All Blacks feel strain as Umaga ruled out

"They can't play this airy-fairy, helter-skelter, throw-it-aroundthebacks and hope to score 50 and hope the opposition get less than 30 way. That won't work from now on," thundered Kirk, seemingly underwhelmed by the fact that the All Blacks of 2003 attack with an abandon and flair that few sides in the history of the game has ever managed.

He added: "They're going to have to show against South Africa that they can play tight, accurate, authoritative, precise rugby and unleash those great attacking backs when the time is right."

Airy fairy? Helter skelter? Allied to the unthinkable idea that here is a New Zealand side which will keep tiptoeing around the rucks like choirboys, you can almost hear the wails of hundreds of grizzled old All Blacks across the Tasman wondering about what's happened to the game they knew.

Reuben Thorne, today's captain, doubtless doesn't care. He said: "The Wales game showed us areas we need to work on in defence - but it wasn't the be all and end all. If a team scores 30 points, it means we have to score 31. We don't rely on it but we want to attack and score tries."

In other words, this All Blacks side trusts in its attacking brilliance, like some rugby version of Real Madrid, to always rack up more points than the opposition, however many tries they concede. Wales score four? They'll score eight. "That's right; we are always confident we'll outscore anyone," admitted Justin Marshall.

Of course, there has never been and never will be an All Blacks side which will be satisfied about getting its line breached, but an attacking philosophy demands even more discipline in organisation and defence - and Thorne's leadership in this area was not greatly in evidence on Saturday.

Fortunately for a panicky All Blacks team without the nous and experience of Umaga to call upon, it was the 30-year-old scrum-half Marshall who came up big in the last 20 minutes against Wales, effectively taking control of the game's direction behind the scrum.

Marshall knows full well the implications of Umaga's absence.

He said: "There's sadness for Tana Umaga because he's been such an important guy for this team for so long but don't underestimate the value he still brings. Players get inspired by just seeing the efforts he's been making to get fit.

"He's a very important leader in our side and in a way he's irreplaceable, even if his absence just puts more pressure on the rest of us to step up."

Marshall has stepped up. Again. The man who's beaten the Springboks more than any other player - 14 times in seven years - possesses no superiority complex, admits that they deserved criticism against Wales but, when they were in danger of being on the end of humiliation, he took responsibility to drive them out of a corner.

Just maybe, as an inspiration, he is now the All Black to replace the irreplaceable.