The All Blacks had to fight hard to beat the Wallabies in Hong Kong on Saturday night, coming back from being 14-6 down to win 19-14 - in what really was a game of two halves.

The Aussies were definitely the better of the two sides in the first half, and didn't look to be affected by the long period off between Tests, whereas the All Blacks started off in less than ideal fashion.

The handling was poor, and there didn't seem to be any cohesion between the players - which seems strange, seeing that most of the players had some game time during the Air New Zealand Cup. The Aussies, on the other hand, were attacking out wide and making inroads against the All Black defensive line - which led to two trys, both scored by Drew Mitchell.

The only thing keeping the All Blacks in the game was the Wallabies poor discipline, which gave Dan Carter three penalty's to bring the score to 14-9 at half time.

However, the first half only got worse for the All Blacks as Andrew Hore went off injured with an ankle injury, forcing him out of the rest of the tour - he'll be replaced by Hika Elliot. This is a huge loss for the All Blacks, as Hore has started in every Test this year, and was putting a big gap between himself and the other hookers.

It's just fortunate that we have a handy backup in Kevin Mealamu - although his lineout throwing can be suspect at times.

The All Blacks got down to business in the second half, and started to play some enterprising rugby, which led to their first try scored by Sivivatu. Their passes started to stick, and they soon began to find holes in the Wallaby line.

Sivivatu had a hand in the second try, too, setting up Richie McCaw to give the All Blacks a 19-14 lead, which they would hold onto for the rest of the game.

The combination of Stephen Donald and Dan Carter did not work as well as it did in Brisbane, and for the first half it basically kept Carter out of the action. Donald was replaced by Ma'a Nonu in the second half, and Carter was back in the number 10 jersey (where he belongs). If they are to try this combination again, they have to put Donald at second five, leaving Carter to weave his magic at number 10.

Isaia Toeava had one of his best games for the All Blacks, and is starting to look more settled at Test level. He made some fantastic runs, including one where he broke through about five or six tackles. It's finally starting to look like Henry's persistence with Toeava is paying off.

The Wallabies will be disappointed that they couldn't push on in the second half, but they have nothing to blame but their own poor discipline. They were very lucky no one was sin binned, because there were times that someone should have been.

The All Blacks now head to Scotland, where they should have no trouble in maintaining their unbeaten run against the Scots. They have four Tests in four weeks, plus the midweek game against Munster - but for this squad that workload should be no issue.

As for the Test in Hong Kong, we think it was a complete success. They basically filled the stadium (there were only 300 seats left), and the players all seemed to enjoy mixing with the locals and helping to spread the game to Asia. Based on this game, there should be no reason why more Tests can't be played in Hong Kong.