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Pursuing 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 Ireland, the Scottish side, the English squad and Wales await the All Blacks across the upcoming weeks but, beyond the opportunity to equal the squads of previous successful tours in the record books, the games will be used as a measure to evaluate the improvement of the squad under a head coach now 24 months into from assuming control.

Present Difficulties

Questions over a absence of an identifiable style, continuing controversies over selection and departures from the backroom staff have all added to the sense that the best-known side in the rugby is now one in a time of change.

Most significantly, it is the drop in performances from a past excellence set between the global tournaments of 2011 and 2019 that has caused some to theorize that we have moved out of the age of All Black exceptionalism.

Team Record

Prior to their travel for the fall series, it was revealed that in the coming year, in the non-existence of the southern hemisphere competition, New Zealand will play the Springboks in a off-season matches termed 'a tour like no other'.

In the past the game's two strongest sides, there is little doubt over who has lately dominated of what marketers have described 'The Ultimate Contest'.

In recent seasons, the Springboks have claimed a pair of global tournaments, three southern hemisphere titles and a tour against the British and Irish Lions to be regarded as the side of their period.

New Zealand have continued to defeat Ireland when it counts most, overcoming this weekend's rivals in the World Cup quarter finals of recent years. They have, at the same time, been defeated in just a pair of the past 21 meetings with England, have beaten Wales in all matches since the sixties and have never suffered defeat by the Scottish team.

Changing Dynamics

But the decline of their status as the game's gold standard will persist as an irritation.

Although the All Blacks dominated through the last ten years - achieving 87% of their international games, as well as winning the Webb Ellis on two occasions - the global tournament of 2019 can now be viewed as when the hierarchical structure moved in the world sport.

The All Blacks defeated the Springboks in their initial fixture of the tournament in the host nation, but it was the Boks' who were finally victorious in Yokohama.

Since then, the All Blacks' victory ratio has dropped to seventy-one percent. South Africa themselves lost 10 of their subsequent fixtures but, from the beginning of 2023, have won at a rate (eighty-three percent) to match even the last great New Zealand team.

Direct Competition

During the same period, the South African team have secured victory in five of the seven meetings between the opponents, comprising triumph in the recent championship match.

While securing their most recent regional title, Rassie Erasmus' side inflicted a historic loss on the New Zealand team courtesy of 36 unanswered second-half points in their home ground, a score which has sparked another round of debate about the direction of the squad under their leader.

Perhaps most jarring for fans of the All Blacks will be that, alongside their characteristic physicality, the Springboks' triumph has come with an creative approach more typically linked with their own side.

Playing Philosophy

During the period when the New Zealand team were at the peak of their powers 10 years ago, they were a devastating offensive machine able of destroying opponents from every section of the playing surface and at any point of the match.

Currently, their offensive approach is less defined as Robertson, who has given numerous first caps during his recent tenure in control, tries to first establish the basic building blocks of a competitive squad.

It has previously announced that the backroom staff member overseeing attack, their offensive coordinator, will leave his role after the upcoming matches, becoming the second member of the coaching staff to exit after another coach left last year after just a handful of games.

Team Development

It was not only previous achievements, but his methodology, that was predicted to translate from his former team when he assumed control after the recent tournament but, so far, the two aspects are still a ongoing development.

Organizational Strategy

After financial organization the company acquired shares in New Zealand rugby in the past, the ensuing statement mentioned the "quest of international expansion" for the organization.

That task has possibly been more difficult by the lack of a international celebrity. Ardie Savea and the group of Barrett brothers remain recognizable personalities in the rugby, but the distribution of stars has never been spread wider. The captain is the single New Zealand player to win World Player of the Year in the past six seasons, in comparison to ten awards in multiple seasons between the mid-2000s.

Global Expansion

Alternatively, efforts have been undertaken to transplant the New Zealand team into emerging regions.

The first leg of this 'Grand Slam' tour brings the All Blacks not to the Irish capital but the American city, a comeback to the location where Ireland obtained a landmark success in the fixture nine years ago.

Since the reduction of health protocols, the All Blacks have additionally