By Zinzan Brooke Former All Black

New Zealand coach Graham Henry will be quietly satisfied with the performance against England but they need to improve this weekend against France.

The All Blacks did enough at Twickenham but it wasn't what you would call a polished performance. They weren't that clinical, and should really have put 50 points on England.

Pelous is a big-game player but not quite there as a Martin Johnson at the moment Zinzan Brooke

From broken play they looked dangerous, but I don't think they really clicked and they looked a bit rough around the edges.

I thought New Zealand would be up against it a bit more in the scrum but they seemed to hold their own and certainly didn't give England number eight Pat Sanderson an easy ride. He was a bit outmuscled.

England showed some glimpses of quality rugby but they need to improve their general awareness, work on their ball maintenance and sharpen up in the collision area to get quicker ball coming back.

The set piece was generally OK but I'd like to see Charlie Hodgson take the ball flatter and get his runners punching holes a bit better. They did it a couple of times and looked threatening when they did.

England coach Andy Robinson needs a win but they must be careful against Argentina. The Pumas will be sniffing an opportunity there and could surprise them.

I reckon New Zealand and France are the two best sides in the world at the moment, so the aim for Henry is to make sure he puts down a marker this autumn.

Having said that, I always think back to 1986 when New Zealand had a terrible year, got an absolute hiding on tour in France, and 10 months later won the World Cup.

But then I look at England in 2003 when Clive Woodward took them to Australia and New Zealand. They beat both of them in their own backyard and went on to win the World Cup.

If you get it wrong, New Zealand won't forgive you Zinzan Brooke

So part of me says I'd love the All Blacks to give France a right old hiding, but in some ways I'd like us to lose, so we think, "OK, we're good, but we're not that good."

That's all very well of course, but I'm sure the motivation for Henry and his coaches is to just nail France, though the quality of the performance is also important.

New Zealand will be treating this very much as a rehearsal for next year's World Cup. Last weekend was the final pool match, Saturday is the quarter-final, next week in Paris is the semi and the final is against Wales.

I'm not surprised Henry has made changes - he's sticking to his policy of developing a pool of players - but I didn't think there would be as many as 10.

Critics say you devalue the jersey and devalue Test matches with all the changes but you need to keep players fresh and clear in the mind to keep standards up.

The problem in world rugby now is there are no more tours, so you have to treat Tests like a tour match. I can remember playing 10-12 matches in a row in 1996-7. You think it's great but mentally you're shattered after a campaign like that.

Smith will take a bit of pressure off Daniel Carter Zinzan Brooke

The one key, if you're going to operate a squad system, is to continually push the bar higher. It's all very well making slashing changes but if you get it wrong, New Zealand won't forgive you.

The only weaker area for this match is probably at lock but it's a stronger back row and I'm happy with Conrad Smith and Luke McAlister in midfield. Smith will add stability in that senior role and will take a bit of pressure off Daniel Carter.

The only other question mark is at hooker, where Anton Oliver needs to do better than Keven Mealamu last week and get his line-out throwing right. They're both good players but the All Blacks have been guilty of not finding their jumpers.

You need that ruthless arrogance as a team to know you can pump it into the corners and hit anywhere in the line-out. I'd like to have seen us test England a bit more like that and see how much bottle they had, instead of always going for the three points.

But the pressure this weekend is on France. They managed to win the football World Cup and are pretty much due one in rugby. They can beat anyone on the day but the problem with them is always the same. Which team will turn up?