The All Blacks were awful.
One of our worst performances, possibly ever. 24 hours later, the smell still hasn’t cleared. Let’s not tiptoe around it or wrap it in polite cliches. We were shambolic.
But first - credit where it’s due. Los Pumas, estuviste magnifico! That was not some underdog miracle. That was a team who knew they could win - and did. They’ve beaten us four times since COVID, and now have a first ever win over us in Argentina. That’s a team with belief, bite, and serious ability. They’ve earned the right to be taken seriously. They’ve earned our respect.
Now back to us. That performance? Appalling. Not just a bad night at the office - a total failure across the board. We were clunky, disconnected, error-prone. Our backline couldn’t find rhythm. Under the high ball? Fumbling amateurs. The kicking game? Non-existent.
The set piece was solid. The scrum held, lineouts were mostly secured... a silver lining of sorts. We mauled well, even scored from one. But rugby’s not just played in the tight stuff. Discipline is a killer, and we’re bleeding points because of it. Three yellow cards, five penalty goals slotted by the opposition... it’s a blueprint for how to lose test matches, and we followed it to the letter.
No dodgy TMO. No cruel bounce. No excuses. Just beaten. Cleanly. Decisively.
What’s most frustrating is that it’s not just this game. Go back and look at all five tests this year. Have we truly impressed in any of them? Apart from the first half in the second French test, I'm not sure we have. That first win over the Pumas flattered us more than it fooled anyone. The scoreline was big, but the performance never quite clicked.
This latest effort barely had a minute of promising play. It was ugly from whistle to whistle. You can’t build anything when you’re that inconsistent. You can’t win big games when your own players keep undermining momentum. Will Jordan and Sevu Reece - two brilliant attacking weapons - both binned for idiotic infringements. Why are we doing this to ourselves? Since when do the All Blacks beat themselves more than beat their opponents?
You’d hope by now we’d be further along, that there’d be signs of growth, combinations settling, patterns emerging. But it all just feels murky and uncertain. We’re asking the same questions, still waiting for the answers.
We’ve got to make sure this isn't viewed as a one-off. It wasn’t. It was another warning sign. The kind you ignore at your peril. There’s no shame in losing to a quality side. The shame is in pretending we’re not part of the problem.
Time is of the essence... the first Springboks test is less than two weeks away, and if we dish up that tripe at Eden Park, they’ll punish us even harder.
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