Cruden not only failed with the boot but also the head against the Highlanders - the man on whom the World Cup campaign may depend ran up the white flag and the kicking tee was handed to Andrew Horrell.
First five-eighths, a position long touted as an impregnable advantage for the All Blacks, is turning into a niggling problem. None of the players tick all the boxes since the latest model of Dan Carter has been revealed as sluggish and liable to break down with the regularity of a 1970s Lada.
The All Blacks selectors are, apparently, at breaking point with Cruden's wonky radar because goalkicking will largely decide the Webb Ellis battle in England this year.
It will be no surprise to anyone that All Blacks coach Steve Hansen is still hoping Carter guides the ship, even if the great man's body is crumbling and he has a World Cup history littered with mishaps.
Cruden is making the decision very easy and has put himself in real danger of becoming the lost piece when the World Cup squad jigsaw is put together.
He finished 2014 with goalkicking disasters against the US and England, when he landed an awful six from 14. By his own description, he had a "tricky old season" as far as goalkicking went in 2013, when he was affected by a groin problem.
If All Blacks selectors read newspapers, Cruden's reported comment last weekend that goalkickers have that sort of game now and then won't raise Hansen's spirits. The now and thens happen too often in Cruden's case, and there are no second chances at the business end of a World Cup.
The No10 batting order is a touch distorted because Beauden Barrett is regarded as the permanent No2, a super sub who remains on the bench whatever. Barrett also has goalkicking hiccups - he hits the ball exceptionally sweetly but it doesn't head in the right direction often enough. His magical running and the spotting and taking of gaps unseen by most make him essential to the game plan, though.
With Slade and Barrett offering versatility, Cruden's shoddy goalkicking has got him sliding down the rankings and in danger of becoming a World Cup bystander one way or another.
This would represent a stunning fall for Cruden, Carter's heir and a brilliant attacker at his best - although even there he is struggling to match the extremes of his early promise.
An irony is that Hansen has tried to muddle some opponents' World Cup strategies by shaming them towards more attempted try-scoring and Slade doesn't have Cruden's magic capabilities. He isn't a dead-set kicking option either, but landed the one that counted - the high-pressure conversion in the Bledisloe Cup victory at Brisbane. His general error rate is said to be very low.
Sir Graham Henry recently re-emphasised the importance of World Cup goalkicking in backing Carter as the starter. And Hansen's continued faith in the now solid rather than spectacular Carter indicates the values the All Blacks boss still regards as vital.
Hansen was quoted last year as saying the selectors know Slade is a good kicker. It's a statement increasingly hard to make about Cruden. And goalkickers win, or lose, World Cups.
