Peter Bills: Springbok machine losing its wheels

All Blacks wing Israel Dagg breaks free of Springboks number eight Pierre Spies on his way to scoring a try. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Ambushed in Auckland, walloped in Wellington ... What next for the weary Springboks as they prepare for another tough test, this time against the Wallabies in Brisbane on Saturday?

What's more, the exhausted, battered South Africans must have thought their own union was against them as they suffered a nightmare travel schedule across the Tasman Sea early yesterday.

Saru had booked the players on a flight out of Wellington departing at the ungodly hour of 6am. That meant a 4am start at the team hotel, yet they did not get back to their Wellington city centre hotel until after midnight following their defeat for the second successive week by the All Blacks.

So early was the South Africans' flight they arrived in Brisbane by 8.15am.

Lifting themselves from the mental setbacks and physical hammering for Saturday's test - against an Australian side as fresh as a daisy - is going to be an enormous task for John Smit's men. It is no exaggeration to say the wheels are close to coming off this Springbok outfit early in the 2010 Tri-Nations series.

Already, the South Africans have bid farewell to the Freedom Cup, which they ceded to the All Blacks by dint of Saturday's second successive defeat. What chance the Tri-Nations trophy similarly changing hands by early September?

Yellow cards - to locks Bakkies Botha and Danie Rossouw - undermined the South Africans' efforts in both tests against the All Blacks. On each occasion, absurd acts of indiscipline cost South Africa dear. John Smit repeated late on Saturday night that "discipline is vital", but his players didn't seem to be getting the message.

Just as worrying for the Boks, many top players hitherto regarded as world class have dramatically lost form, so much so they suddenly resemble little more than journeymen. Pierre Spies, Bryan Habana, Jaque Fourie, Jean de Villiers and others are leagues below their normal exalted playing standards.

Why is this? What has suddenly happened? Players have looked demotivated, depressed and at times almost disinterested on this trip. This alarming state of affairs needs urgent remedy if a major crisis is to be avoided.

If the Springboks fail to win in Brisbane on Saturday, returning home from their three-match Tri-Nations tour without a single point, they can almost certainly kiss goodbye to their Tri-Nations title. Even more seriously, they will be confronted with a series of major selection issues with the World Cup now only 14 months away.

It has to be a cause of great concern to them that the Springboks, with these two abject defeats, have handed the All Blacks a significant psychological advantage ahead of next year's World Cup. The New Zealanders will feel they have the measure of their old foes, and a try count of 8-2 in the two games is ample evidence to justify such a belief.

In fairness to Peter de Villiers and his men, they had justified gripes about the inconsistency of the refereeing in these two tests. The tackler was allowed more latitude by both Irish referees, and both yellow cards could be considered harsh.

But you make your own luck at this level, and the South Africans are paying the price for some acts of stupidity, such as Botha's head butt at Eden Park.

Referees, perhaps even subconsciously, are starting to look out for them. Did Graham Henry win this test match before the first ball had even been kicked? Did the All Black coach's clever, fulsome praise of Irish referee Alain Rolland (he called him the best referee in the world) play out in the New Zealanders' favour?

All referees crave praise, and while Rolland was quick to show a yellow card to Danie Rossouw, he was by no means as firm in dealing with Richie McCaw, who was warned twice about killing the loose ball and then given a third, general warning. McCaw was treated leniently, the Springboks harshly.

But that wasn't the reason South Africa lost the test match. They were far too predictable in their play and formulaic behind the scrum in their tactics. They seemed unable to make decisions on the hoof to change things, a curious state of affairs given the experience in this Springbok side. Are they over-coached, too pre-programmed? Maybe.

Whatever the reason, the All Blacks were faster and snappier in thought and deed for the second week running - and that must worry De Villiers and his coaching staff.