Can the New Zealand rugby team regain their spark during the fall tour?
Seeking what would be just a fifth 'Grand Slam' in their legendary past, the New Zealand side have headed north at an pivotal moment.
Matches against Ireland, the Scottish side, the English squad and the Welsh team await the All Blacks across the upcoming weeks but, in addition to the chance to equal the teams of 1978, 2005, 2008 and 2010 in the record books, the games will be used as a benchmark to assess the progress of the side under a head coach now well established from beginning his tenure.
Current Challenges
Questions over a lack of an distinctive approach, enduring debates over player choices and leavings from the management team have all added to the perception that the best-known side in the game is presently one in a period of transition.
Most significantly, it is the dip in performances from a past excellence set between the global tournaments of 2011 and 2019 that has prompted some to speculate that we have moved out of the era of New Zealand dominance.
Recent History
Prior to their departure for the European tour, it was announced that in the coming year, in the lack of the Rugby Championship, New Zealand will play South Africa in a warm-weather tour called 'an unprecedented series'.
In the past the sport's top competitors, there is no question over who has currently outperformed of what marketers have called 'Rugby's Greatest Rivalry'.
During the last decade, the South African team have won a pair of World Cups, three Rugby Championships and a competition against the home nations team to be considered as the team of their period.
The All Blacks have continued to beat the Irish team when it matters most, defeating their next challengers in the World Cup quarter finals of 2019 and '23. They have, meanwhile, lost just a pair of the last fixtures with England, have overcome Wales in every encounter since 1963 and have remained unbeaten by Scotland.
Changing Dynamics
But the decline of their standing as the rugby's benchmark will continue to rankle.
Whereas the All Blacks dominated through the last ten years - achieving eighty-seven percent of their fixtures, as well as winning the global trophy on multiple times - the global tournament of the previous competition can now be regarded as when the balance of power shifted in the international rugby.
New Zealand defeated the Springboks in their initial fixture of the competition in Japan, but it was the South Africans who were eventually successful in the championship match.
After that event, the All Blacks' victory ratio has dropped to 71%. South Africa themselves lost 10 of their following games but, from the beginning of last year, have achieved victory at a rate (eighty-three percent) to rival even the former Kiwi champions.
Recent Encounters
During the equivalent timeframe, the 'Boks have won the majority of the past fixtures between the opponents, comprising victory in the 2023 World Cup final.
In claiming their latest continental championship, South Africa inflicted a record 43-10 defeat on the All Blacks thanks to 36 unanswered second-half points in the capital, a result which has triggered another round of controversy about the direction of the side under Robertson.
Maybe most jarring for supporters of the New Zealand team will be that, alongside their traditional strength, the Springboks' triumph has come with an creative approach more commonly connected with their opposition team.
Team Identity
At the time that the All Blacks were at the height of their powers 10 years ago, they were a devastating offensive machine able of destroying rivals from every section of the pitch and at any moment of the game.
Today, their offensive approach is unclear as Robertson, who has handed out multiple new players during his recent tenure in command, tries to primarily create the more prosaic building blocks of a successful side.
It has previously announced that the backroom staff member responsible for offense, the current coach, will leave his role after the upcoming matches, becoming the additional person of Robertson's ticket to leave after another coach walked away last year after just a handful of games.
Team Development
It was not only previous achievements, but his methodology, that was expected to carry over from his former team when he began his tenure after the 2023 World Cup but, so far, the two aspects continue to be a ongoing development.
Business Factors
Following financial organization the company bought a stake in All Blacks in 2022, the subsequent announcement mentioned the "quest of worldwide growth" for the brand.
That objective has perhaps been harder by the lack of a global icon. Their key player and the collection of Barrett brothers continue to be household names in the sport, but the distribution of stars has never been spread wider. Their leader is the single All Black to win global recognition in the current era, in opposition to 10 in multiple seasons between the mid-2000s.
Worldwide Reach
Instead, attempts have been implemented to transplant the New Zealand team into emerging regions.
The initial stage of this European campaign brings New Zealand not to Dublin but the American city, a comeback to the stadium where the Irish team obtained a first ever victory in the match nine years ago.
After the easing of Covid-19 travel restrictions, the All Blacks have also
