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Seeking what would be just a fifth tour victory in their legendary past, the All Blacks have embarked on their tour at an crucial period.

Games against the Irish team, the Scottish side, the English squad and Wales await Scott Robertson's side across the upcoming weeks but, quite aside from the chance to join the sides of 1978, 2005, 2008 and 2010 in the annals of rugby, the fixtures will be used as a measure to evaluate the development of the team under a head coach now two years on from assuming control.

Current Challenges

Concerns over a shortage of an clear playing identity, continuing controversies over team picks and departures from the backroom staff have all fueled the feeling that the best-known side in the rugby is now one in a time of change.

Most significantly, it is the dip in performances from a previous peak set between the global tournaments of 2011 and 2019 that has led some to suggest that we have evolved beyond of the era of All Black exceptionalism.

Team Record

Ahead of their departure for the fall series, it was announced that next year, in the non-existence of the Rugby Championship, New Zealand will play the Springboks in a off-season matches called 'a unique competition'.

In the past the game's two strongest sides, there is no question over who has lately dominated of what organizers have described 'The Premier Rivalry'.

In recent seasons, the South African team have claimed a two of World Cups, three southern hemisphere titles and a competition against the home nations team to be viewed as the squad of their era.

New Zealand have persisted to overcome Ireland when it counts most, overcoming Saturday's opponents in the global competition of the past two tournaments. They have, additionally, lost just a couple of the last fixtures with the English team, have beaten Wales in all matches since 1963 and have always been victorious by the Scottish team.

Shifting Balance

But the loss of their standing as the game's gold standard will persist as an irritation.

While the New Zealand team dominated through the previous decade - achieving 87% of their Test matches, as well as lifting the World Cup on multiple times - the global tournament of 2019 can now be regarded as when the competitive landscape shifted in the global game.

The All Blacks beat the Springboks in their initial fixture of the competition in the host nation, but it was the South Africans who were ultimately triumphant in Yokohama.

From that point, the New Zealand's winning percentage has declined to 71%. South Africa themselves lost 10 of their subsequent fixtures but, from the beginning of 2023, have won at a rate (83%) to rival even the previous All Blacks side.

Direct Competition

Throughout the comparable duration, the South African team have won five of the seven meetings between the sides, comprising success in the 2023 World Cup final.

While securing their latest regional title, South Africa administered a record 43-10 defeat on the New Zealand team thanks to 36 unanswered second-half points in their home ground, a result which has ignited another round of debate concerning the progress of the side under the coach.

Perhaps most troubling for followers of the New Zealand team will be that, combined with their characteristic physicality, the Springboks' achievement has come with an attacking verve more commonly connected with their traditional rivals.

Style Evolution

During the period when the All Blacks were at the zenith of their powers in previous eras, they were a devastating offensive machine able of dismantling competitors from every section of the playing surface and at all times of the contest.

Currently, their attacking style is less defined as the coach, who has awarded multiple new players during his 24 months in control, tries to first establish the more prosaic building blocks of a winning team.

It has recently revealed that the assistant coach responsible for scoring, their offensive coordinator, will leave his role after the fall series, making him the additional person of Robertson's ticket to leave after another coach departed last year after just a handful of games.

Team Development

It was not just his winning record, but his methodology, that was anticipated to transfer from previous club when he took over after the global competition but, as yet, the two aspects remain a ongoing development.

Commercial Considerations

Following financial organization investors bought a stake in New Zealand rugby in the past, the ensuing statement spoke of the "quest of new global opportunities" for the organization.

That task has maybe been harder by the shortage of a global icon. Their key player and the collection of family members continue to be well-known figures in the game, but the distribution of key individuals has never been spread wider. Savea is the only All Black to receive World Player of the Year in the recent years, in comparison to 10 in over a decade between the mid-2000s.

Worldwide Reach

Instead, initiatives have been undertaken to transplant the New Zealand team into new territories.

The opening phase of this 'Grand Slam' tour brings New Zealand not to the Irish capital but the American city, a comeback to the location where the Irish team obtained a landmark success in the fixture in previous seasons.

Since the easing of health protocols, the All Blacks have also