Justin Marshall: Scrums a worrying shambles

There wouldn't have been one person who went away from Westpac Stadium disappointed in the test match they watched.

It was just a quality match between two teams that were really determined to win. It might not have had the skill set of the win over the Wallabies at Eden Park, but it was a more physical, defence-oriented challenge, and it was good to see two teams with some aggression go at each other.

Because of that, the game never really broke for either team - it was in the balance right up until the final seconds. And I think if South Africa had managed to get over the tryline in those final seconds, while there would have been a huge amount of disappointment for a New Zealand supporter, we would have still admitted we'd seen one hell of a tussle and it wouldn't have detracted from it being a good test.

There were a few things that South Africa did in the final 10 minutes that conspired to them losing the game - inaccuracies they will really regret - but they'll learn from those. In saying that, what the All Blacks did on defence was a testament of how good and how confident this side is.

I totally agree with what Steve Hansen said - this team does not want to know how to lose. They just do not give up and that was really evident in those last 10 minutes, with pure desire and attitude.

For the All Blacks, the more they can get the back three involved in the gameplan, the better. Every time Ben Smith, Israel Dagg or Julian Savea touched the ball you felt yourself wanting to get on your feet. The tackles that trio broke and the metres they made (see panel) were superb.

I can't remember any mistakes between the three of them and I think that balance is right. Ben Smith looks very good on the wing and those three players, regardless of where you put them, are guys we need to get on the ball more often. They are just lethal.

Apart from that, I'm just really thrilled with the All Blacks. They have this ability, even when they're under the pump, to still show the attitude to win. Now they've done it in New Zealand, they've got to do it on the road. They let themselves down slightly in Australia so there's the big challenge for them in their next two games, which everybody should be excited about.

There was one point I was disappointed with in the game. I've been reasonably outspoken and sceptical about the changes in the scrum laws. I understand and have complete sympathy for trying to find the answer to make sure it becomes less dangerous, and I thought scrums were improving in the ITM Cup. But I can't say the same for international level.

When you get to test match level, the pressure and the intensity goes up, but if you rewatch the match and just look at the scrums, they were a shambles. There weren't many scrums where neither side went down, there was lots of spinning and screwing of the scrums, there were resets and penalties - they just disrupt the flow of the game.

Lineouts, whether you or the opposition win it, are still a reasonably clean restart of play. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for scrums. There is contest in the lineouts and there should be contest in the scrums but we're not quite getting it right at the top level.

We just need to find an answer to get them a lot crisper and cleaner so we're not having these tedious moments when a scrum goes down and we hold our breath, thinking, "Are we going to get a clean scrum here?". It just soaks up so much time.