They had to come back in the last 20 minutes to win their first Test against Ireland, and had to survive a last-minute push by Argentina at José Amalfitani Stadium in Buenos Aires.

Despite these close victories amid much New Zealand complacency, the All Blacks possessed a strong, co-ordinated forward pack, quality playmakers, explosive backs and blistering pace out wide.

[citation needed] Before the first test, the Australian television channel Seven aired an advertisement in which the All Blacks performed the Ka Mate haka with digitally inserted handbags, a reference to an incident where Tana Umaga hit a Hurricane teammate over the head with a woman's handbag, breaking her cellular phone.

In the meantime, several key Boks players were unavailable during the mid-year Tests due to injury, among them André Pretorius and Bakkies Botha.

De Villiers was initially expected to be out for the entire Tri Nations, though he returned for the final two matches, but Habana recovered in time for the series opener.

[5] During the lead-in to the Tri Nations, White also caused considerable controversy by publicly seeking an extension to his contract through 2009, even after the loss to France.

[6] Also, he was heavily criticised for his refusal to select flanker Luke Watson, arguably the country's form player, even after the loss of Burger.