All Blacks skipper Richie McCaw admitted that his side wanted to leave Eden Park, the World Cup final venue, with happy memories.

After all the World Cup misery in the past New Zealand aren't leaving anything to chance and were determined to secure a victory in their last home game before the tournament begin.

"We wanted to leave this ground with some good memories and this is our favourite place to play, so it was nice to get a win," McCaw said.

"I'm pretty happy and while it was tense, we got some opportunities and we took them.

"They guys certainly turned up and we realised this was a big match."

The victory will have been an additional mental blow for New Zealand over their neighbours Australia, who are ranked second in the world.

McCaw hailed his team's defensive effort as they kept the electric Wallaby backline honest.

"We realised that if you give their backs some good ball and they'll put you under a lot of stress, so especially if the big boys were caught out wide they defended well and you have to do that from one to 15 these days," he said.

"There is always times when the momentum will swing and 17 points [lead at half time] is a lot in this game and pressure is the key.

"There were still some patches when we might have played a bit too much in our own half."

The experienced players coming back into the All Blacks team after a break such as Keven Mealamu, Brad Thorn and Kieran Read all made a seamless return to international rugby.

"The guys that have played a bit of rugby already this year will have benefited from some time off and it would have been tough for them sitting at home and watching for the last couple of weeks," McCaw added.