‘They just seem to find a way to win.” How often have we heard that about the All Blacks?
They’re the undisputed leaders of the game, the trend-setters and, by far, the most consistent performers. They win far more often than they lose – now just twice since the start of 2012.
But, the Boks are not far behind. Yes, Heyneke Meyer’s men were out-played in the second half at Ellis Park on Saturday and were maybe fortunate to win a penalty and kick it over to win the game, but then the All Blacks were out-played in the first half.
After 80 minutes, it was the Boks’ turn to “find a way to win”. We should celebrate that and we should applaud the performance. Even All Blacks boss Steve Hansen admitted afterwards his heart told him the Boks were the better team on the day.
In their two matches this year, only two points separated the teams – the All Blacks won by four in Wellington and the Boks won by two in Joburg.
What I’m getting at is there’s very little to choose between the sides and, hopefully, the critics will start realising this and accepting it.
Yes, the All Blacks have dominated clashes between them and South Africa in recent times and again on Saturday the result could have favoured the world champions. The fact is, it didn’t. The Boks got up and won, and that should be it.
The Boks haven’t been great this year – they battled to get past Argentina on both occasions, and they lost both matches in Australasia.
But then, with a little more luck and perhaps better decision-making the Boks could also have gone through the Rugby Championship unbeaten.
A shocker of a yellow card to Bryan Habana in Perth and Morné Steyn missing touch with the last kick of the match, which allowed the Wallabies to sneak the win, cost the Boks big-time and a week later Meyer’s men were a good line-out drive away from winning in Wellington.
Those are the fine margins involved when South Africa, Australia and New Zealand play each other.
There’s not much in it.
The All Blacks are most definitely still the top team in the world; one defeat in 22 matches doesn’t really change a thing.
But what it does do is show they’re not unbeatable and that on any given day they can also be vulnerable ... because they really were in that first half at Ellis Park.
It’s going to take a few mighty big efforts by the Boks, over a consistent period, for them to seriously challenge the All Blacks for the No1 spot, but they’re not far off doing that.
And that makes for a thrilling few years ahead of us.