Ruthless All Blacks look to finish the job

There is a degree of ruthlessness in Steve Hansen’s selection of the All Blacks’ starting XV that he will hope transfers on to the Newlands pitch on Sunday. Again there is no Jerome Kaino in the match-day squad — the Blues loose forward will be hoping he is in the mix for the third Bledisloe Cup test in Brisbane on October 21 because that could be his final opportunity of the year — and Hansen has also resisted swapping out first-five Beauden Barrett for Lima Sopoaga. There is no rest either for skipper Kieran Read or halfback Aaron Smith, an indication that Hansen’s key players are fit and firing and ready to finish the job against the Springboks despite the Rugby Championship trophy being retained for another year already and the fact the South Africans appear at a complete loss as to how to overturn the humiliation at Albany three weeks ago. If one takes out the 78-0 drubbing of Samoa at Eden Park in June, a warm-up for the British and Irish Lions tour, the All Blacks’ 57-0 victory over the Boks at QBE Stadium was the closest they have come to an 80-minute performance this year. It was celebrated by Hansen and his men, and rightly so, because after a nervy start, it was a performance which combined speed, wit and skill. Barrett’s nolook pass to Nehe Milner-Skudder for the wing’s try was breathtaking in its audacity, and yet the Boks were the mirror image of the All Blacks.

Their defence was witless and overall, they lacked ideas and hunger. Right wing Raymond Rhule, torn to shreds by Rieko Ioane, hasn’t played for the Boks since and may never again. The feeling within the visiting camp will presumably be that Allister Coetzee’s men can’t be that bad again.

So while the All Blacks are building — and their biggest medium-term target is the 2019 World Cup in Japan — they have their eyes on the present too, and Hansen will expect excellence from his team in Cape Town after naming what must be considered his strongest starting line-up (lock Brodie Retallick is unavailable).

The All Blacks’ performance against the Lions in June and July was uneven — they should have won the test in Wellington despite Sonny Bill Williams’ red card and a multitude of mistakes on attack stymied them in the drawn third test at Eden Park.

They finished poorly against the Wallabies in Sydney, and were sloppy at the start against them in Dunedin (although when they were good, they were very good in both tests). There has been some uneven stuff again against Argentina despite them clearly being several levels above in all facets against the Pumas last weekend, with the pack extremely impressive in Buenos Aires but the backline suffering from a lack of accuracy in the second half.

Which leaves us with the return match against the Boks after an impressive performance at North Harbour; the message is clear from Hansen — only the best will do.

Also, Milner-Skudder, Sam Cane, Sam Whitelock, Ryan Crotty and Liam Squire will all feel they owe the team a performance after travelling direct to South Africa and missing last weekend’s Pumas test.

For the Springboks, who have slipped below Ireland to fourth on World Rugby’s rankings (New Zealand and England are first and second), none of this bodes well.