Offering no excuses, coach Steve Hansen is glad a shock record defeat by England will burst the bubble of hype around his All Blacks going into 2013.
The young England team stunned New Zealand with a 38-21 victory at Twickenham, ending their unbeaten streak dating right back to the Tri-Nations final loss to Australia in Brisbane before last year's World Cup.
It was England's first win over the All Blacks in nine years and their largest margin of victory over New Zealand, surpassing the 13 point gap achieved in a 13-0 win back in 1936.
Hansen and his captain Richie McCaw says there is no doubt the better team won, praising England's complete performance in their last test of the year.
Hansen has welcomed an end to some of the hype generated by the unbeaten streak, seeing it as a chance to refocus his men next season.
He says it won't do them any harm, because it'll stop people telling them they're the greatest team ever and they can get down to being an All Black side that has to work hard.
Hansen says his side has been working hard, but the loss just puts a couple of wee rocks under the towel at the beach, which will be good.
