A respected South African reporter has gone on the record to say what he thinks will be the All Blacks' undoing should they lose to the Springboks in Sunday morning's Rugby Championship Test in Cape Town - desire.
Local rugby pundit Mark Keohane said in his latest column for Sport24 he was "eternally optimistic" about the Test at Newlands but believed the South African side have a real opportunity to upstage the All Blacks.
"I think the Springboks can beat New Zealand at Newlands," he wrote.
"But ... and here's the but ... it will be more because of New Zealand's lack of desire than anything else should the Boks win.
"The occasion is all set up for a South African victory. The desperation is with South Africa. The match is an 'after the fact' Test for the All Blacks. They've already won the Rugby Championship and the bigger picture for Steve Hansen is the end of year tour to the Northern Hemisphere."
The All Blacks have said this week is a mental test due to their travel from Buenos Aires to Cape Town.
But Keohane noted that unlike their build-up in Buenos Aires, the All Blacks have known all this week they already have the Rugby Championship won.
A South African reporter tried his best to get an answer out of Sam Whitelock as to why NZ are so successful at lineout time against the Springboks. (Source: Other)
"How does a player get up for a match in a competition that has already been won? The intention will always be to put everything on the line but the mindset is always different from a player when there is nothing to win.
"The All Blacks, without question the greatest team in the modern era and the most dominant international sports team of the last decade, have proved to be at their most vulnerable in these so called dead rubbers.
"The All Blacks, in all their test matches this season, have also looked decidedly disinterested once the match seemingly has been won, which in many instances in this Rugby Championship season has been within 30 minutes of kick-off."
The reporter then brought statistics and averages into the fray to try and back up his argument.
"If not a rare Springboks success against the men in black on Saturday (4am Sunday, NZT), then when? Everything points to this being the day for the men in green and gold.
"The averages suggest that the Boks are due a win because they've only had one in the last 11, and the trend in the last five years would indicate that South Africa poaches a win every six tests against the All Blacks.
"It may be clutching at straws, but straws are all I have when assessing the possibilities of a Springboks win."
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