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The All Blacks' record defeat to Springboks is exactly what they needed
By Finn Morton
When the full-time whistle sounded at Twickenham a couple of weeks ago, the All Blacks’ players, coaches and fans were left stunned.
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In their final warm-up Test before the impending Rugby World Cup, the All Blacks had fallen to their worst-ever defeat. They were beaten, far too easily, 35-7 by South Africa in London.
Playing in front of more than 80,000 vibrant fans, the All Blacks couldn’t withstand the relentless waves of attack from the world champion Boks. Scott Barrett’s red card didn’t help, either.
But in the wake of that Test, many fans have deemed that match as ‘meaningless’ ahead of the World Cup. It seems like an attempt to cling onto hope, or risk falling into a pit of reality and pessimism.
In reality, the truth may hurt. The current crop of All BLakcs has since been branded the “weakest” New Zealand team in history by former France flanker Olivier Magne.
“To me, the big three of this World Cup is France, South Africa and Ireland,” Magne wrote in a column for Midi Olympique.
“I am especially worried about this New Zealand team.
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“South Africa’s display against New Zealand is significant for the world of rugby.
“Now, isn’t this All Black team the weakest in history? I’m wondering. Really, I feel like New Zealand’s Rugby Championship wins were a bit of a sham.”
With the coveted Qatar Airways Cup up for grabs, the All Blacks were blown off the park. It was a bad defeat, but at least they won The Rugby Championship; at least they retained the Bledisloe.
While the rugby world still looks down upon the “weakest” All Blacks team in history, there’s a glimmer of hope for New Zealand fans.
From a New Zealander point of view, the All Blacks losing is never a good thing – but there’s an exception to every rule.
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During the professional era, the All Blacks have never gone into a successful World Cup campaign on the back of a perfect run.
The Kiwis were beaten by South Africa and Australia in back-to-back Test leading into their drought-breaking World Cup triumph in 2011 and lost to the Wallabies a month before the 2015 event.
They were even beaten in their last Test before the inaugural World Cup, although that match against France was in November of 1986.
So, if you want onto cling to hope, then this is the stat for you.
The All Blacks, as good as they are, need to learn lessons from time to time when there’s a bigger prize or goal up for grabs.
That piece of history suggests that the All Blacks can win this World Cup, although “serious questions” will still be asked of them.
“Looking at the scoreboard, 35-nil after 65 minutes, I couldn’t believe it. Seven of the nine worst-ever Springbok defeats have come against the old enemy,” journalist Mark Keohane said after the Boks’ 35-7 win on Weekend Sport with Jason Pine.
“It was really the statement performance… they go into the World Cup on a high and New Zealand, for me, go in with some serious questions, once again, about their forward pack.”
If the All Blacks had won that Test at Twickenham, certainly by the emphatic scoreline the Boks achieved, the New Zealand rugby fans would be praising that game as perfect preparation.
The All Blacks would be riding high as the only unbeaten side going into this year’s tournament. They’d rather rightfully be bestowed the ‘favourites’ tag as well.
But, in truth, the All Blacks aren’t quite ready to be the favourites again. Having lost their last Test against Ireland, South Africa and France, this team needs to grow as much as possible.
Instead, they’re ranked fourth in the world and that’s a fairly accurate representation of where they’re placed. The All Blacks probably won’t win the World Cup, but that doesn’t mean they can’t.
That’s what an underdog is.
While New Zealand fans have taken the glass-half-full approach by writing off that Test as a meaningless battle, you can be sure that the All Blacks haven’t.
They got taught a lesson, and they’ll need to do their homework if they are to challenge for the sport’s ultimate prize in Frace.
Looking back at that loss in a year, fans may agree that it was the defeat the All Blacks needed. It wasn’t meaningless at all.
The All Blacks fielded their best team to beat the Boks .. they failed miserably, in fact a record defeat. If this was a dress rehearsal before RWC it was an eye opener for all the wrong reasons.
