The All Blacks got out of jail at the Absa stadium in Durban because the Springboks blew up — as simple as that. The big fault line with South Africa is that it is only brawn and passion that inspires them, and they are a bit short when it comes to using their intelligence.

The ability is there, but the know-how — particularly when it comes to closing a game down, or playing the percentages — is often absent. With less than 15 minutes to go and a nine-point lead, any team of international stature, and especially one with South Africa’s tradition, should know to keep the ball close to their tight forwards — and only let it out as far as their big, physical centres, who should have been under orders to run it back towards the big guys in their pack. Then you do the whole thing all over again.

Another golden rule for closing down a game is that if you do kick for territory you have to chase really hard and close down any counter-attack from deep defence, especially against a team like the All Blacks. Instead, Francois Steyn, the young South African hero only a week ago against Australia, hoofs it to Rodney So’oialo, who is then allowed to run 60 metres and make the inroads for Richie McCaw’s crucial try.

The biggest disappointment about the South Africans is that a centre pairing as big, fast and powerful as Jean de Villiers and Jaque Fourie is not made more of in attack. South Africa’s attacking ambitions against New Zealand seemed almost to begin and end with pressure defence forcing the New Zealanders into coughing up turnovers or interceptions.

However, if Graham Henry’s gameplan was not just to beat South Africa, but to give them a psychological pasting ahead of the World Cup, then it fell short. For long periods of this Tri-Nations match the Springboks were the better team, and they would have won but for the lack of clear thinking in the final quarter.

It was also almost inevitable that they would pay a price for Pedri Wannenberg’s sin-binning because of the additional strain it put on their defence. As a result, the Springboks were out on their feet in the last 10 minutes, and the All Blacks are too sharp not to cut you given that sort of opportunity.

However, if I was in Henry’s shoes I would not be entirely happy. Although the Springboks were eventually run off their feet, it is by no means the end of their World Cup challenge. Not only did they stop New Zealand playing the all action game they wanted, they also had two key back-row players missing in Pierre Spies and Juan Smith. These two are real giants, with physicality, speed and size, and if they had been out there to back up Schalk Burger, it might have been a different story.

At times towards the end Burger seemed to be playing the All Blacks on his own, and he had a hugely impressive game, but Bobby Skinstad and Danie Rossouw were not quite as aggressive or confrontational as Spies and Smith.

However, New Zealand still had to pull out all the stops not to come second in the forward battle. It was a mistake for New Zealand to even go there, because it was engaging in a macho battle with the Springbok pack that nearly cost them the game.

Rather than play to their strengths out wide, and at the breakdown — where McCaw is such a force — they tried to go toe-to-toe. It did not work for large chunks of the match. Their lineout in particular did not function and they were made to look fairly ordinary because they were unable to dictate the flow of the match.

The only danger for the All Blacks is that they become so fixated with proving that they are the best team in the world in every department, that they take their eye off the ball in the areas where nobody else can touch them. You expect the hardman macho stuff from the Springboks, but you would have thought that the All Blacks would have too much nous to get sucked in to a slugfest. The result was that the All Black counter-attack, which is one of the most lethal there has ever been, did not surface until the last few minutes when South Africa ran out of steam.

New Zealand are without a doubt still the team to beat, but the South Africans have shown that if you can draw them into an arm-wrestle up front, put pressure on their lineout, and learn to close down a game when you have a healthy lead, then these All Blacks are mortal.