Wynne Gray: Remedies for defeat will fire up All Blacks coaching staff

The South African Springboks celebrate their victory during the Rugby Championship match against the All Blacks. Photo / Getty Images

Defeat is inevitable for the All Blacks on the international rugby scene. It was only a matter of when that loss came.

The curiosity was whether it happened before, during or after next year's World Cup.

The answer came in an enthralling, lung-busting match yesterday on the high veldt against their greatest rivals, the Springboks, who began with a ferocity the All Blacks could not match and then revived their dreams with a dramatic, late, long-range Patrick Lambie penalty.

Both teams shunned their kicking games to test their fitness levels across the width of the famous Ellis Park cauldron. For the opening half it was the Boks who made most of the running.

An initial expansive gambit from their 22 came unstuck in scenes which became too frequent in the opening spell while the Boks began with an outstanding breakout length of the field try.

The All Black lineout was squeezed and halfback Aaron Smith had to deal with slow or awkward tapped possession while there was a general lack of accuracy in the visitors' play.

How many times can you recall someone like Conrad Smith passing a ball over Julian Savea's head into touch or the backs being sucked into the wrong defensive lines?

There was a general untidy malaise about the All Blacks as they conceded three tries before the interval with the only counter coming from an extraordinary piece of Savea brilliance which set up a smashing line run by Fekitoa on to Beauden Barrett's sweet pass.

For more than half an hour the All Blacks were unable to shift the scoreboard.

They spurned several gift penalties as they tried to speed up the game. Savea was gang-tackled into touch 10m out, Liam Messam lost a TMO decision, Conrad Smith broke and passed to a Springbok.

A double breakthrough came with Ben Smith and Dane Coles in at opposite corners and with nine minutes left the All Blacks had the lead.

This loomed as another great escape like Dublin last year.

Even more so when Lambie pulled a 45m drop goal attempt before he got the chance to make amends when his savvy skipper Jean de Villiers urged referee Wayne Barnes to check the replay video for a penalty.

Barnes agreed Messam had clocked Schalk Burger unintentionally but high and Lambie had 55m between him and a Springbok victory. Like Aaron Cruden in Dublin, he split the sticks with his repeat effort.

It was easy enough to pinpoint where the All Blacks lost their way. The why and the remedies will be the issues which will fuel the coaching staff through until the end of this season.

They were perhaps 10 per cent shy of their sharpest and lacked the smack to progress downfield before they went wide. The combined weight of the Boks' tackling and their own flaws gnawed at their ambition.

Often there seems no clear rationale why one test is different from another. Travel, player changes, referee rulings, the opposition, conditions - there can be a complex mix of reasons.

Sides like Ireland, England, the Wallabies and the Boks have nibbled at the edges in the last few seasons. England broke through two years ago, now the Boks have followed.

Defeat in sport is inescapable. There was no shame in this loss and the response is always fascinating.