Richie Mo'unga may provide the steady head the All Blacks appeared to miss against the Springboks in Wellington.

OPINION: It has been a fascinating exercise watching New Zealand's reaction to the Saturday's loss against the Springboks.

Beauden Barrett's suspect goalkicking and game management was somewhat predictable to those of us who began to raise our doubts at the start of 2017, given the mounting evidence that there were issues with segments of his game.

Yet somehow that very specific problem has somehow been rolled into a broader assertion that New Zealand has a philosophical issue with the dropped goal.

That's not entirely true. In fact, guess the only team which has kicked droppies in the past two World Cup semifinals?

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ANTHONY AU-YEUNG/GETTY IMAGES Richie Mo'unga kicked at a success rate of 87.5 per cent on his starting debut against Argentina.

Clue: the same team in black which also kicked one in the 2015 World Cup final.

It did not come the same player either. In 2015 it was Dan Carter's sweet left foot doing the damage.

In 2011 it was Aaron Cruden, fresh off his skateboard, who applied the scoreboard squeeze against the Wallabies with a timely drop goal in first half of their semifinal at Eden Park.

ANTHONY AU-YEUNG/GETTY IMAGES Despite their wealth of experience TJ Perenara and Beauden Barrett couldn't get the All Blacks home on Saturday.

So what we have is not a question of philosophy but one of personnel.

The three key men on Saturday were Barrett, TJ Perenara and Damian McKenzie.

For all of their skills, and they are fabulous, it would be a brave soul to claim that the trio, based on what they have produced over the past two years, are the best individuals available in New Zealand to close out a game.

The All Blacks have gone all in on an attacking strategy that can be viewed two ways: a revolutionary strategy that will take the game forward, or an almost hubristic neglect of test rugby's traditions.

HANNAH PETERS/GETTY IMAGES Damian McKenzie knocks the ball on in Wellington.

For the last 15 minutes of the test against the Springboks it looked more like the latter.

Can you win close test matches, the ones that really matter, without a top-class goalkicker with ice in his veins? You cannot.

Can you simply expect to blast every opponent off the pitch with pace? No, not if they find two extra gears, as Warren Whiteley did on Saturday with his extraordinary running down of Perenara with the Hurricane No 9 destined for a try under the sticks.

Enter Richie Mo'unga into the debate.

The Crusaders No 10 made some mistakes in his starting debut against the Pumas but to the coaches' great credit they gave him the full 80 minutes.

And the one thing that most agree on about Mo'unga is that he has a high level of composure and an ability to move on from errors.

So while he missed touch twice from penalties against Argentina he didn't let that spread into his goalkicking. In fact, he was seven from eight in Nelson: that's a test match goalkicker.

There will be those that say his lack of experience goes against him but Barrett and Perenara's combined 116 tests didn't count for much on Saturday. Alarmingly, there didn't seem to be one person in control during those final stages, moving the chess pieces around and taking on the ultimate responsibility.

The Barrett v Mo'unga debate has long since descended into a shouting match but this isn't about proving who is 'right' (there is no 'right' answer) but finding the appropriate combination for certain tests.

The 'problem' with Barrett and McKenzie, if it can be called that, is that they are essentially the same sort player. It's a fundamentally different model to the Carter-Barrett model that served the All Blacks so well at the 2015 World Cup.

What the All Blacks now have to ponder is whether Barrett and McKenzie really are the right combination against teams that can put them under pressure.

This is particularly true when they have a player in Mo'unga, the best, most composed player in the Super Rugby final, who so clearly brings a different and calmer set of skills to the table.

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