The Springboks defeated the All Blacks 43-10 in Wellington, highlighting defensive weaknesses.
South Africa scored 33 unanswered points in the second half, dominating the breakdown and aerial game.
The upcoming test against Australia at Eden Park will be crucial for assessing the All Blacks’ standing.
The fourth round of the Rugby Championship produced some brilliant play. Sadly for Kiwi fans, virtually none of it came from the All Blacks.
As dazzling as the test was in Sydney, where Argentina beat Australia 28-26, it was overshadowed by the Springboks’ 43-10 humiliation of the AllBlacks in Wellington.
After New Zealand’s 24-17 win over South Africa at Eden Park last weekend, it seemed Scott Robertson’s All Blacks had found their mojo.
Who would have dreamed the side that defended so stoutly in the second spell in Auckland would be made to look so impotent just a week later, missing 46 tackles?
Until that feverish Saturday night in Wellington, the worst hiding I’d ever seen the All Blacks suffer had been a 28-7 thrashing on a bleak, wet night in August 1999, in Sydney, with 107,000 fans crammed into Stadium Australia.
Worse than the loss, there was a vein of surrender in the All Blacks camp back then. Late in the game, a scrum was set inside their 22. By the time referee Jim Fleming took mercy on New Zealand and blew it up, the Wallabies had marched over and through the All Blacks forwards, laughing and jeering as they went.
South Africa's Kwagga Smith scores in the tackle of Quinn Tupaea in Wellington. Photo / Photosport
Five weeks later, the World Cup started in Britain. Australia would win it and the All Blacks’ campaign would end with an ignominious 22-18 loss to South Africa in the playoff for third place. It was hugely disconcerting to see signs of a similar surrender in the New Zealand ranks in Wellington on the weekend, when R.G. Snyman cantered in for his last-minute try.
Suddenly the test at Eden Park in a fortnight against the Wallabies becomes more than the huge occasion it was already going to be. The Bledisloe Cup stays on the line, but even more gripping is the fact the game will now be a crucial measure of where the current All Blacks stand in the world.
It was a magnificent effort by South Africa in Wellington, scoring 33 unanswered points in the second half. When the final whistle blows at Eden Park after the Australian test, we’ll all have a much better idea of whether the Boks are unstoppable world-beaters or hit 40 minutes of freakish form against an erratic, and therefore fragile, All Blacks side.
Time to slash and burn?
The first instinct of many Kiwi fans after an All Blacks loss is to call for the head of first the coach – and then a swag of the players. Sometimes the sackings actually happen. But there may not be a taste in the 2025 New Zealand Rugby boardroom for wholesale rejection of the group currently running the team.
As well as the Australia tests in Auckland and then Perth, there’s an end-of-year tour when New Zealand will play Ireland in Chicago then Scotland, England and Wales. If there really are major malfunctions in the coaching set-up, that rather odd line-up of opponents should reveal it. The tour review would be the time to seriously consider whether major changes are needed.
Massive switches to the playing line-up would be difficult. The harsh reality is that it’s been some time since the vast majority of All Blacks would walk into a fairly selected World XV. We don’t now have the luxury of a Dan Carter at first five with Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith outside him. There’s no Richie McCaw partnered in a dream loose forward trio of him, Jerome Kaino and Kieran Read. Ardie Savea is really our only current once-in-a-lifetime player.
In blunt terms, big personnel changes would really be swapping like for like.
The fix-it list
There’s a lengthy list of work-ons for the All Blacks, and one in particular was hugely costly in Wellington.
In the disastrous second half, the All Blacks’ scrum was monstered, South Africa won the battle of the breakdowns and one Kiwi who did have a hugely successful night was Tony Brown, coach of the Springboks backline, which functioned with Rolls Royce efficiency.
But where New Zealand found themselves most outclassed was in the air.
Despite the dropping of Handre Pollard, it was extremely predictable that the Springboks would use high kicks as a foundation tactic.
The number of times the ball was regained by a South African player from the aerial barrage became almost embarrassing.
Twenty years ago, All Blacks coach Sir Graham Henry sought out an Aussie Rules coach, Mick Byrne, who would be with the team through two successful World Cup campaigns. With Byrne on board, the All Blacks ruled the airwaves.
Whether it’s someone already inside the current group, or whether an import is needed, dealing better with the high ball has become an imperative for this All Blacks team.
The dream was sweet but brief
Wing Leroy Carter’s test debut began the way he might have dreamed it, using his speed and perception to score what would prove to be the All Blacks only try. As the All Blacks disintegrated in the second half, so did Carter’s opportunities. On a night when so few positives emerged for New Zealand, he was one who showed real promise for the future.
Living in the past
Talking last week to a former World Cup-winning All Black, he made the entirely reasonable comment that Kiwi rugby fans are living in the past when they patronise the Pumas. “They’re a damned good rugby team,” he said. “The days of them being easy-beats who play in a boring forward-oriented style have gone.”
The Boks whipping the All Blacks was a seismic event in the sport. But the best spectacle of the weekend was Argentina’s game with Australia, a breathless, all-action test which makes the prospects for the Pumas’ last two round-robin clashes with South Africa in Durban and (this is not a misprint) Twickenham fascinating.
Pablo Matera celebrates after Argentina's victory over the All Blacks. Photo / Photosport
That’s the way to finish
There was a wild and crazy start to the Black Ferns’ World Cup quarter-final against South Africa in Exeter. Hats off to the South Africans for trying everything, including having their halfback competing in a lineout. But the Ferns showed their class on attack and the final score of 46-17 was a reminder of how much talent and determination they have in their ranks.
