Don't get carried away ...

Despite their all-conquering form in the current Tri-Nations tournament, Stephen Jones of The Sunday Times is reserving his judgement on John Mitchell's All Black side - until they beat some worthier opponents than Australia or South Africa.

An immediate investigation must be launched by the organisers of the Tri-Nations tournament, 2003. It is clear that vast administrative blunders have been made by faceless officials leading to sheer embarrassment in the tournament to date - neither Australia or South Africa have turned up for any of their matches. Let's re-name the whole thing. Hail, the One-Nations tournament.

It is all very well hundreds of ever-hopeful Kiwi fans lauding their team (no doubt, among them are hundreds of Kiwi fans who savaged their team until recently). Yet as the All Blacks prepare for a lap of honour in their two home Tri-Nations matches, I have to prick some of the general euphoria by pointing out that a team led by my late grandmother would also have taken the crown this season, without breaking sweat.

Australia were always going to struggle this season. First, they have had to change their style of play to bring them into the new era. The final vestiges of the worship of old-style Super 12 rugby (keep the ball through 60 crashingly-boring phases until you score) has been swept away and as New Zealand have shown, there is now a stage for backline genius and for attacking early in the phases. Australia have had to adjust.

They rely too much on George Gregan and Toutai Kefu, as shown when England obliterated both players and obliterated Australia. There is also their silly over-reliance on dodgy Rugby League players and their formidable list of injuries. We do not know, as yet, whether Eddie Jones is really any good as an international coach either. We will soon find out. However, I would not rule out the chances of Australia dragging themselves back together. They have until the semi-final of the World Cup in mid-November.

Most people monitoring the world game have spent the last year expecting South Africa to click. Rudolf Straueli, their coach, has spent so long chopping and changing and falling between and around six stools, but we assumed that at some stage he would find his combination and his style, and stick by it.

But the evidence of the recent matches suggests that after all, he has no real idea what his best combination is and that South Africa, unless they can produce a stunning one-off performance against England in the key Pool game, face a humiliating tournament.

They were outrageously lucky to beat Argentina in Port Elizabeth, because the Pumas murdered their forwards, had more skill in the backs, produced the best rugby by far and were robbed of victory chiefly through what I felt were horrendous decisions by the officials - notably when the Pumas had a vital try ruled out when one of their forwards was penalised when lying prone at the bottom of a ruck, seemingly being attacked by Corné Krige. Work that one out. It was a disgraceful decision.

New Zealand stuttered at the start of the season and they will continue to stutter in the matches ahead occasionally, because they do not have a front five of the requisite power to dominate international rugby matches. Now that the superb Aaron Mauger is back to anchor the backs (how silly to imagine that Tana Umaga could perform the role at inside centre), the whole thing is in business.

And now that Chris Jack is back to something like his best, now that John Mitchell has realised that Jerry Collins is a far better bet that some of the flighty Super 12 glamour boys in the back row, there is no doubt that the team is improving rapidly.

However, there must be qualifications. The Kiwi backs have looked sharp but they are fooling themselves if they believe that matches in the latter stages of the World Cup will produce so much loose rugby and so much abject defence as the recent matches against Australia and South Africa have seen.

Still, it seems that Justin Marshall is far from his old self and that Steve Devine will emerge on top. Carlos Spencer can still lose games for his team, as well as win them. The front row is only bread-and-butter, Reuben Thorne is not rated in the world game and there are some new youngsters in the team who are running well with the ball but who will be subjected to the most searching examination of their defensive capabilities towards the end of the year.

So let's not get carried away as yet. Certainly, the pace at which New Zealand will try to play gives them a real advantage. But we must remember the abject surrender of the opposition teams in the last few weeks, and judge the All Blacks only when they have beaten a proper international rugby team, rather than the washed-up Wallabies and the sad Springboks.