Worse, with their abysmal passing and catching, it was an inexcusable performance which made a mockery of a proud All Black tradition.
To lay the blame on the players “trying too hard” – as forward coach Steve Hansen did – is to ignore too many other glaring faults.
Hammered once again in the line-out and having dropped Morne Steyn’s accurate bombs, their stupidity in taking wrong options defied belief as Steyn racked up all 31 of the Springboks’ points from his try, its conversion and eight penalty goals.
Too often short chip-kicks backfired when the smart option was to kick long for some territorial gain instead of playing Russian roulette within goal-kicking distance of their own posts.
Twenty-one handling errors told a woeful tale of senseless self-destruction against tough, merciless opponents who took no prisoners.
Only in the combative power of their scrum and tenacious defence could the All Blacks salvage a little pride against a side that applied tremendous pressure from the opening minutes.
In Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha, the Springboks have great locks and have found a champion scavenger at the breakdown in flanker Heinrich Brussouw to rival a Richie McCaw struggling to regain match fitness. Others suffering the same problem include Rodney So’oialo, Andrew Hore and Joe Rokocoko, with the latter being especially shaky when trying to deal with high balls.
Unable to display composure and structure against a tight defence, the fumbling New Zealand attack may have to resort to a slightly deeper formation to generate pace instead of continuing to pass to flat-footed team-mates.
Halfback Jimmy Cowan failed to reproduce his fine game against Australia and replacement Piri Weepu’s service was too slow to offer his backline space in which to operate.
The only player capable of repeatedly penetrating a tight South African defence was elusive left wing Sitiveni Sivivatu. Hopefully Daniel Carter won’t be thrown to the wolves in a desperate attempt to salvage a sinking All Blacks ship when it resumes action after a three-week break.
While Carter kicked intelligently and passed sweetly in a fine 65-minute performance for a Canterbury team beaten by North Harbour, he doesn’t need to be rushed back to international rugby after suffering a serious Achilles injury that has sidelined him for most of the year.
Instead, the coaches should focus on their own shortcomings regarding smart tactics, sound structure and accurate passing – and catching – instead of rushing back half-fit magicians and then expecting them to perform miracles.
With a 2-3 win loss record, it’s been a dreadful season, made worse by the injuries suffered by so many key players short of match fitness.
But better to suffer the pain and learn lessons now instead of World Cup year in 2011 when, hopefully, the likes of Carl Hayman, Ali Williams, Chris Jack and Nick Evans will give the All Blacks the depth they currently lack.
Meanwhile watch out for others, such as Otago’s dynamic Adam Thomson, to make their claims in the NPC for a northern hemisphere tour later in the year.
