All Blacks coach Steve Hansen must have all his stars in alignment. Either that or he is a very lucky man.

Ma'a Nonu's season-ending injury could have been a disaster for the All Blacks but the way it has worked out is like an enforced sabbatical. It is unfortunate that Nonu is injured but in another respect the timing is great. Just like it has been for Tony Woodcock.

They've been made to have six months off and it allows them to go off and get the hunger and desire when they come back to carry them into a World Cup year.

I think it's fantastic - not that their injuries are fantastic - because it will create competition for places when they come back. Other players who get a chance will put their hands up and get opportunities. We mentioned it last week that most countries would recoil in the disappointment of losing a key player but New Zealand view it as a chance to blood another player. It's exciting.

With that in mind I think the timing of Sonny Bill Williams' return to the All Blacks is perfect. It's almost like it was scripted and over the length of his tenure coach Steve Hansen has not really had to make hard calls because it always seems to work out for him. Whether that's because he is an absolute mastermind in paving the way from World Cup to World Cup or just down to pure luck I don't know.

But Sonny Bill's return is good for New Zealand rugby and as a result we are going to have a very strong midfield and there will be competition for positions. I was concerned that either Ryan Crotty or Malakai Fekitoa would be left behind on the end-of-season tour, but unfortunately for Ma'a it's New Zealand's gain that there is another world-class centre that is going to go on the tour.

I do think the way NZR handled Williams' return could have been better. Rather than saying they were going to make way for Sonny Bill Williams they should have just sat on their hands and waited, and not said anything to the public but say there was a clause that let any player that Hansen wanted apply for dispensation which the NZR could address on a case by case basis.

That would have avoided singling one person out for special treatment. We want to see transparency and we want to make sure that every player has the ability to be able to get that dispensation if need be.

The Test match fans have been waiting for

Saturday's Wellington Test was a good, old-fashioned Test match and that is what the public has been crying out for. The last 10 minutes…you could have bottled that, and it had me sitting on the edge of my seat. The All Blacks truly stuck at it with their defence and they showed their grit while just hanging on and not giving away the crucial try that South Africa were after.

The Boks missed an opportunity that was there for them to take. You don't often score against the All Blacks so you have to take every point on offer when they come along. You keep banking the points and chipping away and coming back.

They had their opportunity to take a shot at goal and then work their way back downfield for an attempt at a dropped goal to win the game.

What teams have to realise is that the All Blacks will give away penalties in their own 22m area to the point where it can be interpreted as slightly cynical but in reality it is just the passion of defending their own goal-line.

I thought it was a really weird call that in two scrums in those last stages the Springboks had the All Blacks under the pump in the first to force a turnover. Then when the second collapsed they should really have gone for another scrum. They had the physical dominance but went wide too early, turned over the ball and it was game over.

It's unlike South Africans not to choose a scrum when it is on offer.

If there was one negative for me in what was a really enjoyable Test match, it frustrates me how referees can go to a straight-arm penalty from a scrum.

Looking at ways of tidying up the scrum I feel something like a hybrid free-kick where it's a penalty that you cannot shoot at goal but you can kick for territory and retain the throw would be useful.

I feel sorry for the front rowers because people say 'the bloody front rowers are cheating'. Well looking at it like that they are cheating everywhere in the world. The way it stands at the moment every prop playing the game must be a cheat. All they are doing is trying to contain a couple of tons of pressure and it is going to give somewhere.

It is way over-regulated and I know we have touched on this before but referees are giving penalties for what is a couple of feet either way. There was one time in the game when the All Blacks were hot on attack and the scrum went straight to a penalty when the ball was cleared. It was all done with immediately. The feet gave way, straight to a penalty and it relieved the pressure. But you wait for moments like that as a tight forward.

Australia can't be left to struggle

It is interesting to see the thinking in Australia that blames the inability to draw crowds to games on the hiding they got at Eden Park. But their problems run deeper than that. Over the past four or five years rugby has been in danger of becoming the sixth or seventh sport of preference during the winter. With the NRL and the AFL to compete the public appear to be drifting away.

From a New Zealander's point of view we can't let that happen. We need Australian fans to build our game and the whole Rugby Championship and Super Rugby hinges on having a strong Australian presence. The performance at Eden Park was just the tip. The underlying problem is they have other sports to compete with. It's worrying and I am sure there are smarter people than I am trying to figure it out.