What has been a strength of the All Black game is all of a sudden becoming a serious work-on.
The side in the past few years has become the team which pulls away at the end. Puts the heat on as the last lap approaches and ends up winning by the length of the straight.
But this year the speedy finish has been missing.
In the series against the British and Irish Lions, it was the visiting side which came home better.
Then last week against the Wallabies in Sydney the All Blacks conceded four converted tries in the second half as the men in black got the speed wobbles in the later minutes.
So who to blame? Is it simply the fault of the bench players who have dropped team standards when they have come on?
All Black assistant coach Ian Foster said it was not as simple as blaming the players who come off the pine in the second half.
''We have not won a last quarter in the last two or three tests so from that perspective it is something we have to do better. We have to be careful to be labelling it the fault of the bench,'' he said.
''It is the team that is on the field in the last quarter. In Sydney we were seeing execution mistakes from some players who had been on the field the whole time.
''It is not just looking at the guys who are running off but look at those that come in and get the mix and mentality right of what we need to do.
''Perhaps we were trying too hard in what we wanted to do. But we're playing around with it and we want to get it right and clearly it was not right in Sydney.''
Foster said the disappointing second half in Sydney had been reviewed and no-one needed telling what had led to an uneven performance.
''It was pretty obvious what went wrong. We knocked off and lost a real mental edge. What we needed to do was execute.
''It was in both sides of our game. We may have let in four tries but some of that was poor attack. It was just right across the board. Switching off a bit mentally, losing a bit of a focus and coming up against an Aussie team which had a lot to play for.''
Foster confirmed hooker Dane Coles, who missed the test in Sydney because of concussion issues, had trained well yesterday and was in the selection picture.
There was a suggestion Sonny Bill Williams was concussed early in the Sydney test but he had been given a clean bill of health.
''Sonny took a knock in the weekend but he is symptom-free. The doc has done what he has always done when there is a suspicion of something.
''He was held back a bit today but signs are all pretty positive.''
Reports from Australia said Sanzaar was investigating whether Williams was indeed concussed.
Foster said blindside flanker Jerome Kaino was still away from the team and had been given as much time as was needed.
Australian media made accusations of an extra-marital affair about Kaino before last weekend's test in Sydney.