Gavin Rich's match analysis makes the uncomfortable case that the Boks lost this game more than the All Blacks won it. For long stretches — particularly that critical 15-minute window before halftime — the Boks were physically dominant, destroying the All Black scrum and winning collisions at will, yet converted almost none of it into points. Malcolm Marx dropped the ball over the line when a try would have opened a comfortable cushion; the team repeatedly opted for attacking scrums over kickable penalties when the game was still there to be won; and two yellow cards in the final ten minutes left them finishing with 13 men. Rich's argument is that the All Blacks' blueprint was essentially opportunistic — stay resilient under immense physical pressure, take your chances when they come, and let the opposition beat themselves — and the Boks obliged on every count. The 33-16 scoreline and 5-1 try count flatters New Zealand considerably, but Rich concedes you can't argue with it. With the series moving to Cape Town 1-0 down, the Boks need to sharpen their clinical edge — and the worry is that the All Blacks now have a proven template for how to handle them ahead of what looms as a likely World Cup quarter-final.