The Boks won the scrum battle comprehensively — Nche, Marx and Louw were genuinely brutal for 54 minutes, holding New Zealand to a 57% success rate and repeatedly generating penalties and possession — but it counted for almost nothing on the scoreboard. Nine entries into the All Blacks' 22 yielded just 1.1 points per visit; New Zealand managed 4.3 from six. That efficiency gap, not the set-piece, decided the match. The All Blacks were clinical with scraps, the Boks were wasteful with dominance, and the 33-16 scoreline reflects exactly that. Injury concerns compound the problem — Arendse, Kolbe and De Groot (for the ABs) all took knocks, and with Erasmus flagging the third Test as the series decider, who's left standing may matter as much as who's playing better.
For Cape Town next week, the Boks need to convert pressure into points rather than gift turnovers to a side this ruthless on transition. Rennie's team will be desperate to find scrum parity — they cannot bleed penalties from their own 22 for another 80 minutes — but if the Boks can't finish, it won't matter. The piece is worth reading for its granular breakdown of the territorial stats and the injury picture across both squads.