Nearly three days have passed, and the pain attached to the worst performance in All Blacks’ history is still well and truly raw.
South Africa’s sublime 43-10 victory over New Zealand in Wellington was a reminder that the Boks – when they turn it on – are leaps and bounds ahead of the rest of the world.
It also raised serious questions over whether or not this All Blacks team is on track in its pursuit of re-claiming the Webb Ellis Cup in two years’ time.
Renowned rugby commentator Tony Johnson described the ordeal this past weekend perfectly on the DSPN today.
“As a small nation, we put so much stock on our sporting success and we take so much pride from it. So to see our most iconic sporting team laid to waste in the manner the All Blacks were on Saturday night, is pretty crushing.
“While there have been some great South African wins [over the All Blacks in the past]… nothing on the scale of this.
“Eden Park was a nailbiter, decided like so many between these two by the narrowest of margins. There was nothing narrow though about the game in Wellington. The Springboks won it by the width of Cook Strait, with a degree of all round brilliance that we've never really seen from them before.”
By the width of the Cook Strait – a truer sentence couldn’t be uttered, which is quite confronting and concerning. The All Blacks were thoroughly outplayed, in every facet of the game – kicking, set piece, possession, territory, line speed, tackling, line breaks… there’s very little – if anything – for Kiwi fans to cling onto.
What’s even more demoralising, is the flood of points in the final 20 minutes – New Zealand trailed by seven at the 60-minute mark, and they ended up losing by 33. 26 points conceded in the final quarter of play suggests this team gave up. Something that, even in the face of poor defeats, All Blacks teams of the past couldn’t be accused of.
Next up is the first Bledisloe Cup test in Auckland in just over a week.
"Win at Eden Park and there's a trophy in the cabinet. There's a shot still at this incredibly evenly contested Rugby Championship and there's a chance to show that things can get back on track again," Johnson said.
"Lose at Eden Park, and the wolves that are lining up at the front gate will be howling at the door."
Meanwhile, former ABs and Blues hooker James Parsons– a familiar face and voice as a rugby pundit at Sky Sport – was far more measured in his review of the game.
“As expected and as it should always be, fans sort of ride the emotions of the peaks and the troughs,” he said.
“From a pundit's point of view, I always try to think, how do we step back and actually look at it from a calm point of view, and what elements of the game can we put in our toolbox and learn from so that it doesn’t happen again?”
Parsons described the Boks as clinical, and a much improved side compared to the one that lost 24-17 at Eden Park a week prior. South Africa was more efficient with their attacking chances, held their own at the breakdown and again, showed their superior skillset at set piece.
All those things that were a little untidy in Auckland, they perfected in Wellington.
“I think Jason Ryan’s world class, he has taken this pack and been so good this year. Yes, one scrum at Eden Park and yes, plenty of scrums in Wellington [were poor]. But if you worried and panicked and threw the baby out with the bath water... you are wasting time needing to fix what actually is new," Parsons added.
“International rugby’s alive and well, it is hard to win at that 80 or 90 per cent that the All Blacks have become accustomed to. I’m not saying we don’t strive for that. Absolutely, every All Black team should go out there and win."
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