It must be galling for the other three teams in the Rugby Championship when New Zealand roll out of a 51-20 humbling of the world’s third best team with a shrug of the shoulders and a “yeah, it was good, but it could be better”.

That, of course, is the drive for perfection that has made the All Blacks utterly dominant in world rugby – a dominance that looks unlikely to be challenged when the southern hemisphere championship resumes after a bye week next Saturday.

The world champions, who host Argentina in Napier, maintained radio silence last week having said all they wanted with their six-try humbling of the Wallabies at Eden Park last Saturday.

Challenged by their coaches to silence talk of a decline after a 12-12 draw in Sydney in their championship opener, the world champions responded with a ruthless demonstration of power rugby built on an awesome display by their tight five.

“They wanted us to really dominate them, we had to go to a few dark places but I think we did that,” hooker Dane Coles told reporters after the match in Auckland.

If nothing else, the All Blacks will need another big performance from their pack against the Pumas, who bossed the Springboks at scrum time in their 33-31 loss to South Africa in Salta last month.

Flyhalf Dan Carter looks unlikely to play any role in New Zealand’s first four matches of the tournament as he recovers from a leg break, leaving Aaron Cruden further opportunity to stake a claim for a permanent starting role.

Otherwise All Blacks coach Steve Hansen can boast a consistency of selection that South Africa counterpart Heyneke Meyer and Australia’s Ewen McKenzie can only observe with envy.

McKenzie will be down to his fourth choice hooker when the Wallabies take on South Africa in Perth next weekend, not the ideal situation for a front row that was taken apart by the All Blacks at Eden Park.

His stocks of wingers is also thinning out after Pat McCabe was driven into retirement by a third neck fracture in two years.