- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
New Zealand extended their world-record home winning streak to 30 matches when they beat South Africa 19-8 in the opening game of the Tri-Nations rugby series tonight.
The All Blacks chipped away at South Africa’s world champion status and No.1 ranking, outplaying their opponents in most aspects of a match played in wet, windy and bitterly cold conditions.
South Africa, who have not won a match in New Zealand in 10 years, had looked to the game as a chance to prove the validity of their top world ranking, which came as a result of their victory in last year’s World Cup in France.
New Zealand’s scrum was superior to South Africa’s, their previously troubled lineout was sound and their loose-forward trio, a perceived weakness, was vastly more constructive than South Africa’s.
“This was a very important match for us,” said Rodney So’oialo, who replaced Richie McCaw in two crucial roles as New Zealand’s No.7 and captain.
“We worked very hard for this all week and we got the result we wanted.
“The first 15 minutes of the second half were crucial. They were hard to crack but we managed to get on top and to stay there.”
Both teams scored one try, South Africa through winger Bryan Habana in the first half and New Zealand through No.8 Jerome Kaino in the second.
All Blacks flyhalf Daniel Carter created the winning margin by kicking a conversion and four penalties from six shots at goal. South Africa’s Butch James kicked a single penalty from three attempts.
From the outset the All Blacks pinned South Africa into defence with an accurate tactical kicking game and from their own eager and mobile defence.
“It was just fantastic. We showed a lot of guts tonight,” All Blacks assistant coach Wayne Smith said.
“We kicked particularly well and when we kicked we put the heat on. We made one error on the short side when Habana scored but generally the attitude was to be good on defence and we did that today.”
New Zealand took the lead with a Carter penalty after four minutes, but that was answered two minutes later by James.
Further penalties from Carter in the 20th and 27th minutes put the All Blacks ahead 9-3 but the Springboks put themselves into the match with Habana’s try three minutes before halftime.
Centre Jean de Villiers made a clean break from broken play and fed Habana, whose pace was too much for New Zealand’s chasers.
New Zealand turned up the pressure in the second half and profited when Kaino scored in the 45th minute after super lead-up work by Carter, prop Tony Woodcock and lock Brad Thorn.
Carter’s conversion gave the All Blacks a 16-8 lead and his final penalty, 10 minutes from fulltime, made their lead unassailable as the conditions steadily deteriorated.
“It was hard out there tonight,” said Victor Matfield, who replaced John Smit as Springboks captain when Smit left the field with an apparent knee injury.
“We needed to get on top of them right after halftime but we couldn’t do that. They showed us how to hold onto the ball in wet weather.”
The sides meet again next Saturday in Dunedin.
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.