Why the All Blacks aren't 'where we need to be'

International rugby is more competitive now than it ever has been before, but the expectation of the All Blacks remains the same: they’re supposed to win.

While it hasn’t all gone to plan for the All Blacks this year, including historic losses in New Zealand against Ireland and Argentina, they only lost four Tests.

But is that good enough?

The All Blacks won all of the major trophies on offer this year, including The Rugby Championship, Bledisloe Cup and Freedom Cup.

New Zealand also recorded big wins over Ireland, Australia, Argentina and Wales this season, after overcoming intense scrutiny over the last 12-months or so.

But heading into a World Cup year, the pressure that the team is under will go up another gear – 2023 is when these players have to do the coveted black jersey justice.

Speaking on The Breakdown this week, New Zealand-born Ireland international Isaac Boss said the All Blacks aren’t “where we need to be” after the dramatic draw with England.

“I’d say they’re probably rocking around a seven out of 10 at the moment,” Boss said.

“We always try to probably judge them a little harder compared to what we judge everyone else.

“When you look at how Ireland are going, still number one in the world, Argentina beating England – our losses have not been to bad teams.

“But we’re not where we need to be in terms of being able to close out those matches like the one against England last night.

“A good season I think with the trophies… but to go (to) that next level we need to increase it by 20, 30 per cent.”

But the international game really is changing and becoming much more competitive that what is ever has been before, and that’s great for the sport of rugby union.

Italy beat Australia for the first time ever a couple of weeks ago, and Georgia beat Wales at Cardiff’s Principality Stadium last weekend.

Rugby is in a great place going into next year’s World Cup in France.

While the All Blacks failed to win five of their 13 Test matches this year, Samoan international Taylah Johnson believes the team can take inspiration from the Black Ferns.

“We have to look at the international game and see how far other teams have come,” Johnson said.

“Yes, we do hold the All Blacks to such a high standard because of that big legacy that they have had, and particularly in the year before the Rugby World Cup, this is where you usually see the team fire.

“We haven’t settled on combinations, we don’t know who our best pairings are in a lot of places.

“We didn’t lose the Bledisloe because that would have just been absolute anarchy, we did lose to Ireland at home but again Ireland are the number one team in the world.

“Next year things can change. Look at where the Black Ferns ere at the end of last year and now they’re World Cup winners. I don’t think the All Blacks, we can count them out because they’re still building.”

Next year’s Rugby World Cup might be the first time ever that the All Blacks aren’t really expected to win the sports ultimate prize.

While the start of their international campaign certainly didn’t go to plan against Ireland, Ian Foster’s team can take plenty of positives out of how they finished their season.

The draw with England was disappointing, but they still finished the year on a seven-Test unbeaten run.

Just as Taylah Johnson said, if they can continue to build into next year then nobody in the rugby world can really “count them out.”