I point this result to the coach who has one of the worst winning records .. and his captain Sam Cane who is not far behind. Just not good enough. What this defeat would have shown to all the other rugby nations in RWC that the AB's are no longer feared. They are the easy beats.
I don't see the AB's getting past the quarters and if France play well this weekend then you could see another record score against the AB's.
Don't count 2011though. Craig Joubert handed them the trophy.
Spot on Henry, and the statement the boks were holding back against the All Blacks previous test is a bit surreal, you mean to tell me the freedom cup means nothing , Rugby championship means nothing, and suddenly a dead rubber means everything come on!!! Still think there's no better motivation than to lose going into the World cup Dave j.
Ah well Toddy it seems fairly simple to me. We got taken to our limit.
Boks did it fairly easy really. Sad part was we "rolled over"
I don't mind being beaten in photo finish, if my horse keeps fighting.
They just all looked like they have had enough. Bit like Nature Strip. Been a great champion just "race tired and old" and I don't want to race anymore.
Owners said, "Let's retire him and give him dignity" same day as All Blacks played.
Those All Black Forwards looked tired. French will still "smell blood" in the air from last weekend.
They will be like "sharks with blood in the water"
Hard to beat. Maybe the All Blacks will try and slow the game down, frustrate them.
I hope Coles can sledge in French, maybe he could get punched and milk a red card.
The French will be thinking.
This is our "time" This is our Best chance ever to win the World Rugby Cup, on our turf, for our country in front of our people.
Those who already didn't rate the ABs decided the RC wins were a sham and the Bok hiding was the truth. Those who rate the ABs think the 11-matches unbeaten were encouraging and the Bok hiding was an aberration. Yep, that's how we work: we look to results to convince ourselves what we already knew was right is bang on and then give ourselves a nice big pat on the back for how we knew best. The boring reality is this ABs team isn't the worst ever and isn't one of the better vintages - its somewhere in the middle. I agree with the point that one lose doth not a tragedy make. Last WC the ABs beat SA then thrashed Ireland then got beat. England dominated NZ then got beat. SA lost to NZ then squeaked past Wales by the hair of their chiny chin chin and then dominated the final against the team that dominated the team that beat them. In 2011 the French got done by the ABs and then lost to Tonga and yet came within a point of winning the whole thing. If NZ loses to France it won't be the end, and if they win they shouldn't become big favourites.
Sorry, but the "coveted Qatar Airways Cup"? Is that sarcasm? This was a made-up trophy purely for this match. Things like the Freedom Cup, Rugby Championship and obviously the World Cup are coveted, not this.
Finally, someone presenting a dose of realism. I have been getting tired of all these "watch out, now they are angry" or "this is exactly what they needed" rhetoric (headline aside this article doesn't go there). No one needs a worst loss in a 100 years as the last hit out before playing the host and one of the genuine favourites at a world cup. I think this AB forward pack is weak (especially with 3 starters out), and will be exposed, especially at set piece.
Even worse I am not getting any positive vibes coming out of the coaches either. I read this morning ass. coach McCloud saying he hoped the French 12 was out for the game. In all my years I have never heard an AB coach say this, they always used to have the line "we don't want to see any players out and you always want to test yourself against the best". So this sounded like waving the white flag to me and that they are thinking their only hope is for other teams to have injuries.
Additionally, the AB coaches keep harping on about France buckling under the pressure. It just sounds desperate to me and I fear Magne is right about both the AB team being the opposite of strong and the trounced outcome.
The rankings at this stage are on point, although it's not clear there is much of a gap between 4 and 5 as Scotland gain momentum. If ABs make it to the semis they can definitely go all the way, but I reckon there is about a 25% chance of them getting past the QF. As you say, it's still a chance, just not a big one. Pure speculation of course and we will know after the game, but I don't have any serious hope of a tournament win for the formerly mighty All Blacks.