NEW Zealand flanker Jerome Kaino expects Wales to take confidence from their first Test display – but has warned they will now face an All Blacks side hitting top gear.

Warren Gatland's men led going into the final quarter in Auckland only to be hit by a stunning finish by the world champions, who ran in three late to win 39-21.

Wales posed problems for the Kiwis during a first half in which they played with energy, enterprise and ambition.

However, double World Cup winner Kaino believes the hosts are ready to hit new heights in Wellington and Dunedin after blowing away some cobwebs in their first fixture since lifting the Webb Ellis Cup in October.

"They'll take a lot of confidence out of patches, especially that second 20 minutes in the first half they were in the game," he said.

"On the flipside we'll look at that second 20 as well and how we can improve and get ourselves back in the game.

"If you relax a little bit it gives the opposition a chance to be able to steal your ball or we relaxed on our chase line a few times and George North and their full-back Liam Williams ripped us (open).

"It's just those little things that if you're half a step off you get punished for that and that's the one thing I noticed about Super Rugby to Test level."

His comments were echoed by All Blacks coach Steve Hansen, who was impressed by the way his "rusty" new-look side reacted to being down despite the loss through retirement of experienced icons Richie McCaw, Dan Carter, Ma'a Nonu, Conrad Smith, Keven Mealamu and Tony Woodcock.

"It was our first game since winning the World Cup, we've had massive changes, we had two weeks to prepare for this Test match, and a lot of things you have do involving learning a lot for the players and dumping a lot," he said.

"Some people out there have answered some really good questions and the biggest question we've answered is in the tight moments we can still keep our composure.

"That's down to our leaders, and Reado (Kieran Read) should be proud of that because he is driving it."