Men Against BoysHapless Boks' attempt to stop mighty All Blacks set record for 17 consecutive test victories proves that New Zealanders are in class of their own If there was a doubting Thomas who questioned why New Zealand have now won 17 consecutive tests, yesterday's demolition of their fiercest foe should consign those doubts to the nearest mental scrapheap.No one simply rocks up in South Africa and scores nine tries, but these are things expected of New Zealand.Having seen off a ferocious defensive first-half storm, the All Blacks drilled in 45 second-half points to become only the second side to put 50 points past the Boks at home.The 52-16 hammering at Loftus Versfeld 13 years ago by the same side was easily surpassed and forgotten like the streaker who was swiftly dealt with by the security. The cliché "men against boys" did not come close to justifying the All Blacks' supreme excellence.story_article_left1The final result belied the hard defensive shift the Boks put in in the first half when it was clear they were in for a long afternoon.Whatever positives they aimed to glean from this game were washed away by the relentless black wave that intensified in the second half. They were also their own worst enemies with an absent attacking plan and the needed fitness to keep out the All Blacks for 80 minutes.Steve Hansen's side had 74% of the ball and gained 399 first-half metres compared to the Boks' paltry 41.A similar stat in the second half explained why the Boks did not come close to a try.Two tryless tests paint an accurate picture of the toothlessness of the Boks' attack.The Boks had a big setback in the 12th minute when opensider Francois Louw had to come off with a suspected head knock.It killed whatever foothold the Boks tried to establish.In the helter-skelter build-up to Israel Dagg's 22nd minute try, Jerome Garces missed a clear TJ Perenara knock-on, which allowed the All Blacks an undue advantage even though the Boks had to take a fair share of the blame.Missed tackles from Juan de Jongh and Francois Hougaard on Anton Lienert-Brown and Waisake Naholo gave the All Blacks the necessary space to advance relatively unchecked into the Bok 22.Perenara's 33rd minute try also had an air of contentiousness around it. It looked like he lost control of the ball while trying to score.The Boks were fortunate not to concede a third try on the stroke of half time when obstruction was picked up in the build-up to Brodie Retallick crossing the line.With the All Blacks' ascendancy finding the expected higher gears in the second half, errors crept into the defensive system.This was apparent in Dagg's 44th minute try when Steyn and Bryan Habana slipped a regulation tackle. Again New Zealand showed the requisite patience to expose the fault lines.What little contest remained in the game died in the 55th minute through Beauden Barrett's try after Lienert-Brown charged down Pat Lambie's attempted chip just outside the Boks 22.Lambie's chip was symptomatic of a side whose attacking game is at a similar stage to a baby going through the painful teething process. It is difficult to watch and, at times, a poverty of positive thinking affected the Boks. This showed in the 59th minute when Damian de Allende cut inside with an overlap on his outside.It only took two minutes for the Boks to realise that running straight creates space on the outside, which was the case in Perenara's try when they gave the Boks a lesson in terms of exploiting space. The same transpired in the 71st minute when Barrett completed his brace from a Bok handling error.Codie Taylor, Ben Smith and Liam Squire not only put the visitors past 50, but poured the spirit into the gaping wound.SCORERSSouth Africa (15): Penalties: Morne Steyn (5)New Zealand (57): Tries: Israel Dagg (2), TJ Perenara (2), Beauden Barrett (2), Codie Taylor, Ben Smith, Liam SquireConversions: Beauden Barrett (3), Lima Sopoaga (3)sports@timesmedia.co.za..