One Test into Dave Rennie's All Blacks era, and the direction he intends to take this team is clear.
No one needs a PhD to decipher the budding hallmarks of Rennie's All Blacks tenure.
It's early days and ample improvements are required, sure, but from an attacking and individual expectations perspective, the outlook is positive.
I've noted commentary comparing Scott Robertson and Rennie's respective starts with the All Blacks - and the contrasting reactions to seemingly similar tight season-opening results.
That's fair, to a degree.
France pushed the All Blacks to the brink last week. An upset would certainly have altered the complexion of Rennie's first Test narrative.
Yet with Rennie's All Blacks having held their nerve, the big difference that shines through is the underlying conservatism that dogged Robertson's reign, both in selections and game plan.
The All Blacks attack under Robertson consistently frustrated with an overreliance on kicking and individual brilliance to provide fleeting sparks.
Selection wise, Robertson was far too loyal and therefore lacked genuine faith in promoting emerging talent too.
Test rugby's sophisticated defences can be difficult to break down but New Zealanders expect the All Blacks to embrace a style of rugby that reflects their heritage and the inherent desire to use the ball.
Immediately on that front the All Blacks attacking ceiling under Rennie appears infinitely higher.
Tougher tests than scraping past a French side missing eight Top 14 finalists, including their entire starting forward pack from the Six Nations, talisman Antoine Dupont, and arguably the world's best wing Louis Bielle-Biarrey, await Rennie's All Blacks this year.
But the speed, movement and tempo they displayed under the Christchurch roof is the primary reason Rennie has engendered faith to be initially restored.
Ambition, optimism, courage, risk are back in vogue for the All Blacks. And, crucially, there's much greater clarity than there ever appeared under Robertson.
Cohesion and clinical execution were lacking against a French side that did not impose the same defensive line speed as other leading nations but look no further than Peter Lakai's try for the intent, potency, interplay, and bodies in motion Rennie's All Blacks are attempting to embrace.
With 85% lightning quick ruck speed in their first outing, Rennie's non-negotiable repeat efforts and data-driven directive to get off the ground quickly and clean bodies at the breakdown already appear to be moving the needle.
"When you coach a team, you look at how the game is being played, the direction it's going, the quality of player you've got, the skills they've got and then try and mould and formulate a plan to get the best out of them," All Blacks attack coach Mike Blair said after the relief-tinged 34-32 win over France.
"We've talked about momentum and how you can play with that. We've talked about multi options and everyone being alive. It's giving the players a bit of freedom and not being really structured, letting guys express themselves. They've got huge natural ability, so letting that be at the forefront of our attack.
"Did they enjoy the speed of the game? I'm not too sure. They worked really hard and they're feeling it this morning, but we've shown the players where we have to be to play that type of game. We've got a good idea of it now, and some hard work ahead."
The other stark contrast to Robertson's two-year tenure was the confidence to introduce three rookies -- Xavier Numia, Fehi Fineanganofo and Jamie Hannah -- into the fray with the game in the balance.
Defensively the All Blacks must make big shifts. Conceding four tries, 32 points, is far too many.
Discipline, decision-making and the need to be more direct with their ball carries at times will be among other targeted improvements.
The good outweighs the bad, though.
Sam Darry's standout performance amid a serious locking shortage strengthened second-row depth.
Luke Jacobson, a surprise starting selection, repaid the faith to state his case to retain the openside flanker role.
Ruben Love displayed enough confidence to challenge the line and recover from his early yellow card to, surely, hold off veterans Damian McKenzie and Beauden Barrett and maintain the coveted No. 10 jersey for the second Nations Championship match against Italy in Wellington.
Yet it's impossible to overlook Cam Roigard's ever-growing centrepiece status for the All Blacks.
Ardie Savea is the new permanent captain and therefore their focal leader. Roigard, though, is the All Blacks most influential figure and, without doubt, one of the world's premier players.
Two tries -- one in which he punished French opposite Maxime Lucu for drifting off the ruck far too early -- thrust Roigard forward as the man of the match against France. The scary part for opposition is Roigard can get much better yet.
With the likes of Richie Mo'unga, Tupou Vaa'i, and Fabian Holland to return in the coming weeks and other rookies to be blooded so, too, will Rennie's All Blacks progress from their promising and patchy starting point.
"We created a lot of opportunities, some of them we didn't take," Blair said. "That's a bit of rustiness, a bit of cohesion, with the players. It's not a huge amount of time we've had together. We'll build on that next week.
"It's time in the saddle, training together, working together to get that cohesion."