The All Blacks' 38-21 win over the Stormers has been greeted with alarm rather than relief across the New Zealand and South African media. Gregor Paul's NZ Herald verdict was the sharpest: a team that concedes scrum penalties, can't claim high balls, leaks yellow cards, and struggles against the driving maul isn't just at risk of losing to the Springboks — it isn't capable of being 'vaguely competitive.' The fact that they scraped through against an out-of-season Stormers side missing ten Springboks, tied at 14-all with 12 minutes left, is the damning context behind the final scoreline.
The consensus across Gregor Paul, Richard Knowler, Gavin Rich, John Goliath, and Aaron Goile is that the scoreline flatters Rennie's side badly, and that the Sharks will have watched the tape with relish ahead of the Durban midweek game. The scrum in particular — with young loosehead Vernon Matongo reportedly having the tourists on toast in the first half — is flagged as a non-negotiable problem that has to be fixed before Ellis Park. For Springbok supporters, this is a useful temperature check on exactly how much danger the All Blacks currently pose heading into the Test series.