The All Blacks are successfully heading in the wrong direction

Are the All Blacks in the entertainment or the excellence business?

There’s no doubt aspects of Saturday’s 43-21 win over Australia in Sydney were entertaining. Hell, I’ve seldom laughed harder than when No.8 Wallace Sititi strolled over to score from the back of a first-half scrum. If that’s what Bledisloe Cup rugby has descended to, then the next few iterations ought to be side-splitting.

I’ve peeked at some post-match reactions and looked at player ratings, and it seems like everyone loved this daytime frolic. The All Blacks, individually and collectively, performed superbly well, and coach Dave Rennie says this type of running rugby is the blueprint for World Cup success.

Against whom, I wonder? Australia, obviously. As well as the trans-Tasman rivals’ fellow Pool A members Chile and Hong Kong China.

The All Blacks will beat them all good and proper and then, all things being equal, it’s South Africa in a quarterfinal. How do we think that’s going to work out?

I try not to be a grump all of the time, so I thought back to great and sizable All Blacks victories of my lifetime. The 43-6 win over Australia at Athletic Park quickly came to mind.

I was there that day to see an excellent New Zealand team beat a very good Wallaby one. The conditions were atrocious, but the rugby anything but, as the All Blacks systematically dismantled their worthy opponents.

This isn’t about everything being better in my day and how we walked 10 miles to school in bare feet every morning. It’s about recognising if a win is worth anything or not.

That rainy day in Wellington 30 years ago stands out because this was an All Black team that wasn’t just seeking victories at the time, but perfection. Some of Steve Hansen’s teams chased the same at different stages of his coaching tenure.

They were elite, the best of the best, playing rugby as well as it can be played, despite the strength and style of their opposition.

I covered the team in Hansen’s time and was continually struck by their thirst for improvement. They were never satisfied, never the finished article, always seeking excellence and hopefully, one day, perfection.

The Springboks are the inheritors of the throne that 2011 and 2015 Rugby World Cup titles put the All Blacks on. They are the team that plays rugby of a sort that no one’s been consistently able to match and who have that ruthless, insatiable appetite to beat teams that only the greats possess.

With all due respect to the Wallaby team that ran out in Sydney on Saturday, we’re talking about a completely different animal here.

I just don’t think you beat South Africa the way New Zealand has beaten Australia in these Bledisloe Cup mismatches. You don’t score tries with the ease Sititi and Josh Moorby did against the Wallabies, and you definitely don’t have anything to laugh about during the game.

The first-half smirks of the All Blacks told you how seriously they were taking this contest.

And that’s cool. You can only play whoever’s put in front of you. But the difference between the modern-day Springboks and the great All Blacks teams I mentioned is that they would have gone on and done the job on the Wallabies.

When you’re that much better than the opposition, you go on and win by 60 or 70. If your benchmark is excellence and if you’re chasing perfection, you don’t let a 36-7 halftime lead become 43-21.

Never mind that South Africa is so physically superior to the All Blacks that they’d never be in a position to play that kind of rugby against them; they also force and punish errors in a way Australia clearly can’t.

You’re seriously telling me that that brand of footy and that personnel can beat South Africa next year? You’re dreaming. I mean, when you can’t catch kicks or win your own scrum and lineout ball, you’re up against it for starters.

If we’re honest with ourselves, the Springboks annihilated the All Blacks this year. I’ve hoped for growth from that; I’ve hoped for learning; I’ve hoped for a hard edge to develop in this team that could see them upset South Africa next year.

But on the back of that four-Test series, all I’ve seen is a regression to lauding the same rugby played by the same players that didn’t work in 2019 and 2023 and won’t progress past a quarter-final in 2027.