Aisle be Back: All Blacks v South Africa 2.0 in Wellington

• By Kevin McCarthy 

One down, one to go. Normally I would avoid weighting one test with too much import – especially two years out from a World Cup.

However, the All Blacks against the Boks part II could be a watershed of sorts for both sides.

For the home side, there’s what should be a tasty array of motivations. One, the Rugby Championship is there to be won. Two, the Freedom Cup is there to be retaken. Third, and most important, the All Blacks need to drive a big wedge into the Springbok image of invincibility. Oh, and it would be nice to start winning in Wellington for a change.

For the visitors, they turned up out of sorts in Auckland, despite the trophy of storming Eden Park there for the possible taking. In the end, notwithstanding a trademark storming back last 20, they were always chasing the game.

Complacent, or too old, they’ve been culled to a degree this week. To such a degree that either Rassie Erasmus wants to send a very pointed message to his veterans, or he’s treating this as game as a disposable one.

Win and it will shake the All Blacks ‘growing self-belief. Lose, and it can be put down to a roll of the dice. The Boks season after all has been the sort of mediocrity that would have people screaming for Scott Robertson’s head.

Nothing happens in Rassie world for no reason but it’s not immediately clear what that is.

On the other side of the hill, there’s plenty to spur on the All Blacks to lift again. No doubt the scrum’s been getting a healthy workout this week. There’s also no small matter of a rejigged backline, and Leroy Carter’s resultant debut. Did Eden Park mark Reiko Ioane’s last All Blacks ‘match?

But most importantly, the All Blacks have to start getting some swagger soon. They need to get an appetite for titles, trophies and winning.  Now would be a good time.

The team is below:

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The business end of the Women’s World Cup starts this weekend. Notwithstanding the enthusiasm around the upsurge in the code, the global game will be hoping that over time it throws up a more even field of contenders.

Just one of the quarters looks unpredictable – that’s Australia v Canada.

After that, things will really get interesting.

New Zealand plays South Africa in their quarter-final with that kicking off at 11.00pm on Saturday night our time.

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The Wellington Lions probably have one last chance to  stay alive in the NPC, but the odds are very slim.  They crashed to Northland last night.

That leaves them still further in the depths of the table and with some tough opposition to face in just a few remaining rounds.

Not a season to remember.