I know a lot of people are annoyed with the All Blacks' 27-6 win over the Italians but I don't tend to worry too much about the performance.

I'm more of a believer that it's the end result that makes the day and we got the result.

Okay, the performance wasn't great and no one is enthralled with it, especially the players.

At the end of the game Nick Mallett and his coaches jumped up and hugged each other showing a 21 points loss was a resounding success for them.

But that's not good enough for us. To win by 21 points and still not be happy with our game just shows we've got a long way to go.

The New Zealand public saw that, but if we played like that and won a World Cup then we'd be over the moon, wouldn't we?

It's the psyche of the Kiwis. We accept the expectations are so high for our All Blacks that we want them to win - and win well - all the time and it doesn't always happen like that.

Fans want tries and we've been lulled into this false sense of Super 14 rugby. We want to score tries on the outside all the time and I don't think that's going to happen in test rugby all that often.

And when we don't win well we get really upset and obnoxious and basically we think we're better than what we are.

We're not.

We are the number one team in the world solely because our stats say we win more games of football than anyone else.

If we're winning ugly everyone knows there's lots to do. But all you can do is put the nose to the grindstone and work a lot harder.

They all know they've got Australia and South Africa around the corner and both those teams have come through their early season test matches with pretty resounding wins.

But they've been fronting up with their number one team the whole time and we haven't.

With the young players coming in the other day it wasn't easy because of the lack of time together and combinations.

And that will come only by playing more games together.

As for the Tri Nations? I'm looking forward to Richie McCaw and Rodney So'oialo coming back, but I also think Rudi Wulf should get a crack.

I think Rudi was the form player when he came back at the end of the Super 14 and I reckon you've got to give him the opportunity, especially as Joe Rokocoko isn't on fire at all.

Conrad Smith should also come back into the fold alongside Ma'a Nonu and with Stephen Donald at first five-eighth.

I'd also like to see Piri Weepu get the start at half-back. I think he's the sharpest of all the half-backs at the moment especially with his marshalling of the ball aroud the ruck area.

You could make a case for using the proven Donald/Brendon Leonard combination but the Chiefs' half-back didn't do anything out of the ordinary on Saturday.

He's also been out for a while and so I think that any coach worth his salt should stick with his in-form players.

Which is why I'm not sure Isaia Toeava should be in there during the Tri Nations.

He hasn't been on his game at all during the last couple of matches and every time he gets an opportunity he seems to struggle.

On the open-side it's nice to have the option of George Whitelock as another back-up to Richie McCaw.

I thought Tanerau Latimer had a good game against the Italians, and any lack of involvement came about because of the tactics.

With both teams kicking the ball the loosies spent a lot of time in a hole, chasing back up and down the paddock as the ball flied over the top of them.

And finally for this week I was disappointed to see the return of eye gouging to the international scene.

It's been around for many years but the rule is you don't go near the family jewels and the head.

I think eight weeks was a little lenient for Schalk Burger - he could have gone down for more given he was caught fairly and squarely by the camera.

So what do you think?  Do you agree that performance is secondary to the result?  Who should get the nod for the Tri Nations?  And who you fancy as the long-term successor to Richie McCaw on the open-side?