Mark Reason: Mediocre opponents exaggerate All Blacks' greatness
Fairfax NZ
The All Blacks' Rugby Championship (RC) success has driven them to record heights in the latest World Rugby rankings.
OPINION: The All Blacks are nearly as good off the pitch as they are on it. After scoring a record number of points against South Africa and winning by a record margin, New Zealand have the world convinced that they are the new Invincibles. They may be right but, as Graham Henry would tell you but for the flak he would cop, they are only invincible because the rest of the world couldn't beat an egg.
The truth for those who care to go over Sunday morning's match is that the All Blacks didn't play particularly well. TJ Perenara's service was all over the place, and would have caused real problems if South Africa had anything approaching a rush defence. The lineout, most unusually, lost a couple of throws.
Beauden Barrett was poor for fifty minutes of the game, pushing passes, kicking badly and failing to control the territorial strategy until the coaches got in his ear at halftime. Even the greats, like Ben Smith and Kieran Read, made a couple of uncharacteristic mistakes.
TOBY LONGBOTTOMSURROUNDED: A graphic illustration of the 64th minute of the Durban test, showing Springbok halfback Faf de Klerk with the ball, surrounded by 11 All Blacks.
The truth, for those who care to go over Sunday morning's match, is that South Africa were abysmal. This is not hindsight. A few weeks ago I predicted that South Africa were so bad that they might well lose by a record score and margin in Christchurch. Sorry, I was out by one match. The towelling happened at home in Durban, an even greater humiliation.
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The only thing worse than Sunday's performance might be the level of some of the coaching and the standard of selection. Let's start with selection. Des Hansen, father of Steve, once told Mike Cron that 80 per cent of coaching is in selection.
ANESH DEBIKY/PHOTOSPORTKieran Read and TJ Perenara celebrate another try against the woeful Springboks.
The current All Blacks selection group might just be the finest of all time. Time and time again they are proved right, even when they apparently go slightly off road. And this might just be the worst selected South African team of all time, thanks to ignorant selectors, quotas and the European exodus. The current rumour is that Eben Etzebeth is going to Saracens.
The continued selection of Juan de Jongh in the midfield is a farce. The guy's defensive reading of the game and tackling ability are at least two levels below international test rugby. He was taken apart at the weekend by a rookie.
De Jongh played a part in at least three of the All Blacks tries, including their two opening tries, missing crucial and straightforward first-up tackles.
MUZI NTOMBELA/PHOTOSPORTKieran Read makes a break against the Springboks.
When Liam Squire gassed de Jongh on the outside in the second half, South Africa rugby literally had its head in its hands in the shape of Tendai Mtawarira, on the sideline, who could not believe what he was no longer watching.
The All Blacks final try of the match was enabled because Lionel Mapoe, a centre, was playing on the right wing. Francois Hougaard, a halfback, had previously been playing there and, as he proved time and again, he had no idea how to tackle Waisake Naholo. Patrick Lambie, who is more of a 10, played fullback and was constantly out-jumped for the high ball.
Jaco Kriel was not selected to start the match, but looked the team's best player when he came on. Track him through the game. He is the guy who makes tackle after tackle. He is the guy who cuts down New Zealand's time. He is the guy who looks like he might turn over the ball. Kriel brought a standard to South Africa that reminded you of Juan Smith or the young Schalk Burger. He brought a standard that highlighted just how bad many of the All Blacks' opposition players currently are.
GETTY IMAGESJuan de Jongh is out of his depth playing international rugby.
Nick Mallett calls them "B division", but he will have to go further through the alphabet than that. Jake White predicts that, "In the next five years ... our rugby reputation will be lost – maybe forever."
Between them, de Jongh, Faf de Klerk (he's the bloke who looks five seconds from becoming a carcass in the picture), Pieter du Toit, Morne Steyn and Hougaard missed a quite unacceptable number of tackles and de Jongh and de Klerk frequently broke out of the defensive line. I suspect most of New Zealand's Super Rugby teams would also have put 50 points on these Boks.
This is a very good New Zealand team but its greatness is being exaggerated because of the mediocre standard of this opposition. Sunday's scoreline blew out in a way that flattered the All Blacks. The final try happened because the Springboks kept on playing beyond the final whistle until they committed suicide.The penultimate try happened because Ludicrous de Jager got himself yellow-carded and the All Blacks scored from the subsequent lineout.
Tries previous to that included a forward pass and an absurd moment when George Moala fumbled the ball forward to Wyatt Crockett. Jim Yuill, the hopeless TMO, was asked to review for a knock-on and looked at the wrong section of play. But the Springboks were just as culpable. De Klerk stood still and threw his hands in the air. Lambie ball-watched. My auntie could have scored.
At the end of this month the South Africa is holding an 'indaba', when the current Springboks coaches will be joined by the Super Rugby coaches for a review. It's not difficult. Start with picking the right team. Look at the team that narrowly lost the World cup semifinal, bring in Jaco Kriel for Burger, and you're nearly there once the injured players have recovered. And sack all the junior specialist coaches, not just the black ones, as partly requested in an open letter to SARU.
Oh, and one last thing, don't listen to the All Blacks. After they trounced you Steve Hansen called it "a special performance" and Read said, "the South Africans played really well tonight." These Kiwis are nearly as elusive off the pitch as on it. You do not have to believe all that guff about learning to play like the All Blacks. Any team that can defend has a chance. That is what every World Cup teaches us. So pick guys who can tackle like it was 1995 and go from there.
Eina.
