John Drake: Time for selection stability

After the All Blacks had beaten the Springboks by 18 points, one coach appeared positive about his team's performance; the other management group were grumpy, irritable and precious.

Strange thing is the latter were the winners.

Listening to Graham Henry, Steve Hansen and Wayne Smith, I detected a distinct irritation at the All Blacks display, the impertinence of the South Africans to actually compete and make a game of it, and the manner of the referee.

Frankly, what did they expect with eight changes in their team and a desperate Springbok team playing for their futures?

The scoreline was acceptable by any standard but the performance was not what was expected. Specifically, the lineout remains an area of concern.

Hansen likes to point out that maybe the media and public are being too critical. Well, after five tests and a number of combinations things don't seem to be getting better.

It is now accepted that every opposition will attack All Black throws and will have confidence of success with their own throw-ins and back themselves to score pushover tries when close to the All Black line.

Also, think about why the All Black backs are struggling, when a fair percentage of the lineout ball won is spoiled and slow.

Piri Weepu did tremendously well clearing and using the rubbish ball he received from most of the first-half lineouts.

Maybe it's time another technical expert was added to the brains trust to improve the lineout quality. It seems to have worked with Mike Cron at scrum time.

Henry was prickly about the tempo of the game and queried the intention of the Boks at the ruck and maul and the interpretation of French referee Joel Jutge.

Of course the Springboks wanted to slow the pace and manipulate the tempo of the match with injuries or whatever. To have a chance, they needed to stop the All Blacks' momentum and had some success.

Jutge's interpretation at the ruck/maul area took some time to adapt to. Actually, I thought the Springboks were slower to adapt and conceded penalties and points too often at this area, which ultimately cost them any chance.

On the positive side, it was great to see Reuben Thorne play so well. He has a different style to Jerry Collins, but he may be causing Henry and Co a problem - a good problem - how can they leave him out when the likes of Troy Flavell return from injury?

The All Blacks should look at their accuracy and determination at the ruck/maul area as well as complaining about the opposition.

I thought the scrums were pretty even with maybe the All Blacks having a slight edge, most notably when big Os du Randt was off the pitch and Eddie Andrews on. Is Andrews really up to provincial standard let alone international?

The All Black backline created enough space and opportunities but failed to complete through inaccuracies and bad final option-taking. Smith will have the reasons for why things didn't quite come off and one may be the lack of combinations gelling due to the various rotations of personnel.

Nobody played badly and there was plenty of endeavour and work, particularly from the likes of Scott Hamilton and Sam Tuitupou, but in the end it took the brilliance of Dan Carter to turn the game rather than well-oiled attacking strategy.

How good is Carter? Put it this way: if he had been playing for the Springboks they probably would have won. It is not often that one player can make or break a game. Carter is definitely one who can and does too often for it to be luck. He could be the best ever and the scary thing is he will probably get better with age.

What about Jake White? The first point to note is I understand for various reasons he doesn't have the management and coaching support which we now accept as normal in even our provincial teams.

Essentially White looks after attack, defence, scrums and lineouts and probably has to make sure the bus is at the hotel on time. So, he's doing pretty well, all things considered.

This test could have been his last but his players fronted and while they still have some significant deficiencies in their ability to construct tries, maintain concentration and discipline, this South African team showed they have some backbone and, I suspect, enough quality to beat the Australians in Sydney in 12 days' time, and then wait for the All Blacks on the high veldt.

Back in the All Black camp, I think Henry and Co may be becoming just as prickly with some of their squad as they are with some of the more puerile questions from the media.

It is probably time to consistently pick the best combination for the remainder of the Tri-Nations. Then we can judge if this team is as good as we suspect and the concerns about things like lineouts and attacking options are really as Henry, Hansen and Smith say: nothing to be too sensitive about.