Eden Park was great but the Springboks will win by 15 now

I’ll be intrigued by the reaction, should the All Blacks lose to the Springboks on Saturday. 

New Zealand’s 24-17 win over South Africa, at Eden Park last weekend, has been greeted in the usual way on these shores, with proclamations that corners have been turned and that the All Blacks are poised for an era of dominance. 

Never mind the ineptitude the team’s demonstrated all season. Forget being beaten by Argentina in Buenos Aires. 

Vermeulen explains Etzebeth’s absence from team

Vermeulen explains Etzebeth’s absence from team

No, let’s indulge in the type of triumphalism that makes rugby folk in this country look daft and doesn’t do the team any favours in the long run. 

I wrote that the All Blacks would win in Auckland, for reasons that were entirely obvious. There was the unbeaten run at Eden Park, the shame of defeat to the Pumas and the additional motivation of it being Ardie Savea’s hundredth test. 

“This is our home, but every stadium in New Zealand is our home,” Savea said afterwards.  

“That’s the mindset we should have. We shouldn’t wait for Eden Park to get up with a performance like that.’’ 

And there’s the rub. 

The All Blacks were always getting up for that game. Just as the Springboks will this week. 

Given that, you’ll have to forgive me for not being surprised when the visitors win by 15 points at Sky Stadium. 

Let’s give credit where it’s due. The All Blacks did enough to win last week. 

They were intense, physical and reasonably accurate. But, and I say this often, that’s their job. 

The idea that we should garland them with praise because of it genuinely does my head in. 

No-one doubts that the team can rouse itself in that fashion, occasionally. But when Savea himself says that there’s too many times when they don’t, I think we should listen. 

The Springbok team that played at Eden Park was too old. I think they played a style of rugby unsuited to the conditions and I thought their skill-execution was lamentable. 

Through good management, South Africa has the luxury of depth and coach Rassie Erasmus has acted accordingly. He’s made sweeping changes for this week and I expect they’ll physically overwhelm the All Blacks this week. 

That’s partly as a result of their own embarrassment at what happened in Auckland, but also because of our insistence upon patting the All Blacks on the back for winning a game they were never going to lose. 

I’m unconvinced by this team, in terms of personnel and tactics. I think they lack mental toughness and I won’t easily forget the demolition of their scrum at Eden Park. 

Should the All Blacks win again this week, I’ll be first in line to congratulate them. In doing so, they’ll have shown me there’s more substance to this team than I’ve given them credit for. 

But let’s assume they lose. Let’s assume the Springboks dominate. Let’s assume that there aren’t enough motivating factors to spur the All Blacks into a competent performance. 

What then? Will we panic? Will folk call for wholesale changes to the squad and the sacking of Scott Robertson? Will there, heaven forbid, be any credit given to the South Africans? 

It’s okay to reserve judgement on things. It’s okay to commend the All Blacks on what they did last week, without declaring them world cup winners in waiting. 

Just as it would be perfectly acceptable to treat defeat this week as part and parcel of rugby at this highest level. 

If you’re asking me to pick which team, out of New Zealand and South Africa, is the better one, I’m choosing the latter. The result of one Rugby Championship test doesn’t change that. 

That’s where we are with these All Blacks. Their good days are decent, but too infrequent. 

Until we see them put five, 10, 15 quality performances together, it’s simply too early to suggest they’re on the verge of greatness. 

I don’t know if our memories are too short or our expectations too low but, to me, winning games at Eden Park is a given, not an achievement.