Praise from their Rugby Championship rivals is barely registering with the All Blacks, who say they can go to another gear.
The All Blacks celebrate a try for Beauden Barrett. Photo: Photosport
It's only one round in but the world champions already look capable of pulling off a third successive clean sweep of the Sanzaar competition following the 38-13 humbling of Australia in Sydney.
It will take something special to halt Steve Hansen's men, who are short-priced favourites to repeat the dose at their Eden Park stronghold on Saturday and tuck the Bledisloe Cup away for another year.
Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus admits the New Zealanders are on another level.
Following his team's 34-21 defeat of Argentina in Durban, Erasmus said the All Blacks' first-up display was "awesome".
"We are chasing them, everyone is chasing them," Erasmus told reporters.
"It wasn't like they had a settled team. Sonny Bill (Williams) didn't play, they had changes in the pack, a new tighthead making a debut off the bench. It was an unbelievable performance by them."
New Argentina coach Mario Ledesma agreed it would be difficult to stop New Zealand winning a sixth Rugby Championship crown from seven editions.
"Last year South Africa played the perfect game against them in the Rugby Championship and still lost. We hope they don't run us over but it will be hard," Ledesma said.
All Blacks halfback Aaron Smith played down the plaudits, pointing out faults that would become a focus this week.
At the top of the list was a failure to make inroads with moves directly from scrums and lineouts.
Australia's defence shut those down but was found wanting when the All Blacks turned over ball.
"You just have to look at our set piece attack, firstly. It was pretty average and we got nothing off that," Smith told reporters.
"It's pretty disappointing but there's an opportunity this week to fix it.
"If given the chance, I know there's a few of us who'd like the opportunity to make it a lot better."
- AAP
