'Something isn't right': Former All Blacks captain confused with record loss

Scott Robertson and the All Blacks will wake up on Sunday morning and be utterly disappointed, confused, and annoyed at what took place at Sky Stadium on Saturday evening.

The Springboks’ second 40 minutes in Wellington was out of the top draw, completely outplaying the All Blacks in every facet of the game, once again leaving question marks around the high-ball and set piece for the Kiwis.

10-7 at half time gave fans the impression the second half would be a tightly contested 40 minutes of International rugby with the Freedom Cup on the line, but the Springboks had other ideas, blowing the All Blacks off the park.

The Springboks managed to run in five second half tries to none, scoring 36 unanswered points to hand the All Blacks their biggest ever defeat in a Test match.

Two former All Blacks centurions have fairly criticised the home side’s performance on Saturday night, after what was a second half capitulation by Robertson’s men.

100-Test former All Black Mils Muliaina was most disappointed with the way Robertson’s side faded away at the end of the game.

“I still think they [the All Blacks] were in the game with 15 minutes or so to go,” Muliaina said on Sky Sport after the Test match.

“They were still only 14 points behind. What concerns me is they almost gave up, it’s not really the sight you want to see from the All Blacks.”

Muliaina also believes that although the All Blacks’ second half performance was way off the mark, Rassie Erasmus and the Springboks were clinical in everything they did.

“You have to give it to South Africa, they came out in the second half, they piled on some pressure, they demanded everything in that second half and basically blew the All Blacks away.”

Former All Blacks captain Kieran Read was quick to question the spine of the group, and how there will need to be some honest conversations in the coming days.

“You have to look at that All Blacks side, okay there’s not something isn’t right there, there’s something within that group when you are able to just leak and leak, where’s that spine we want to see?” Read said on Sky Sport.

“Full credit to that South African side, they played really well.”

Both teams will now have a week off before their next games in the 2025 Rugby Championship, against Australia and Argentina respectively.