Maybe people should look at why we had to do so much defence not use it as an excuse for a poor performance. Lucky NZs halves were terrible in the first half. If SJ was playing the game would have been finished in the first half

One thing is for sure and that is if our half backs (whoever they are for the 3rd test) play that badly again we will lose the series.
We need our half backs to take control from the kick off.

Agreed on both points. The Bateman bashing seems to be a bandwagon, which I'm sure wouldn't be borne out by the stats (which, BTW, I've been unable to find. Any ideas, anyone?). Don't get me wrong, he didn't have a great game, few did, but he hardly merited especial criticism; his contributions with the ball were generally positive.

Even the TV commentator got frustrated saying Bateman's dropped it again!

Bateman had a good game and posed problems, running hard and defending well. He was certainly one of our better players. The "drop" the commentator referred to was Bateman offloading and hitting the tackler, at a time when few other players were seemingly trying to do much to get the necessary score.

Williams having a nightmare was 75% of the problem.

Yes, I heard him. I stand by my contention that he was no worse than anyone else, and better than several.