View photosKEY POINTS:
Forget trying to engineer mechanisms to force the dollar down, the most pressing matter of state was finding a mechanism to kick-start this All Black campaign.
Dan Carter, though far from vintage, might have last night provided it.
For long periods we were again exposed to Diet Carter last night - it may look like the real thing but there's something not quite right - but the signs later on were that he is coming out of hibernation.
He hasn't yet dragged the rest of the backline with him, but it can't be far away.
That sharp intake of breath crowds used to get every time he touched the ball has been replaced by a querulous rising of the eyebrow as another All Black backline move spluttered and coughed its way to nothing, but three fortuitous tries, one to Carter himself, late in the match should give them something to build on for next week.
The mere fact the tries were manufactured from such random sources highlighted only the home side's lack of fluency against a seriously depleted side that was Springbok in name only, but it would be wrong to lump the blame for that on Carter's shoulders.
You could write a book based on theories as to why he's been below his best. He's taking the ball too deep; he's taking the ball too flat. He's trying too hard; he's not backing himself.
Truth be told, the problem has probably been centred somewhere between his ears - and the news that brain-coach Gilbert Enoka has been active in camp does nothing to dispel it.
Carter's career has been so ascendant, so star-spangled, that he's never had to deal with the sort of anxiety that comes with a form slump. But self-doubt is the enemy of all elite sportspeople.
It means everything is done a split-second slower. Passes that would normally snap into the outsides' arms are now just a little bit behind the man. Punts are just missing the sweet spot and place kicks are pushed, rather than stroked.
Carter needed the sort of performance that shoves self-doubt back into the closet it jumped out from.
He didn't quite find it but there's still time. Despite some lackadaisical efforts this past month, remember that it was Carter who gave that virtuoso in Wellington against the Lions.
