John Drake: All Blacks and Boks rediscover the spirit of the great old days

The All Blacks started with a new haka, but that was the only new thing on show.

The rest of the night was a reminder of all the great tussles between New Zealand and South Africa. Recent times have seen tests built up with expectation only to fizz out at game time.

Not so this match. No way.

The passion, aggression and skill from both teams gave us one of the most memorable recent tests and certainly right up there with the dramas of yesteryear.

Even the referee and touch judges reminded me of the old days when hometown refs put their own bias mark on the matches, and indeed the results. It wasn't that Monsieur Jutge favoured either side, but he missed too many forward passes, knock-ons, and his interpretation at the ruck/maul and players fielding kicks was confusing to watch and must have had both teams perplexed at times.

The improvement in the All Black set pieces from the last encounter at Cape Town was noticeable. The scrum is now very strong on their own put-in, and at times can destroy the opposition feed.

I wonder what excuses some scribes from the north will find for this development, as they must be running out of fairytales to justify putting the boot into All Black scrum techniques.

The Boks never gave up at scrum time and had their moments, but I always thought the All Blacks had the edge.

Their lineout was clever enough to almost negate the skills of Victor Matfield, and although Chris Jack was hassled by Bakkies Botha, the variation and accuracy allowed the All Blacks to control their own ball and dictate the pace at lineout time.

This culminated in the late drive which opened the path for Keven Mealamu's winning try, the seeds having been sown in 73 minutes of application and persistence.

I could not be so pleased with some of the gameplan.

Plainly the All Blacks were keen to negate the rushing South African defence by running close to the ruck/maul with Piri Weepu, Leon MacDonald and Richie McCaw used effectively.

The other tactic was to turn the Springboks around with kicks behind the defenders. Some worked well. A try came from an up-and-under and the long kick down the middle of the park.

There was no real chance that Percy Montgomery and co would counter-attack, so I was surprised the All Blacks didn't kick more - particularly the up-and-under in front of Montgomery.

I also wonder whether the change of the structured gameplan which worked so well in the first half was from the coaches (surely not!) or the increased pressure from the Springboks? However it came around, the match turned from a comfortable 21-10 just on halftime to a tight squeeze.

There were unforced passes, bad option-taking and lack of direction from the key decision-makers. All came from pressure on individuals.

I have to give the Boks credit. I still believe they got away with mayhem and murder at the offside line, but they showed they are a powerful and well-skilled side.

Jake White was shown again to be an outstanding coach, and the players have brilliant skills, both in defence and attack. Some are definitely world class and, like the All Blacks, are of an age to be building well to peak at the 2007 World Cup.

For the All Blacks to come back and win against such strong opponents was an achievement right up there with heroics of past years.

Still, there are things to work on before the Australians come to Eden Park in five days.

The penalties conceded at ruck and maul must be a concern. Whether they feel hard done by from the referees or not, the rate of infringements can't continue if they want to keep winning.

Most of the problems appeared to be around the angle at which McCaw and co are entering the ruck or maul area.

The tactical kicking needs more thought, and management instructions must be carried out on the field.

Sure, there were lots of errors and mistakes, but it was a fantastic match which will be remembered right up there with the best.

Most importantly, the All Blacks came back from a few setbacks and showed the mental toughness to win.

The Boks reintroduced themselves as the old foe. It was back to the future. I loved every minute.