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Another test, another accusation that Richie McCaw is cheating his way through matches.
Stand-in Springboks captain Johann Muller might have fired a few shots on the field but he saved his best for the post-match barbs, steaming in off the long run-up about McCaw's tactics at the breakdown.
Muller was livid his openside Pedrie Wannenburg was sinbinned for "exactly the same offence McCaw committed earlier". The Bok lock, in his first match as captain, could not fathom why referee Stuart Dickinson considered one offence "cynical" and the other not.
"If Richie McCaw was wearing a green jersey, or a yellow jersey and had dreadlocks, he'd never finish a game," he fumed.
Muller, by now warming to his task much to the amusement of his coach Jake White, went further and suggested referees were intimidated by the All Black captain - somewhat ironic given one of the criticisms of the All Blacks shock defeat in Melbourne was that McCaw hadn't leaned on referee Marius Jonker to the same effect as George Gregan.
"I think so, yes," Muller replied when asked if referees were scared of McCaw.
"Richie doesn't get a yellow card for exactly the same offence - it sends out a message that isn't right."
White was asked whether he backed Muller's statement.
"I agree with everything my captain said. Those are big decisions," White continued. "They change test matches. You can't play the All Blacks with 14 men."
Wannenburg had the misfortune to be sinbinned soon after entering the field when these two teams clashed in Durban last month. As it did then, his absence gave the All Blacks a much-needed boost.
In a test that provided as many questions as answers the All Blacks, who had spoken before Muller's outburst, were putting on a typically positive face.
It was, said Graham Henry, a giant step forward from Melbourne. You only need to look at the score and the result to know that is a truism, but this was not the convincing, consistent performance they were seeking.
"We are reasonably happy," Henry said.
"We got better as the game went on. It was a big improvement over our past two Tri Nations games."
If they were looking for a single word to sum up their first-half performance they would have settled on "frustrating".
"We played most of the rugby," Henry said. "We probably got frustrated we didn't score earlier.
"That led to impatience and at times indiscipline."
McCaw said vital opportunities were lost in that first half "but I guess it's better that we're creating and missing opportunities than not creating them at all."
There was much to admire in the All Blacks' industry. Both the possession and territory numbers nudged up towards 60 per cent, a sure sign of dominance. But for much of the match those statistics were made redundant by another: the All Blacks committed 15 handling errors, keeping pace with their 74 in their previous five tests.
It's why, despite all the huffing and puffing, they couldn't blow a creaking Boks' defensive line away.
Henry said the dropped ball was a concern, but in many ways was an inevitable by-product of the style of game the All Blacks were committed to playing.
"We've got a game plan where we try to play positive rugby. We don't want to give that away," Henry said. "The attitude is right, the desire is right but we've got to get more accurate with it.
"The ball carrier has got to sight his support player better before he gives the ball."
There's no question, Wayne Smith said, that once the passes started sticking, the tries would roll in.
"We made 26 line breaks to four by my calculations. That's significant. When we're really on our game we nail those. It will come."
For those that miss the All Blacks of the past three years, it can't come soon enough.
