Paul Lewis: ABs don't have legendary status yet

One of the regrettable trends in today's media and sporting public is that we are all too quick to assign hero status and just as fast to shoot them down in flames. That is why you sometimes see 'media lurch', as yesterday's heroes turn into today's failures.

We are not as bad as the UK, for example, where sports teams and people can go from world-beaters to complete geese in the time it takes for their porridge to develop a skin on top.

It's not just the media - talkback radio confirms that the disease of expediency is alive and well out there. Like the well-intentioned fan who rang up after the All Black loss in Cape Town and recommended, in all seriousness, that Daniel Carter should be dropped.

So I watched and listened, in the aftermath of the slipping-fingernails win against the Springboks last weekend, with mounting disbelief. There was tub-thumping - from coaches, players and commentators of some seniority and knowledge - about how the test match was a return to the classic days when the Boks were giants among men and New Zealand-South African rivalry was the zenith of all rugbydom.

Excuse me? Exciting test it might have been - the closeness, the lead changing hands rapidly, the last-minute try to the All Blacks, that stirring haka. But, whoa, Nellie. The Tri Nations test and the All Blacks are not yet the stuff of legends. There was a whiff last week of the victor allowing the vanquished rather more praise than might have been expected. The cynical might even suggest that this is done to paint the victory in even more glittering shades of gold.

These All Blacks are an exciting work in progress and maybe they will move into the realms of greatness. They'll need to beat a Wallaby team which is not missing 17 players for a start although it must also be said that they will give better sides than last night's Wallabies a real torching when all their darts hit the dartboard.

These All Blacks are adopting a machine-gun attack - firing a lot of bullets, not all of which hit the target - and that they are pursuing a lofty ambition to win their matches through expression.

But while a team is making that many mistakes, it is hard to assign a greatness tag or even label them as heroes. Mistakes give opponents the chance to win.

It was the more considered tactical approach of last week's test match and the successful selection of Leon MacDonald that persuaded many New Zealanders that this was a return to the epic All Black-Bok confrontations of yesteryear.

But neither the All Blacks nor the Springboks are back to those heights yet.

It is almost impossible, of course, to compare eras as the game and players change so much. But there are two things you can say about this Springbok team: 1) they are definitely better when they don't have the ball; and 2) they still exhibit what I call the Brian Lochore Syndrome.

Lochore was campaign manager for the 1995 All Black World Cup team who lost that famous final to Joel Stransky's drop goal. His mind must have rushed back to that when he watched the Boks choke the All Blacks in Cape Town a few weeks ago with their rush defence.

After the '95 World Cup, I asked him what he felt the difference had been, as New Zealand had the better side in almost all dimensions and the South Africans, before the World Cup, seemed to be inferior to the All Blacks technically and talent-wise.

Lochore, a considered man, was silent for a long while and then said: "Well, they haven't lost the bloody will to win."

Neither have the Springboks 2005. But their game plan is an almost entirely negative affair, which can be respected but is hard to love. It consists of kicking for position, giving the ball away so they can pressure the opposition into mistakes. They squeeze and squeeze and then squeeze again, all the time denying space and waiting for a mistake. Of the nine tries they have scored against Australia and New Zealand in six tests this season, all but one have come directly from a turnover.

Effective? Yes. Pretty? No. Credible? Yes - the Wallabies, after all, won a World Cup on the basis of hardly ever having their line crossed. The stuff of greatness? Hardly. When the Springboks were chasing the game, their lack of ability to attack the All Blacks became obvious. They were never going to snatch the game through creativity. But an All Black mistake was another matter...

The Springboks aren't a great side and won't be until they find a decent offence. If they persist with this game plan some team - possibly even the All Blacks - is going to give them the mother, father and bejesus of a hiding. Coach Jake White's done a great job building up the Boks - but watch the media and fan lurch in South Africa when that happens.