The All Blacks looked like Ireland against Argentina

Don’t know about you, but I’m definitely enthused.

The start of The Rugby Championship served as a timely reminder of why we love Test match footy.

With due respect to all involved, we haven’t really enjoyed a scintillating start to the rugby season.

Super Rugby Pacific was fine. Not appointment viewing necessarily, but definitely something to keep tabs on.

But you wouldn’t miss this Saturday’s clash between New Zealand and South Africa for quids.

The All Blacks look all right. I sort of want to say that quietly, for fear of going too hard, too early.

But Sunday morning’s 41-12 win over Argentina was as encouraging as I’ve seen in a long time.

Kickoff receptions weren’t perfect and the lineout occasionally fallible, but there was vigour and guile and pace about everything else.

What a joy to see the All Blacks using the ball to beat the man and to have attackers committing defenders before offloading. It felt like I was watching Ireland, during their series-winning tour of New Zealand a year ago.

And maybe I was.

Plan A for many All Blacks backs of recent vintage has been to try and run over defenders. If that works, great. If not, Plan B has been to shuffle the ball sideways.

Plan C inevitably involved a crossfield kick of some sort.

Neither B nor C ever committed a defender, while A always came unstuck against opponents who were prepared to tackle.

But Sunday was different. Sunday saw the All Blacks use a sleight of hand and a degree of thought and awareness that I wasn’t sure the team was capable of.

For that – and, again, I’m going to whisper it – I credit Joe Schmidt.

The former Ireland head coach was always the intangible, when assessing the Rugby World Cup chances of this team.

If he had an impact, after joining New Zealand’s coaching staff last year, it wasn’t immediately evident.

But you always assumed, rightly or wrongly, that he had the nous to fundamentally change how the All Blacks attacked.

Sunday was a very small sample size, but the signs for 2023 are promising.

Lots of little things stood out: the tackling of props Tyrel Lomax and Ethan de Groot for instance, centre Rieko Ioane actually passing the ball, hooker Dane Coles not pulling a calf muscle.

Heck, even fullback Beauden Barrett took the ball into contact a couple of times.

Actually, I shouldn’t be flippant about that.

I mentioned Barrett and New Zealand Warriors halfback Shaun Johnson in the same sentence, a few weeks back.

Johnson is a playmaker transformed in 2023, in large part because he has stopped shying away from physicality. As Johnson’s confidence in the contact areas has grown, so has his command of the game.

I still believe Barrett is capable of making a similar impact with the All Blacks.

South Africa, meanwhile, were just as impressive in disposing of Australia 43-12.

We don’t know how travelling back from Argentina will affect the All Blacks. Just as we’re not sure whether the Springboks’ decision to send an advanced party to Auckland was the right one.

But we’re all counting down the days till kickoff and it’s nice to feel optimistic and excited about watching the All Blacks again.