KEY POINTS:
The white-hot atmosphere of Durban came at exactly the right time for the development of this All Blacks team.
It emphasised to me two points: that Graham Henry needs to be exposing his top team to this sort of rugby from here on in to the World Cup, and that Jake White is making a monumental mistake in withdrawing his best players for the rest of the Tri Nations.
This is not an observation based on the fact South Africa's stance has once more relegated international rugby to a farce, but is an assessment of where the Boks stand now and what they need to do before the World Cup.
In terms of developing leadership and combinations, withdrawing their top players now makes no sense.
This is the time they need to turn into a battle-hardened unit and to expose themselves to as many different test-match scenarios as possible. You can't do that sitting at home with your feet up.
They say their top players are fatigued after a series of tough matches in the Super 14 and the opening two Tri Nations' tests. So what?
They're not going to be fatigued when they get to the World Cup, which at the most is only seven matches long, and all the momentum they've built up over the past two months will now be lost.
Henry, on the other hand, must ensure he uses his remaining matches honing his No 1 combinations and giving them as much experience as possible.
While I believe he is doing the wrong thing by his team, we are in no position to begrudge White, who is under almost unbearable pressure in the Republic, for taking his course of action.
It was Henry who turned the Super 14 into a farce by withdrawing 22 All Blacks for the first half of the competition, and England, France and Wales all sent out depleted squads for the June tests.
Again it just emphasises what I have been saying in this newspaper over the past couple of months: the World Cup is wrecking international rugby.
I realise it's hard for a New Zealander to criticise the World Cup because we haven't won one for 20 years and it looks like sour grapes, but you only need to look at what's happening.
Last week was a superb test, as was the week before when Australia played the Boks. That is what all test rugby should be like - barring injuries the best taking on the best - but it is fast becoming the exception rather than the rule.
I spoke to the referee after the game, when we shared the same flight back to the UK and he said he had never officiated a testthat intense.
That's what it should be like every time the ABs play. I mean, nobody wants to see the French beaten by 60, or England having 50 points put on them. Those sorts of games serve no purpose whatsoever.
To matters on the field, I think Henry has got it right in his use of Anton Oliver as starting hooker.
In saying that, Keven Mealamu is probably the best hooker in the world at the moment but Oliver gives you that size, that extra experience and scrummaging ability.
When Keven comes on for that final 20-30 minutes, he gives you that ball-carrying ability and skills that Oliver can't offer you off the bench.
It's a tough call on Keven but rugby is a 22-man game and at the moment it's the right call.
