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New Zealand All Blacks Andrew Hore, left, and Conrad Smith, right, tackle South Africa's Tendai Mtawarira, center, during their Tri Nations rugby match in Bloemfontein, South Africa, Saturday, July 25, 2009. (AP Photo/Str)
Centre Jaque Fourie scored a late breakaway try as South Africa got their Tri-Nations campaign off to a winning start by defeating arch foes New Zealand 28-19 here on Saturday.
Fourie struck eight minutes from full-time as the Springboks were holding on to a four-point lead and a late Morne Steyn penalty deprived the All Blacks of a bonus point.
A series of New Zealand handling errors starting from a scrum led to the crucial try with Fourie accelerating to dive over in the corner at Vodacom Park.
After finishing last in the previous three editions, the Boks were desperate for a winning start to the six-match campaign against the nine-time winners of the southern hemisphere championship.
And the green and gold dominated the opening 40 minutes to turn over 14-3 ahead despite poor goal kicking from fly-half Ruan Pienaar with just one success off five attempts.
The All Blacks drew first blood on four minutes when fly-half Stephen Donald slotted a penalty and fullback Francois Steyn levelled soon after with a penalty from just inside his own half.
Pienaar was then deprived by the woodwork twice within three minutes – hitting the left and then the right post – before Donald also flopped as his second penalty kick dropped just short.
Another penalty effort by Pienaar, son of former Bok fullback Gysie, bore fruit to give the reigning world champions a 6-3 advantage midway through the opening half of a game being dominated by the home pack.
Pienaar scored again after 25 minutes, diving over in the corner for a try after taking a scoring pass from centre Jean de Villiers as the All Blacks crumbled under relentless pressure.
The pivot failed with the conversion, another penalty and an attempted drop goal, but Francois Steyn succeeded with a penalty to leave the Boks 11 points ahead at the interval.
Injury-prone Pienaar was limping late in the opening half and replaced during the break by Morne Styen, who scored with his first penalty shot soon after the restart.
But the All Blacks were back in business on 48 minutes when a backline move after a scrum set up centre Conrad Smith to evade four tackles and dive over with Donald converting.
Donald flighted an acute angle penalty between the posts four minutes later and a 14-point South Africa lead had shrunk to just four at a venue where they were seeking a first win over New Zealand.
Morne Steyn and Donald kicked penalties as the game became error strewn and South Africa entered the final 10 minutes with a four-point lead but without De Villiers, who limped off to be replaced by Wynad Olivier.
After Fourie touched down, Donald cut the deficit to six points with his fourth penalty only for Steyn to land a 54-metre penalty two minutes from full-time.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.