Aisle be Back: All Blacks v South Africa in Auckland

• By Kevin McCarthy

Have we learned nothing? Last weekend the All Blacks produced a meritorious win  away over Argentina in Mendoza.

There was much to like and certainly a good early marker in World Cup year. It was amazing however to see the game result being extrapolated in some quarters into quite the second coming. I’m not sure if you can have a second coming, given there wasn’t much of a first coming but there you are.

The chief culprit was the New Zealand Herald as it proclaimed that Ian Foster’s rugby revolution had finally arrived. The further I read through the article at the start of the week the more I had to pick myself off the floor. Fair enough to analyse the game in terms of how well the All Blacks executed, the directness of their play, the solidity of the forward pack. All things we could applaud and look forward to being applied in the much tougher scenarios coming up very fast.

What started to stick in the craw though was the narrative that the revolution had been delayed not by coach Foster’s faults but by the fact that his support team for two and a bit seasons was not the correct one. Having successfully lined up a string of buses the Herald proceeded to drive them back and forth with some glee. I guess what was breathtaking was this version of events sidestepped the question of what the head coach was doing during this time if indeed his revolution was being thwarted.

Call me cynical but it reeked of rewriting history. It also I think does a disservice to what has happened – a cute formula to do what Steve Hansen would have described as flushing the dunny. It’s a sort of read of the situation that would be quite valid if Foster and co can produce something of a stunning turn around and secure the World Cup this year. Do that and as they say, the winners get to write the history.

But remember we’re talking here about one match into the Rugby Championship. If that’s being used as  the data point, it’s a slender anchor point.  . It doesn’t sound like the team itself is buying into this sort of Aussie style spruiking. That would be a good thing given as we all know one of the ultimate reality checks has been sitting in waiting in Auckland for the past week or so.

The Springboks of course, or rather their B team, managed to swiftly dispose of the Wallabies in Pretoria. It’ll be interesting to see whether their approach of resting front liners and bringing them over to New Zealand early will be the right one compared to the decision by the All Blacks to take the full squad to Argentina even though a fair slice were never going to play. Obviously New Zealand feels the time spent together as a squad needs to be maximised at this point this close to the World Cup.

So on Saturday like battles immemorial we’ll see whether the All Blacks can muscle up to fully utilise what remains their edge in the back line.

Of course the two teams will meet once more before the World Cup in the rather strange clash in London – the challenge for both squads may be well to conceal what they really intend to play like in France.

In the meantime it’s the Boks here, full of swagger, what’s not to enjoy!

Team for Saturday night 🔥#NZLvRSA pic.twitter.com/GWmeQYLwCJ

— All Blacks (@AllBlacks) July 13, 2023