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Pierre Spies - Source: Getty Images -
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The All Blacks lineout may be under fire but a lack of ball runners in the loose foward mix is also a problem, writes tvnz.co.nz's Chris Matthews.
Maybe Springboks coach Peter de Villiers is a little more clued-up than we think. Last week he successfully isolated the great city of Hamilton as the sole subject matter in the lead-in to the All Blacks Test.
Instead of focusing on the game at hand the whole rugby public was left gasping at this trivial accusation and before we knew it the Test and Tri Nations was gone.
It must - and will go down - as one of the greatest deviations in the history of New Zealand, well and truly up their with Robert Muldoon's breaking of the Gleneagles Agreement, and it was all achieved in a matter of three days.
Brilliant stuff from a South African perspective but had de Villiers not pulled this almighty swiftly maybe, just possibly, the All Blacks could have considered their fairly handy rugby game in the lead-in to the Hamilton Test.
Or maybe there was little point. We all knew what the Springboks were going to throw up - relentless defence, countless midfield bombs and high-pressure at line-out time - and the All Blacks just had to somehow figure out a way to counter it.
They didn't and we'll move on but one aspect of the Springboks game that gets little praise but is just as decisive to their domination is their powerful loose forward ball runners.
Pierre Spies, Schalk Burger and Ryan Kankowski all offer high impact collisions with the ball, or not. Their ability to get over the advantage line is reminiscent of a NRL frontrower and now Heinrich Brussow has entered the mix they have the perfect foil.
Spies is particularly freakish. This bulging number eight (6"4, 107kgs) can apparently run a 100 metres in under 12 seconds and his powerful surges on Saturday were instrumental in getting the Springboks on the front foot.
This front foot ball is all relative to their overall game plan. With a decent platform established it allows Morne Steyn and chasers time to pinpoint their up and unders with greater attention to detail and the results are, well, history.
Now all due respect to Kieran Read, he is a fine footballer, but he is no number eight. His best position is on the blindside flank and even he would concede that. His tireless work rate is invaluable but if you want explosive metres they are not coming from Read's corner.
Adam Thomson and Jerome Kaino are best suited to number six too and Rodney So'oialo, as great a servant as he has been, is past his prime and like Read, lacks the punch of Spies or a Sione Lauaki.
Lauaki is the sort of specimen the All Blacks require but his lazy attitude and tendency to perform poorly when the crunch comes to clutch are all black marks against him. He is unlikely to be given another chance.
Thomas Waldrom, now plying his trade for Hawke's Bay, Mark Bright of Tasman and the ever-improving Colin Bourke of Bay of Plenty all offer explosive qualities.
But given the chance, they better not miss a tackle. They all know what happened to Liam Messam.
