The clouds over New Zealand’s preparations for their Bledisloe Cup return this week have been as dark as their famous shirts.
Coach Steve Hansen has likened their 12-12 draw with Australia in Sydney last weekend to a defeat, and for a side so used to winning he has good reason.
With little over a year until the All Blacks begin the defence of a World Cup crown they battled so hard to acquire, signs are that this current crop are on the wane.
Captain Richie McCaw, fly-half Dan Carter — ruled out for all of his country’s home Rugby Championship games through injury — and Conrad Smith are just three stars in the twilight of their careers.
Whether that trio are still around to take the field in England remains in doubt, yet, so far their coach appears happy to persevere with a once winning formula.
The calls for Hansen to jettison his senior players and look to the future have been long and loud.
While South Africa found success in a similar strategy last weekend, the former Wales boss needed only to look a little closer to home for the benefit youth can bring.
Captained by their youngest skipper in more than 50 years — 22-year-old Michael Hooper — the Wallabies ran New Zealand remarkably close in Sydney.
Indeed had they had a genuine No10 at fly-half, instead of the mercurial yet frustrating Kurtley Beale, they might well have won.
But while Australia have built well on a platform of young, hungry players that is not necessarily a luxury open to Hansen.
It is fine to suggest that McCaw or Smith should be eased out of the starting XV, but where exactly are these young players ready to step in?
Jerome Kaino’s injury has opened the door for a recall for Liam Messam at flanker, but while he is a fine player, he is also already 30. And it is not like there is a queue of players behind the former sevens international either.
Ma’a Nonu unavailability has likewise given Ryan Crottey a chance at inside-centre, but he is a definite downgrade on the colossus he is tasked with replacing.
Instead, Hansen’s hand is being forced a little and he obviously feels he has to persist with the players that he already has at his disposal.
The worrying thing for New Zealand, and their devoted fans, is that if these players are showing signs of age now, what are they going to be like in 14 months’ time?
