What price a win for the Springboks?

A gaggle of South African rugby journalists sauntered in under the grandstand at Wellington after Saturday's test match, almost in monastic silence, writes PETER LAMPP in his All Blacks Comment column this week.

They must have been mortified at what has happened to their Springboks, slammed by 49 one week and the next having 35 posted against by a reshuffled All Black team playing below its best.

If the boot was on New Zealand's foot, we would be downright suicidal.

Could it be the Boks are waiting until the All Blacks turn up to Pretoria and Rustenburg at the tail of the Tri Nations before turning on the fireworks? Remember Graham Henry has yet to win in Africa.

Remember in 2003 how the All Blacks plastered them by 52-16 at Loftus and still couldn't win the World Cup.

The Springboks are the All Blacks' prime foes, but their decline will be temporary.

It must have been galling for them to know the All Blacks aren't bothering to field their best players against them. On Saturday night they had to listen to Henry and his henchmen and the New Zealand media regurgitating the All Blacks' faults. Yet our lot had won! The Boks would die for a win.

Even when the Boks had the effrontery to charge down Daniel Carter's kick after 17 seconds - didn't they know who he was? - no one had the sweaty palms of yesteryear.

It was almost inevitable the All Blacks would tack away and then sail past the Springboks.

When Henry was innocently asked when he was going to show his 1st XV, he babbled on about how that might be 18 months away at the World Cup, or that Saturday night's team might be the 1st XV.

This of course is nonsense. Next week against the Wallabies at Suncorp Stadium he will have to harness his first-stringers.

Curiously the Australian pack will be more vulnerable than the Boks'. But the when the Boks have the ball, they don't do anything; their backs are superfluous.

When the Springbok team delegation arrived at the press conference, it was four ultimate sad sacks. Lock Victor Matfield looked positively funereal.

He must know the All Blacks have plenty of ammo left - besides the rotary thing, there's Sione Lauaki, Troy Flavell, Sitiveni Sivivatu - to recover their health.

The All Blacks have these ho-hum performances like Saturday's because Henry keeps fiddling. Maybe he has to, but no way can any team get combinations where there are eight changes, when there's a different hooker heaving the ball into the lineout each week, when there's too many lineout calls to absorb by far . . .

But in Carter they have an automaton: nine shots from nine made up for his chargedown and Luke McAlister must wonder if he's ever going to get a turn.

Carter was the star during the previous test at Wellington, against the Lions last year and he was this time too. Once he starts running up sidelines, look out.

The Springboks didn't use short kickoffs, with which Stephen Larkham tormented the All Blacks at Eden Park. Percy Montgomery missed penalty kicks he shouldn't have and for a tried international, he is too heavily left-footed.

Women might covet his shoes besides their hammocks but he wouldn't be risked in an All Black team.

The Boks must get modern instead of trudging from scrum to scrum and lineout, their monster forwards feigning injury and running from past the hindmost foot which no referee or touch judge enforces.

They might have scored two tries, but a chargedown is always freakish. The other came after Doug Howlett chested a regulation catch and the Boks got a scrum they should never have had.

Howlett was the bee's knees a few years ago; now he's well down the wings' pecking order.