They didn’t drop a marker down warning the Springboks they are ready and roaring, but they certainly played with enough poise and panache to suggest they are tracking upwards from their previous outing in the first game of the tour.
By the end, they were flowing nicely – the pass and catch was sharp in what were horrendous conditions, the attacking structure held its shape and there was a confidence and certainty about the movement.
It was by no means vintage All Blacks, but there was a swagger about the team in the way they so effortlessly passed before and out of contact and found ways to keep the ball alive.
The optics were good. There was a positivity about it all, an ease with which the decisions were made and the skills executed that suggested the players are starting to really understand and intuitively execute the new gameplan.
Jordie Barrett deserves a mention, too, for the way he took control as a second – and sometimes primary – playmaker.
His contribution was mature, using his boot well to turn the Sharks and he’s grown into the best second five-eighths the All Blacks have had since Ma’a Nonu was in his pomp 15 years ago.
Of course that’s a little coincidental, or symbolic even, because Nonu was incredibly in direct competition with Barrett having come off the bench for the Sharks at the age of 44.
There is a similarity between the two of them now, in that Barrett has learned the art of being creative as well as being physical in much the same way Nonu did, and come the tests, much will hinge on the amount of control the All Blacks No 12 can exert.
That’s not to downplay or reduce the contribution of Love, who was assured and calm and looks to be unflappable. He again didn’t try to do too much, and that’s maybe his super skill that he makes a lot happen with the speed of his movement and decision-making and smoothness of execution.
So much of what happens in the test series will also depend on the All Blacks starting better than they did in both Cape Town and now Durban, where the first half was messy, a touch ill-disciplined and lacking in accuracy.
The one other thing the All Blacks wanted to improve from their performance in Cape Town four days ago was their discipline, but they didn’t nail that and just as they couldn’t find a way to avoid the wrath of Englishman Karl Dickson, nor could they stay on the right side of his fellow countryman Matt Carley.
There’s just something about these two officials that the All Blacks can’t get in tune with. Once again, there were many frustrating technical and slightly pedantic decisions that were made, which disrupted the flow of the game.
But so too were there a number of avoidable penalties – particularly in the first 20 minutes – and they have to be eradicated.
On a more positive note, the scrum, other than a couple of technical penalties in the second half, was dominant. The work under the high ball was vastly improved, with Love taking control of the backfield in a brave and accurate display, and the defence of the Sharks’ driving maul was impressive.
There’s not enough reason for New Zealanders to feel they have a winning test team in their midst, but they should feel confident that they saw a team in Durban that proved they can be, if nothing else, highly competitive.
Gregor Paul is one of New Zealand’s most respected rugby writers and columnists. He has won multiple awards for journalism and written several books about sport.
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