The one big takeaway from the weekend? The Springboks are still the best team in world rugby. As if we didn’t already know it.

No other team — including the All Blacks — could have gone to Paris and done that to France. Not with 14 men for the entire second half. That was an astonishing performance. Exceptional. Probably the best 40 minutes any side has produced all year.

Physically, they monstered France. Three tries to none, 19 points to 3 — all with a man down. That second half was even better than their comeback against us in Wellington. And that’s saying something. It’s also the standard the rest of us are chasing.

Now look, we’re not getting carried away. Just calling it for what it was — one of those defining Springbok statements. Given the circumstances, what was at stake, and who they were playing — it was immense.

Sure, the All Blacks are capable of beating them. We did it at Eden Park in August. But if you’re judging the world’s top teams on who they’ve beaten and how they’ve done it, the Boks are clearly still number one.

Their season hasn’t been flawless. Like everyone in the top six, they’ve had their wobbles. The difference? When it’s really mattered — when their reputation, their crown, their edge was on the line — they’ve fronted. And they’ve done it emphatically.

Australia in Cape Town after the Ellis Park hiding. The All Blacks in Wellington after losing the week before. France in Paris — a rematch of that brutal World Cup quarter-final. Three big pressure games. Three big statements. That’s the hallmark of a champion side.

It’s what the great All Black teams used to do — answer the question every time it was asked: are they still the team to beat?

Now, we might finish the year with a record that looks the same as South Africa’s — 11 or 12 wins, a couple of losses. We even finally beat them after four straight defeats.

But no one in New Zealand seriously thinks we’re number one right now. We’ve got to be honest — we, and the rest of the world, are chasing the Boks. And if anyone thought France were the ones to knock them off, well, they were beaten up — and well beaten.

Fair play to South Africa. As much as it hurts to say it — they are the benchmark. The Boks are two scores better than us. And that’s not pessimism — that’s progress.

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