put in a truly stunning performance. He broke the seven deadly sins of rugby and it was the key. He stole, he wrecked, he connived, he assaulted, he plundered, he frustrated and he turned over. So completely did he dominate the break-down and any action around the contact zone that he forced (there's that number again) seven turnovers.

Results sometimes can be misleading. I reckoned that after Ireland's performance against New Zealand and then in their final test against Australia that the Aussies could even win this game, difficult enough as it is to win in Christchurch. The final scoreline of 32-12 was a long way short of the trend of the game and maybe New Zealand were a little bit over-patient. But they have slowly but very surely got into gear and by the end of this competition should be unstoppable. It puts into perspective though Ireland's two very good performances against this outfit.

There were some stunning passages of play in this match, and one passage which if it had been completed would have been one of the greatest tries of all time. But that the game ran so smoothly was down to the man in the middle.

I would rather steam iron my sac than compliment a referee but Jonathan Kaplan had a magnificent game. That's all my refereeing platitudes for 10 years or so.

Sometimes, when you make a comparative analysis, it's very hard to use a yardstick, we always equate Paul O'Connell and Donncha O'Callaghan as being world class and indeed they did very well against New Zealand in the summer tests, but in that passage of play in the 66th minute you could see that the All Black second-row pairing had another dimension to their game which the Irish duo just could not match. And the genesis of this move, as it so often does, came from a turnover on the New Zealand line effected by Richie McCaw and it showed the All Blacks propensity to attack from turnovers in the most unlikely circumstances and turn defence into offence in a split second, even if it takes one or two phases.

From the turnover Dan Carter banged the pigskin downfield, Chris Latham retrieved it in midfield and as he saw the cavalry trotting back and faced with a fourman line coming to smother him he had no option but to sky it back. It was fielded spectacularly in mid-air by Ali Williams.

He fed Leon McDonald and came back for the return out of the tackle from the original recipient and he barrelled through two Aussies and recycled the ball. Byron Kelleher's pass . . . as it was throughout the game . . . was too low. Carter picked it up off his shoelaces without breaking stride at full pace and chipped it to Greg Somerville, he in turn fed Keven Mealamu (Drico's mate) who showed a staggering level of skill. He showed the ball to Stirling Mortlock, dummied and then brought the ball back into his body as he connected with the tackle. But as the shoulder came in, he took the ball high over the contact and fed to Chris Jack who at this stage had run toward the tramlines, he connected with the sinful McCaw who took contact.

The ball was whipped to Carter again and he lobbed in a cross-kick to the other tramline. It was going directly into touch but who was there on the tramlines but Ali Williams. He had to jump high going backwards and arched his back and guided the ball down, back inside to Rico Gear who couldn't keep his eye on it and lost it with the line at his mercy. It was a great shame.

It was significant in the sense of the movement needed for offloads in the tackle to make progress and the fact that both second rows were heavily involved, both going down the tramlines and also in the sense of the New Zealand capability of switching the ball from tramline to tramline to stretch defences. This is the sort of game that Ireland aspire to but are light years away from.

Australia looked good in the first quarter but the disparity in quality and power soon became obvious and they were minced at scrum time, mullered at the tackle zone and muffled off the line at line-out time. Australia suffered when Ricky Elsom was dispatched for a bit of yellow time. Ruthlessly, New Zealand scored 14 points in his absence. The game was still open at half-time but New Zealand's superiority at the breakdown began to have an increasing influence and I thought John Connolly should have introduced Phil Waugh far quicker than he did. Surprisingly George Smith had a very ineffectual game and Australia found it very difficult to protect their ball at the breakdown, such was McCaw's influence. Nor could they get numbers into the contact zone with sufficient speed.

A lot of New Zealand's tries came from Australian mistakes or from pressure applied. Mealamu picked up two and McCaw scored the most unlikely of tries after Steven Larkham had gathered Mauger's chip. The ball was just over the line but he didn't have his hands on it and McCaw simply snuck in to legally and surprisingly score the try.

Such was the rapacity and savagery applied by New Zealand that they just totally dominated possession and Australia would have needed an exorcist to get it back. A bonus point try by Isaia Toeava ensured that New Zealand start off this competition with a trend that you will see throughout. That is, they will score bonus points in most matches and have this competition in the bag long before its completion.