The Springboks’ shocking ball retention and flawed display at the set piece are clear signs of trouble for the world champions. As a result, I have to eat the most bitter humble pie of all.

Turnovers at the breakdown. Back-pedalling at the scrums. Scrappy ball at the lineout. There  was so sign of anything resembling a pattern in the Boks’ capitulation to an average New Zealand side in the Tri-Nations opener.

The shocking weather conditions cant be solely blamed; there’s no talking round the fact that the Boks were fresh out of ideas. That edge you’d expect from a South African side was non-existent. The starting XV boasted eight players who began against England in the World Cup final last year, and yet they were unable to imitate such dominance.

Peter de Villiers can expect to come in for some heavy criticism for his selections and rightly so, but if you look at that side that won in Paris, CJ van der Linde was the starting tighthead. In Wellington, however, Van der Linde was given a good lesson in how to scrummage by Tony Woodcock and the Bok scrum was crushed in the most embarrassing fashion.

Our main strength, the lineouts, weren’t much better and the Boks can’t blame all of this on a lack of possession. The wayward throws of Andrew Hore were hardly challenged, and Victor Matfield only seemed to spring to life in the second period, by which stage the All Blacks had overcome their nerves and settled into the saddle. At this stage the Boks were playing catch-up rugby. Not inspiring considering Matfield is to captain the team this week

It comes down to the fact that the Boks started six of their World Cup winning pack. New Zealand’s pack was not first choice when you consider they were missing their key player, Richie McCaw. Rodney So’oialo was forced to play openside, and Adam Thomson and Jerome Kaino were playing their first Test against the Boks - and were hardly placed under the necessary pressure.

It could be said that the honours at the breakdown were shared, but what coach would be satisfied with a drawn result in any department? The goal is to dominate, especially if you are world champions. The number of turnovers may be similar for both sides, but this statistic doesn’t tell the story of how the Boks coughed up possession when they were on the front foot.

South Africa avoided the scrums for obvious reasons, and the scrappy lineouts provided a poor platform for attack. It all points to a lack of a plan. In a professional game, a bit of precipitation is no excuse. You need to employ structure, and you need to stick to it, which is the coach’s fault, not the players. Peter de Villiers showed up all his limitations.

The All Blacks were consumed by the occasion in the opening quarter. They battled the Boks in the tight, and by the time the second half rolled round, they realised they could beat them. Dan Carter no longer needed to kick for space, as the hosts’ steady flow of possession was always going to garner points.

Jerome Kaino’s try was the product of a steady build-up. Consider the disallowed try and another All Blacks drive that was held up, and the margin of defeat could have been far worse for the Boks. New Zealand settled into a pattern and it won them the game.

The Boks never looked like scoring when they took it wide. Their one try was well worked, but off the set piece they never had a hope of crossing the whitewash. In the terrible conditions, they would have been expected to retain the ball and build through the phases, but it seemed there was no plan on this front. The traditional Bok drive was a non-entity, and this is an indictment on the current coaching strategies when you consider how dominant the Bok pack was in France last year.

The English forwards in Paris were better than the All Blacks eight at Westpac, and nothing detracts from the fact that the Boks were beaten by a weaker New Zealand side. Unless South Africa settle on a pattern and bin the helter-skelter tactics, they can expect more inconsistency in their performance and a fast agonising decline from the heights of 2007.