All Blacks coach Graham Henry praised his side's "top drawer" Bledisloe Cup and Tri-Nations performance against the Wallabies in Auckland, but admitted to an even tougher road ahead.

The 39-10 drubbing of the unbeaten Wallabies was a perfect all-round response from the All Blacks, who eradicated errors and produced a stunning turnaround from their efforts in Sydney a week earlier — blowing Robbie Deans' Wallabies out of the water.

Henry and his coaching staff may now breathe a small sigh of relief, but sensed a different kind of pressure looming as the All Blacks next take on a difficult Tri-Nations away leg, starting with the Springboks in Cape Town on August 16.

"It's pleasing for New Zealand rugby," said an elated Henry, pleased to get one over his fellow Kiwi Deans.

"We have all been under pressure. Jock [Hobbs] and the board, the administration, the team...the New Zealand rugby public just wanted a performance and they got a performance tonight that was right out of the top drawer.

"It will give us some foundation, some confidence and a wee bit of relief from the pressure.

"So we can build from there hopefully. But the game in Cape Town will be massive and the game in Brisbane will be massive."

The All Blacks are one-all now with both the Wallabies and the Springboks, as the Tri-Nations table tightened after Saturday's result.

"Both teams playing in those two encounters will be absolutely on the edge of the edge so it's going to be pretty special," Henry said, of trying to finish off the most competitive Tri-Nations tournament in a long time.

"I'm very proud of the team. I thought they played exceptionally well. It keeps us alive in the Tri-Nations and the Bledisloe Cup.

"We don't underestimate the magnitude of that task — we have two away games now but it was a fine performance and I'm very proud of the guys who did the job."

Henry drew immense pleasure from his players' ability to implement a radically altered game plan coming off their defeat in Sydney a week ago.

In an almost exact role reversal of last week, the All Blacks produced a flawless kicking and counter-kicking display, winning field position and then executing that with points as the Wallabies battled to play catch-up.

"I think tactically they [the All Blacks] played very well," said Henry.

"We learnt a lot from last week - the players learnt a lot, the coaches learnt a lot. We changed the game plan around and the guys executed that exceptionally well," he added.

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