Peter Bills, writing for The New Zealand Herald, ponders whether All Blacks fullback Mils Muliaina could be their weak link going into the 2011 World Cup.
"Call it churlish, if you wish, or blinkered partisanship if you must. But the fact is, there were areas of the All Blacks game against South Africa last weekend that still need polishing ahead of the Rugby World Cup.
When you are shooting for the stars you can never be satisfied just to reach the sky. We can be sure that the three wise men, aka the All Blacks coaching triumvirate, are not men prone to premature celebration.
To win any game by six tries to one is a huge encouragement. But only by setting standards that are close to the stratosphere can sports teams truly deliver. They may not quite hit the peak every time but if they are trained to aim that high often enough they should perform at a pretty lofty level.
Mils Muliaina did not have a bad game against the South Africans' apology for a Test team in Wellington. He dealt competently with the ball whenever it found him, carried it back efficiently enough and covered diligently, albeit without ever really being seriously tested. Such was the nature of a totally one-sided contest."
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