Naturally, the episode reverberated around the globe.
Jump forward five years and it seems no lessons have been learned.
We have had the Chiefs rugby squad (predominantly male) looking at a naked woman, and then last week another player, All Blacks half-back Aaron Smith, was found to have had sexual intercourse.
In the seismic outfall of this latest aberration, Smith was, of course, sent packing but many were left wondering if the All Blacks - and, indeed, the game itself - could survive.
There were suggestions that Richie McCaw should be brought back to instil some dignity and gentlemanly aplomb to the national squad but, in fact, the All Blacks managed to field 15 players who had never drunk beer, never had sex and would swoon at the sight of so much as a female ankle, and so they duly thrashed the Springbok.
Is New Zealand the most prudish, priggish, holier-than-thou nation on the planet?
