David Leggat: Joke effort was no laughing matter

It wasn't so long ago that the All Blacks were a byword for rugby efficiency.

They might not necessarily have been the most scintillating team in the international game, did not routinely produce the eye-catching sort of rugby to make the soul soar or lift the fans out of their seats.

But they didn't lose often, mistakes could be counted on one hand and they possessed huge mental resilience, which could get them out of the occasional jam. Home or away, they were the most daunting proposition in the game.

The days of near total dominance are long gone. But even so, it is legitimate to question when the last time was that a full-strength All Black team produced rugby of the dire quality of Durban yesterday.

A week earlier, they had some grounds for at least a partial excuse for their nine-point loss in Bloemfontein. Altitude, travel and a short turnaround time from the win over the Wallabies at Eden Park were valid, up to a point.

But Durban is at sea level. Durban is where the All Blacks should have been banking on turning things around. It's where, so prevailing wisdom has it, the South Africans are more vulnerable.

That might still be so, given that this Springbok team is not their finest in recent memory.

But what they are superb at is feeding off freebies, and that's what the All Blacks handed out like clowns armed with pocketsful of lollies at a kids' picnic en route to a defeat which must ask hard questions of both the players and coaching staff.

Did the coaches instruct their backs to run the ball out from their own goal line - or on one gobsmacking occasion from behind it when Joe Rokocoko opted not to force the ball when on his knees?

Counter attacking when 20 points behind and the clock ticking down is one thing. This was entirely different, and plain dumb, not to mention thoroughly unprofessional, which is what we are told these players are in mind and deed.

Did the coaches tell hooker Andrew Hore that when five metres from the All Black line and their best lineout jumper in the sin bin the smart play would be to throw the ball over the back of the lineout for the Springbok tailgunner, who happens to be a terrific terrier of an opensider, to grab?

Again, you'd imagine not. Two minutes later, South Africa had a try.

Did the coaches tell their players it was okay to give away penalties through sloppy discipline within 40m of their own posts? Or tell them flinging horror passes, or getting in each other's way when potentially strong attacking lines were set up, was all well and good?

If they did, they should be summarily dismissed. But they didn't and no coach could be held responsible for the witless rugby put out yesterday in the most famous name in rugby.

It's not that they lost. South Africa are formidable. It was the often abysmal skill level which did for the All Blacks. The broad-brush strategy might have been wrong, but the performance reeked of a lack of clear thinking.

If you've ever wondered why players need all that liquid refreshment from the first breakdown onwards you now know why. These players can't figure things out for themselves.

Even allowing for the flabbiness of the All Black display, the Springboks only managed one try yesterday, which rather points the finger at their lack of attacking edge.

They are fiercely committed defenders and expert at squeezing their opponents into error. Not that they had to squeeze particularly hard yesterday.

And in Morne Steyn they have yet another goalkicker with laser sights.

Is it a crisis? Of course not. They might still win the Tri-Nations, and, bottom line, there's still two years until you-know-what. But so much of what was served up yesterday was rubbish.

Put it this way: if a Six Nations team had played with the carelessness and lack of nous the All Blacks showed yesterday, this rugby nation would be having a good old laugh.

But New Zealanders take their rugby seriously, too much so at times.

Right now, no one's laughing.