New Zealand coach Graham Henry admitted to a mixture of relief and immense satisfaction following his team's comprehensive 33-6 Tri-Nations victory against Australia.

The three-tries-to-nil triumph was by far the All Blacks' best performance of the campaign and came after weeks of criticism directed at Henry, assistant coaches Steve Hansen and Wayne Smith and the players following several sub-standard efforts - particularly against new champions South Africa.

"We're delighted with the performance. It's been a while coming and the guys played well in all facets of the game," said Henry.

"The team's been under huge pressure and they have responded to that pressure and played particularly well.

"We got some really good first-phase ball at the lineout and scrum and as the game went on that got more and more."

Australia coach Robbie Deans said the biggest disappointment was the way his side had allowed Ma'a Nonu and Joe Rokocoko to score after they had been denied a try by some staunch All Blacks defence.

"The All Blacks were hugely desperate and played very well," he said. "The most disappointing thing from our perspective was that we essentially capitulated once the game was gone which was pretty late.

"We were hammering away but the All Blacks defended well and they denied us a score which would have put us within one try.

"But at that point when we weren't successful in scoring and the All Blacks did, we rolled over and that's what disappointed me."