Hurricanes Super 12 coach Graham Mourie has come out in support of embattled All Blacks counterpart Wayne Smith.

Mourie said New Zealand's rugby public should give Smith (pictured) a break and take heed of trends in the game before lambasting him.

Smith and assistant Tony Gilbert have been under fire since the All Blacks' last minute loss to Australia in the Tri-Nations on Saturday.

But Mourie believes the All Blacks were close to reaching their potential. "We, as a nation, have to get out of the mentality that every year has to be a winning year," he said. "If you look at 1995 we had demonstrably the best team in the world even though we did not win the World Cup.

"We certainly went on to perform in the next two years but you have to say that Laurie Mains, the year before the World Cup, was under huge pressure to retain his position which is exactly the same thing we are talking about now."

Mourie said Smith had made good progress with the All Blacks and added he should be given more time to finish what he had started, despite the rugby public calling for heads to roll, because a change in coach now would be a major step back for the team.

"If you look at the All Blacks over the last 15 to 20 years they have all been through a development phase. This team has made significant progress this year.

"They have obviously got some tidying up to do in set plays particularly, but I would see them as still a very young side internationally - you don't develop a top team overnight."

Mourie said he was not an option to replace Smith. But if he was All Blacks coach, Mourie said he would make only one or two changes, though would not reveal what they were. "I don't think we have the depth to make a lot of drastic changes, which would put us back to square one..." - Sapa