The All Blacks are refusing to get ahead of themselves, after comfortably beating the Wallabies in the Bledisloe Cup opener last night.
New Zealand put a poor first half behind them to romp to a 38-13 victory in Sydney and can seal the series with a win at long-time fortress Eden Park next Saturday.
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Australia's bid for their first Bledisloe Cup since 2002 have been dealt a further blow, after star Israel Folau was ruled out of the return test with an ankle injury.
All Blacks openside flanker Sam Cane believes a Wallabies loss is even more reason to be cautious and won't read too much into their own second half showing.
"They're dangerous when they're hurting and a real challenge for us is to prepare better than them for the test match.
"We can ultimately have a sip out of the Bledisloe - we've got one hand on it - but it doesn't mean anything," he said.
"They'll be dangerous, they'll look to learn off what they didn't quite nail last night, so we need to be hard on ourselves too and be really sharp in the learning aspect so we can be better.
"It's quite dangerous to take a feeling from an end of a game into the next week, because it's a completely different week.
"When you do that, you start off feeling quite good about yourself, but you've got to get your feet firmly back on the ground and reset, and look at ways we can get better and learn quickly, because I guarantee that they'll be doing that in their camp."
Folau's absence has seen Melbourne Rebels flyer Sefa Naivalu drafted into the Wallabies camp, with last night's debutant Jack Maddocks and Tom Banks set to fight it out for the starting fullback position.
All Blacks coach Steven Hansen echoed Cane's comments and is confident whoever comes into the side will fill the large boots of Folau.
"He's one guy, he's a dangerous player and a great player," he said. "We've proven, time after time, that if teams want to target one person, they'll pay for it - and we'll be silly to think they haven't got another player to step in, and wear the jersey with pride and urgency.
"Their backs are against the wall, they're going to improve. What I do know is that teams that get beaten learn better than teams that win and teams that get beaten are hungrier than those who have won."
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