Analysis - In an era when unwanted history is rapidly becoming part of the weekly All Blacks news cycle, another milestone was reached when TAB released its odds for this Sunday morning's second test against the Springboks at Ellis Park.
The All Blacks of 1998 (top) and 2022 have both had to deal with some tough losses. Photo: PhotoSport
At $2.70, this 2022 All Blacks side have officially drawn their longest odds ever in the history of sports betting in New Zealand, which stretches all the way back to 1996.
It was only two years after that the All Blacks entered their last period of steep decline. Compared to what has happened to the team recently, 1998 felt like the All Blacks simply fell off a cliff - after all, they had come off a series win in South Africa and then an unbeaten season in 1997 that had seen them play a then-record 12 tests (the only blemish being a draw against England in the final match of the year).
John Hart was riding the wave of success on and off the field, instituting structures around the team that are still in place today, which gave the All Blacks a head start over other nations when it came to adapting to the newly instituted professional game. However, by 1998, others had started to catch up and the All Blacks had seen the departure of Sean Fitzpatrick, Zinzan Brooke and Frank Bunce.
Things started out alright with a series sweep of a very, very bad England side that showed up in New Zealand having shipped 76 points in a loss to the Wallabies on the way over. So hopes weren't just high of claiming a third successive Tri-Nations championship when the All Blacks met the Wallabies at the MCG, but perhaps even maintaining momentum that would culminate in a World Cup win a year later.
So the subsequent 24-16 loss was a bit of a shock. Then came an even ruder shock at Athletic Park, when the Springboks handed the All Blacks their first loss at home in four years when they won 13-3. That became three in a row when the Wallabies triumphed in Christchurch 27-23, then the Boks won again in Durban 24-23. To cap off the misery, a third Bledisloe test in Sydney was taken by the Wallabies 19-14.
This was, of course, pre-social media and pretty much pre-internet (at least in New Zealand). The violent backlash against the team, its captain Taine Randell and Hart for the worst set of results in almost 50 years was channelled through talkback radio and letters to the editor. But was it entirely fair? Looking through the lens of history, probably not.
First of all, the losses were all to not only the strongest opposition of the time, but two of the greatest Wallaby and Springbok sides ever. The Australian backline that took the All Blacks apart at Lancaster Park was Gregan, Larkham, Roff, Horan, Herbert, Little and Burke. The majority of that side went on to win the 1999 World Cup.
The Springbok win in Wellington was their 12th in a row, which included two over the Wallabies and scoring 96 points on a hapless Welsh team less than a month before. They would go on to record 17 test wins on their streak, which equalled a record set by the 1965-69 All Blacks.
On closer inspection, three of the five losses to both sides that year could have easily gone the way of the All Blacks with a bit of luck anyway. Remember, this was the pre-TMO era, so Jeff Wilson's disallowed first half try at Athletic Park probably would have been awarded. James Dalton's match winner at Kings Park most definitely would not have, especially since Dalton himself later admitted he never got the ball anywhere near the ground. The last loss was on a knife-edge until a Wallaby try a minute from time.
But they were all losses, no matter how close. That's why even mentioning '1998' evokes such painful memories for All Black fans it's unlikely Hart's team from that year will ever really be afforded an objective reprieve.
Can Ian Foster's reign maybe look forward to one, eventually? There are factors, Covid being the main one, but really there have been no qualms at all over the nature of the losses and this decline has been far more of a long term haemorrhage than the seemingly instant decapitation in 1998.
Hart did survive that year, mind you. We'll soon know what Foster's fate is.
Photo: Photosport