Can the All Blacks find their magic this autumn?

Aiming for what would be just a fifth northern hemisphere clean sweep in their illustrious legacy, the All Blacks have traveled to Europe at an interesting juncture.

Matches against the Irish team, the Scottish side, England and the Welsh team await the All Blacks across the next four weekends but, in addition to the opportunity to equal the teams of 1978, 2005, 2008 and 2010 in the history books, the games will be used as a measure to assess the progress of the side under a head coach now well established from taking up the reins.

Team Issues

Concerns over a lack of an clear playing identity, enduring debates over player choices and leavings from the management team have all added to the sense that the best-known side in the game is currently one in a time of change.

Most pertinently, it is the dip in outcomes from a past excellence set between the World Cups of the last decade that has prompted some to suggest that we have moved out of the period of New Zealand dominance.

Team Record

Prior to their travel for the European tour, it was confirmed that next year, in the absence of the Rugby Championship, the All Blacks will face South Africa in a summer series dubbed 'a unique competition'.

Historically the game's two strongest sides, there is clear agreement over who has lately dominated of what organizers have labeled 'The Premier Rivalry'.

In recent seasons, the South African team have claimed a couple of global tournaments, three Rugby Championships and a series against the British and Irish Lions to be viewed as the team of their period.

New Zealand have maintained to beat Ireland when it is crucial, overcoming this weekend's rivals in the global competition of the past two tournaments. They have, at the same time, been defeated in just two of the last fixtures with England, have beaten Wales in every encounter since over sixty years ago and have always been victorious by Scotland.

Shifting Balance

But the loss of their position as the game's gold standard will continue to rankle.

While the All Blacks excelled through the last ten years - achieving 87% of their international games, as well as claiming the global trophy on multiple times - the global tournament of 2019 can now be seen as when the hierarchical structure shifted in the world sport.

New Zealand beat the Springboks in their first game of the competition in the host nation, but it was the Boks' who were finally victorious in Yokohama.

After that event, the New Zealand's victory ratio has dropped to seventy-one percent. The Springboks themselves lost 10 of their subsequent fixtures but, from the beginning of last year, have achieved victory at a frequency (83%) to match even the previous All Blacks side.

Head-to-Head

Throughout the same period, the South African team have secured victory in five of the seven meetings between the teams, including victory in the 2023 World Cup final.

While securing their most recent continental championship, South Africa delivered a significant beating on the All Blacks thanks to dominant performance in the capital, a result which has ignited another round of debate regarding the development of the team under their leader.

Possibly most troubling for followers of the New Zealand team will be that, allied to their characteristic physicality, the Springboks' success has come with an attacking verve more commonly connected with their own side.

Playing Philosophy

During the period when the All Blacks were at the peak of their abilities in previous eras, they were a clinical transition team capable of destroying rivals from all areas of the playing surface and at all times of the game.

Now, their attacking style is less defined as their leader, who has handed out 19 debuts during his 24 months in control, tries to first establish the more prosaic core elements of a winning team.

It has previously announced that the backroom staff member in charge of attack, the current coach, will exit the team after the upcoming matches, making him the second member of management team to leave after another coach walked away last year after just five Tests.

Performance Gap

It was not just his winning record, but his approach, that was anticipated to translate from previous club when he assumed control after the recent tournament but, to date, the two aspects continue to be a ongoing development.

Business Factors

Following financial organization investors acquired shares in All Blacks in the past, the following communication discussed the "quest of international expansion" for the team.

That objective has perhaps been harder by the lack of a global icon. Ardie Savea and the trio of related players continue to be household names in the game, but the spread of talented players has become more diverse. Savea is the only New Zealand player to earn World Player of the Year in the recent years, in comparison to ten awards in multiple seasons between previous generations.

Worldwide Reach

Instead, efforts have been made to introduce the All Blacks into previously untapped markets.

The first leg of this European campaign brings the All Blacks not to Dublin but Chicago, a revisit to the location where the Irish team obtained a first ever victory in the contest during past tours.

Since the easing of Covid-19 travel restrictions, the New Zealand team have furthermore