‘Won’t ever get over that’: Scott Barrett reflects on Rugby World Cup pain

It seemed to throw a spanner in the works before the team’s trip to the Republic, but the All Blacks have continued to go about their business as some of the coaches take on further responsibilities in MacDonald’s absence.

“We’ve adapted. The coaches have shuffled in and certainly, we’ve bounced this week and the boys have been energised,” Barrett explained.

“Sort of felt for ‘Rangi’ but obviously those conversations have been had behind the scenes and we’ve moved forward as a group.”

The All Blacks are widely considered to be the underdogs going into Saturday’s Test at Ellis Park. New Zealand have beaten South Africa in three of the last four meetings at the venue, but the hosts are the two-time defending World Cup winners after all.

South Africa smashed New Zealand by a record margin at Twickenham last year, and then there was that World Cup decider. They appear to have improved in the 10 months since that Final, with new assistant Tony Brown clearly making a difference behind the scenes.

“I think the Springboks have certainly got a well-rounded game,” he warned.

“They can challenge you with an arm-wrestle and a real battle at set-piece if they tactically want to go there, and the flip side of that is they’ve shown the last couple of weeks that they can certainly attack.

“Even against Ireland in the (July) series, they’re playing some attacking rugby so we’re anticipating, we’re prepared for that and we’re excited by that.”