The good vibes and euphoria of the All Blacks’ first win of the new era have been put aside after the team’s move to Auckland, with assistant coach Jason Holland not ruling out personnel changes for the second Test against England.

Chief among the improvements that Holland and the other coaches are seeking are ways to unlock an English umbrella defence that almost rained on Scott “Razor” Robertson’s parade in Dunedin.

The All Blacks scored two tries via Sevu Reece and Ardie Savea and appeared in good attacking shape in the first half before they gave away their 10-7 lead when overplaying their hand just before halftime, but had few answers after the break, Damian McKenzie’s two penalties and Marcus Smith’s off night with the boot helping them home.

On the whole, the pack performed well – attacking lineouts apart. Certainly, the scrum was a weapon.

The All Blacks, who will name their team internally tomorrow (and publicly on Thursday), could consider tweaking the loose forwards, with the inclusion of flanker Ethan Blackadder or Luke Jacobson a possibility and potentially at the expense of Samipeni Finau, who committed the cardinal sin of being bundled into touch in the first half.

Any changes to the backline would likely to come in the midfield given the excellence of starting outside backs Mark Tele’a, Stephen Perofeta and Sevu Reece. Beauden Barrett also played well when he replaced Perofeta at fullback in the second half.

Asked whether the coaches could consider a reshuffle after the narrow 16-15 victory, Holland said: “Continuity is important but it doesn’t mean there’s not a couple of key areas we need to improve.”

Could that mean a change at centre? Rieko Ioane carried hard and bravely against England but he failed to put Tele’a away in the first half when the All Blacks had a rare overlap and the selectors may prefer Anton Lienert-Brown’s trickier footwork at Eden Park.

As vice-captain and a critical part of the backline leadership group, Jordie Barrett’s place is all but secure and it’s difficult to see McKenzie being replaced as he establishes himself at No.10, late penalty drama not withstanding.

“We’ve identified some key areas that will get momentum in our game,” Holland said. “We took some big steps forward in some areas, for example we dealt with England’s kicking game really well.”

Holland’s main portfolio consists of dreaming up and coaching strike plays off first phase, an area that was lacking in Dunedin, as he acknowledged today.

“Ideally, we would have got a little bit more momentum off our lineout and scrum, especially. That’s a big area we’ll be hoping to, not necessarily score first-phase tries - although that will always be the aim – but to get … over the gain line.”

With TJ Perenara out due to his knee injury, the selectors are unlikely to pair likely starting halfback Finlay Christie with a new playmaker, so McKenzie appears set to continue.

“He was really solid,” Holland said of McKenzie. “I looked at some of his workrate clips in the back-field and some of his high-ball stuff which was awesome as it always is with DMac.

“With the group, not necessarily with DMac, we looked at areas where we put ourselves under pressure where we either ran when it wasn’t on to run or kicked when it wasn’t on to kick.”

One success story was perhaps Robertson’s most contentious selection for the first Test.

Perofeta, a surprise starter ahead of Beauden Barrett, was good at the back with his option taking, and his neat sidestepping of the hard-charging No.8 Ben Earl put Savea over the line.

“I thought Stevie was really solid… but like all of us, there are a couple of things we can do to get a little more control in our game from 9, 10 and 15s.”

All of which means there is no danger of Perofeta getting ahead of himself this week.

The Blues player, who enjoyed a maiden Super Rugby championship at Eden Park recently, would love to run on to what he called his “second home” on Saturday but there’s some work to do yet.

He said today that his mindset last week was to make the most of his opportunity. “That’s how I treated it… this could be my last chance so I wanted to make the most of it, express myself, enjoy it with a smile and be free,” Perofeta said.

“If there’s a packed-out stadium there can be a lot of pressure. There are a lot of eyes… the stakes are higher. One thing I think about is that it’s a big occasion but I’m not trying to play the occasion, I just want to back my preparation and play the beautiful game of rugby.”