New Zealand coach Graham Henry praised his side's character after they came from behind to earn a hard-fought win.

The All-Blacks registered a 22-16 Bledisloe Cup and Tri-Nations victory against Australia in Auckland.

A try to Berrick Barnes and a conversion and penalty from Matt Giteau had the Wallabies 13-3 up midway through the first half before All Blacks skipper Richie McCaw crashed over and Stephen Donald kicked the conversion to add to his earlier penalty.

That left the home side just three points adrift at the break but they quickly turned that into a three-point lead with two more Donald penalties before pulling away again, courtesy of Donald's boot, in the final 20 minutes.

"The guys showed a lot of character to come out of that and played better as the game went on," said Henry.

"There were a lot of guys who hadn't played for a while and I'm sure they would have felt a bit rusty and it took them a while to get into the game.

"It was a very pleasing result. The guys got back to the backbone they've had in recent times and played with huge character and got better as the game went on.

"We should get better now. We've got a foundation to build on and some of the players hadn't played for a number of weeks so they should get better as the Tri-Nations goes on."

Donald, who bounced back quicker than expected from a hamstring injury to line-up at Eden Park, went into the game with the spotlight firmly on him after two underwhelming performances at fly-half against France.

While he had the odd shaky moment early on - one of which was a grubber kick that was lucky not to cost the All Blacks a try - he looked far more composed, directed the team better than he has in recent weeks and slotted his goal kicks to finish the game with 17 points.

"It was good to see Stephen Donald play so well," Henry enthused.

"I thought he probably had his best game at international rugby at 10. It was pleasing and he gave us a lot of direction."

In his first game back after a six-week injury lay-off, McCaw - one of several key players who returned from injury - gave himself a pass mark.

"I was reasonably happy but it certainly wasn't one of the best ones," he said of his performance. "It's a long way from Christchurch Park a week ago to playing a Test match.

"I was speaking to a couple of the fellows - Conrad Smith, Andrew Hore and Rodney So'oialo - who haven't played a lot in the last few weeks either and in that first 20 minutes it was just finding your feet again in Test match rugby.

"As the game went on, personally I felt I got a better feel for the game and I'm happy we got the result."

Wallabies coach Robbie Deans felt his side had made progress compared to last year's 39-10 drubbing in the corresponding fixture.

"We built a lot of pressure and created a lot of opportunities but didn't come out of it as we would have liked in terms of turning that into points," he said.

"That kept the All Blacks close and allowed them to play that conservative sort of game and grind it out.

"But there was some good play from our lads. We're much better than this time a year ago but still frustrated to be short. It's work in progress."

The result was not the one that George Smith, making his 100th Test appearance for Australia, would have wanted, particularly as the Wallabies have not won at Eden Park since 1986 - but regardless he was delighted to have joined the exclusive 100 club.

"I'm extremely proud to be have played 100 Tests for the Wallabies. It's a great achievement for myself and for the players I've played alongside and my family and friends," the durable openside flanker said.

McCaw also expressed his admiration for his trans-Tasman adversary.

"One hundred Tests is pretty phenomenal really. I can't remember him having a bad one and tonight was exactly the same," he said.

"I've never heard of him being injured yet - he's in amongst the physical side of things. He makes good decisions and you know when you're going to play against him you're going to have a good challenge.

"I take my hat off to the guy to be able to play 100 Tests, and he's still not that old so I'm sure he'll have a few more in him yet, which is good for him but a challenge for us."