Graham Henry's cynics and supporters can now unite. The code has been cracked. The missing link has been found.
That's because when the All Blacks' squad and coaches alike were put under the hottest of red hot pressure last week, a desperate new tact emerged.
My reliable sources tell me that the public do not yet fully realise the extent to which Richie McCaw, after the Springboks bashed his team in Hamilton, went to Henry and co, and strongly requested that his team be largely left to their own devices to put things right for the test at the Cake Tin.
McCaw apparently told Messers Henry, Hansen and Smith that on behalf of the team, he wanted the coaches to know that they had given the All Blacks their best shot in recent weeks.
McCaw assured them that it was now down to the team to turn inwards, to apply the sternest of self-examinations to themselves and stop the rot.
This new strategy meant that there were extra 'court sessions' where intense honesty and analysis took place.
The coaches were present but were very much relegated to the back seat compared to their more dominant, traditional role.
In brief, the players took ownership, player power took over and subsequently, I and the thousands of other fans at the Cake Tin witnessed a fair dinkum hiding take place.
The more I think of this new approach, the more I wonder why it shouldn't become the rule as opposed to the exception.
I think of the current Springboks outfit where Pieter de Villiers talks to the media way more than he reputedly talks to his players.
That's because the Boks captain, John Smit and the other senior players take a pivotal role in controlling their own destiny without de Villiers and co. in their faces as much as we would suspect.
I think of the great era of Aussie cricket where Ricky Ponting and his team were very much more in control than was their anonymous coach, John Buchanan.
And I think of the Black Caps' relatively successful period compared to to their usual mediocrity where Stephen Fleming was way more in charge than was their low-profile coach then, Denis Aberhart.
It's probably an over-simplification but why do the two All Blacks coaches who haven't played a test between them have so much sway over a team that includes such a hard core of senior players, two of whom happen to be amongst the greatest of all time, namely Richie McCaw and Dan Carter.
I'd also like to think that this reassignment of coaching power within the All Blacks becomes a permanent feature and has actually rubbed off on the three wise men themselves.
If it produces the kind of result that unfolded at the Cake Tin, why wouldn’t the coaches embrace any new tactic and outcome that they instantly benefit from.
Before ending this blog, may I say what a thrill it was to see a young man cement his place amongst the men in black for the foreseeable future, including the next World Cup.
Cory Jane is an undoubted star whose finishing skills are so very rare and precious.
I so fervently hope he's not needlessly rotated and his confidence isn’t tampered with.
