IN deciding how good the international team you support really is, the World XV yardstick is generally an accurate guide.

If you provide more than three or four players for a world’s “best of’’, it is fair to think your side would win a majority of games.

With all eyes in this part of the globe focused on ANZ Stadium for the opening Bledisloe Cup encounter on August 16, let’s water it down to an Australasian XV and see if that gives Wallabies supporters cause for optimism.

If you lined up the personnel from the All Blacks and Wallabies who did not lose a game between them against France and England, and nominated an Anzac XV, I fear it would have a heavy tone of black, with a sprinkle of gold here and there.

An Australian certainty would have to be Israel Folau, and on the basis of what’s ahead and not what has been, Michael Hooper might nudge out Richie McCaw.

Arguments could be mounted for Rob Simmons and James Slipper, but a glance at available talent would suggest the New Zealanders would make up 75 per cent of any such hypothetical hotch-potch.

media_camera Wallabies fullback Israel Folau would be a certainty for an Anzac XV.

The comforting thing for Wallabies supporters as we seek to get a hold on that much desired silverware for the first time in a dozen years, is that the sum of the parts is potentially more damaging than one might consider when evaluating all the parts on their own.

Evidence from the French series is that the progress first made on last year’s European tour has not stalled, and while several players are yet to truly prove themselves as legitimate and long-term players on the international stage, everything points to that eventually being the case.

All shown in different measures, but there was purpose, skill, desire, variety, grit and belief in the three wins over the French, and underlying all of that was a depth of talent that hasn’t always been available to Wallaby coaches.

The concern of taking too much notice of the three wins against France’s finest, is that France really weren’t very fine at all.

There is much to be optimistic about, but for those sensing an increasing vulnerability in the All Blacks ranks, I’d issue caution.

That their next match gives them the opportunity to break the record of consecutive victories over top-tier Test nations is extra motivation that coach Steve Hansen is unlikely to ignore, but motivation without the mongrel has only temporary value and by the time the third Test against England had been run and won, it was clear there was plenty of fight still left in that old black dog.

media_camera Aaron Smith helps give the All Blacks the edge in the halves.

Not so old actually. The likes of hooker Dane Coles, prop Owen Franks and locks Brodie Retallick and Sam Whitelock have all been part of the 17-game winning streak and the oldest of them is 27.

While Australia’s halves pairing of Nic White and Bernard Foley showed promise in their three outings together, you would not put your last on them dominating Aaron Smith and Aaron Cruden.

Rumours of the All Blacks’ demise are ridiculously premature, but anticipation of the Wallabies’ rise is legitimate.

Rugby needs a fascinating Bledisloe Cup series and my hunch is that we are about to get it.