Marc Hinton believes that the All Blacks are still behind the Springboks in world rugby's pecking order in The Sydney Morning Herald.

"There was something vaguely fitting about the anti-climactic end to the All Blacks' year at Twickenham over the weekend. After the giddy events of Marseille just seven days earlier, perhaps it was appropriate that the year should end on a slightly bum note, with the 18-25 defeat to the Bryan Habana-inspired Barbarians. "After all this has been a far from perfect year for Graham Henry's side, with those three straight test defeats to South Africa, another to the French in the early part of the season, and a number of other rather unconvincing performances along the way. "So even though the All Blacks ended the test year as the world's No 1-ranked side, surely not even they would kid themselves that they sit above South Africa on anyone's pecking order, but the IRB's."