Analysis - The All Blacks are now officially in uncharted territory. Never before has the team had to prepare for another test match after such a monumental hiding, so while the Springboks opened up plenty of wounds in Wellington, the salt will likely keep getting rubbed in for a while yet.
Just how the 43-10 result gets used by the coaching staff and players will be interesting. All Black sides have almost always treated losses publicly by aiming to make up for it in the next test, which they invariably do (especially if that next test is at Eden Park).
Dejected All Blacks players. Photo: Kerry Marshall / www.photosport.nz
However, there could be a way that this one lives a bit longer in the memories and the reason why comes from the team that just handed them the unwanted result. It's such a big deal to the Springboks that Rassie Erasmus literally opened his post-match press conference talking about the time they were on the other side of such a result.
"We've got 57-0. So, you know, there's no need for us to celebrate too much," said Erasmus on Saturday night, referring to the infamous result at North Harbour Stadium in 2017 when the All Blacks handed the Springboks their worst ever loss.
It almost wasn't surprising that Erasmus brought it up, and not for the first time in the fortnight that his team was in New Zealand. He wasn't alone in doing so, because it really doesn't take long for that game to be brought up by any South African. Just the mention of 'Albany' is delivered with a bitter tinge, as it's referring to a deep pain.
Nehe Milner-Skudder returns to the All Blacks starting line-up. Photo: © Photosport Ltd 2017 www.photosport.nz
It almost feels like a self-defence mechanism by Springbok fans, to get it out of the way before any opposition pundit or fan can weaponise it against them.
But it also means they can control the narrative, because it's certainly one worth following. Only a year after the pummelling at Albany, the unfancied Springboks returned to New Zealand and beat the All Blacks in Wellington. A year after that and they became world champions. Six years later, they still are.
If mentioning Albany is the part Springbok fans hate having to do, the payoff they get is to follow it up with what happened next. And boy, they certainly don't mind doing that.
Albany represents a perceived turning point for the Springboks, and while the actual path there is a bit more complicated than simply making amends for one very poor performance, it is remembered and retold rather than repressed in the memory banks.
So do the All Blacks do the same with 43-10 in Wellington? They're going to have to over the next fortnight whether they like it or not, because that's going to be the main line of questioning every time Scott Robertson, his staff and his players face the media in the lead up to the first Bledisloe Cup test at Eden Park.
The two results aren't quite the same, admittedly - the Springboks in 2017 were in a much more dire state having lost to Italy the previous year. The All Blacks aren't anywhere near that state, with the most positive way to describe the weekend as the mother of all blips, given that they had beaten the same opponent the week before.
Whatever the case may be, the analysis on the defeat will be the toughest one yet for this All Black side. There were so many things wrong with the second half performance that it's hard to know where to start, but the main emphasis will be on proving that a capitulation like that can't possibly happen again.
After that, then they can look to build like the Springboks did after their darkest moment.
