There is no sugar-coating it – this is the lowest point in Springbok rugby history.
From the depths of the 49-0 loss to Australia in Brisbane, the 53-3 loss to England at Twickenham and the 16-52 loss to the All Blacks at Loftus Versfeld, the Boks have been down to the bottom before, but never to this level.
There is no way to find a positive in the carnage that was Brighton Community Stadium on Saturday. Like a car crash, too horrible to watch, too fascinating to turn away.
The might of Springbok rugby was humbled. And by a team that nobody would give a chance.
The coaching staff and players need to take collective responsibility for this mess (the term I used), for turning the Springbok dream at the World Cup into a nightmare. For putting scorn on the very jersey they proclaim to be proud to uphold.
It isn’t easy to keep perspective in the haze of anger and emotion that follows any Springbok loss. It is a tough sell to try and look a bit ahead and see the bigger picture, rather than join the angry mob looking for someone to lynch.
But after Saturday’s defeat there are simply no positives. There are no good things to say. Japan were superb. They played out of their skins and they were tactically superior. They deserved the win, they deserve the accolade, but it's hard to sit here and not think the Boks played into their hands.
While I don’t subscribe to the hysteria that the more experienced players should be discarded, the Boks were naïve to think they could play their way back into form. In doing that they offered a weakness, one which was quickly exploited by Eddie Jones.
One shudders to think what a bigger side would have done on Saturday.
In essence the Boks were arrogant, they were overconfident. At no point did they – nor we for that matter – ever entertain the thought they could actually lose to Japan.
And it showed in their play. Turning down points by not kicking at goal was the first step. Every team knows that building a lead is the underlying basis for any side. Keeping the scoreboard ticking over would have lifted some of the pressure. Fifteen points were on the table and not taken in the game.
The Boks also spoke the whole week about not falling into the trap of playing a pacy game. They talked about controlling the pace of the game. And yet, when on the field, they did exactly the opposite. They tried to match the pace of Japan and made mistakes.
Their maul worked well at the start, but the Boks discarded this to continually use one-off runners that didn’t make an impact.
And then when they did get ahead, they should have shut up shop and sent the ball to the corners and mauled some more. It may not have been pretty, but it would have been a hell of a lot better than waking up on Sunday to a defeat.
The pressure is on now, from the coaching staff who must get the selections right this week to the players who need to close ranks and perform against a tough Samoan side. There is no more line in the sand to cross.
While the coach has backed his players up to now, the time is long overdue for some tough decisions. Sentiment needs to be discarded and decisions need to be made that will bring some attacking spark back to the Boks.
Some hard decisions need to be made – even if it means dropping the captain Jean de Villiers. The plan has failed. It’s time for some new, innovative thinking.
This week will determine just how much there is left in Springbok rugby. There is no lower they can go and only they can redeem themselves.
The alternative is too ghastly to contemplate.
