New Zealand 20 - 10 Australia: New Zealand well set for 2011 World Cup bid, says Smith

The All Blacks retained the Bledisloe Cup thanks to a 20-10 victory over trans-Tasman rivals Australia in Christchurch on Saturday, their 13th Test win in a row, moving them to within a solitary point of a tenth Tri-Nations title.

While New Zealand's opening three wins in the competition had been based around a fluid high-tempo attacking game, this success owed much to a tremendous defensive display which saw the Wallabies stymied despite enjoying the greater share of possession at AMI Stadium.

And Wellington three-quarter Smith believes the qualities shown yesterday can stand his side in good stead as they look to end a 24-year wait for a World Cup win on home soil next year.

"If we could keep that going into next year, it's pretty powerful," he said. "We had to work pretty hard to come away with a good win, and to lock that cup away is a nice feeling.

"We felt pretty sound. We were well tested obviously and there were long periods when we were having to tackle and apart from the one try, which was really against the run of play, it felt like we defended really well."

Fly-half Dan Carter played a big role in Australia's solitary try as his loose offload saw Kurtley Beale race 70 metres to score, and he acknowledges that Graham Henry's men still have plenty to work on.

"At international level little mistakes can prove costly, as did my little mistake for seven points down the other end of the field, which is tough, so we have to work really hard on cutting those out of the game," he said.

And he also admitted to feeling the effects of a tough defensive effort. "It's a bit sore on the old body and you know you have gone through a Test match when your body feels like this," he said.

"I don't know what the tackle count was (the All Blacks made 110 in total] but they were definitely running down my channel and it's part of the game I enjoy, it's not too bad."

Wallabies captain Rocky Elsom was also encouraged by his side's performance, which showed a marked improvement on their 28-49 reverse to the same opposition the previous weekend.

"I think that was definitely a building block there," Elsom said after the game,. "While we didn't get the result we wanted, that was a very focused performance.

"There are things we would like to change, but it's always like that. As far as the way we want to play and how we want to play, for the large part you saw that."

The Wallabies play the Springboks, who are winless and now have no hope of retaining the Tri-Nations title, twice in South Africa on 28 August and 4 September. Australia won their first match 30-13 in Brisbane last month.