[VIDEO] South Africa vs New Zealand highlights: Rugby Championship results, scores, blog, videos

Match result:

FULLTIME – SOUTH AFRICA 20 NEW ZEALAND 27

Another classic clash played out between the Springboks and All Blacks this morning at Ellis Park with the All Blacks managing to prevail by a margin of 7, 27 points to 20.

>>MATCH REPORT: All Blacks overcome Springboks with late try

The first half was played at a frenetic pace, both sides looking to use the ball at most opportunities with the Springboks dominating the play. The All Blacks opened the scoring with a nicely taken penalty from Lima Sopoaga early but from there it was all green. The Springbok defence and breakdown work was aggressive and the All Blacks struggled to find cohesion and were guilty of not committing enough numbers to the ruck. The Springboks were finding space and seemingly breaking the All Blacks first up tackles at will at some points and the pressure eventually told with a nicely worked try by Willie le Roux who was put into space through quick hands.

Despite the Springbok dominance however, they were unable to further their scoring outside a sole penalty to Handre Pollard, with a number of chances squandered through poor options and execution. The All Blacks have made a habit of scoring in the shadows of halftime and today was no different after a superb kick chase from Charles Piutau earned a turnover on halfway and quick ball saw Ma’a Nonu able to put Sopoaga into space from an inside ball who carried to the Springbok 22 and with a floating overhead pass managed to find Ben Smith who finished off the movement around behind the posts.

The two teams were on level terms at halftime at 10 points apiece and the All Blacks would have been very happy with that result after being thoroughly outplayed in the first forty.

The second half also started with plenty of pace and adventure, and the Springboks struck first with a wonderful try to Jessie Kriel, who run a magnificent line to take a short ball from Pollard who had engaged the defensive line from first receiver and had too much pace for the cover defence.

However the All Blacks hit back almost straight after with a carbon copy of the earlier try, this time Dane Coles receiving the short ball from Malakai Fekitoa and Coles had the pace to go around le Roux at fullback and dot down under the posts. Scores were level at 17 all.

The Springboks dominated the next part of the game, earning a penalty to put themselves up by three and after sustained pressure on the All Black line, drew a yellow card from referee Jerome Garces for Sam Whitelock playing at the halfback on the ground.

The Springboks looked to take advantage of their superior numbers by turning down shots at goal in favour of scrums however bad fortune struck South Africa with both Tighthead props having to come off with injury and uncontested scrums were the result with only having Looseheads on the pitch. The All Blacks managed to survive this period of sustained pressure from the Springboks and with Whitelock back on the field managed to wrest the momentum from South Africa and work there way downfield to apply pressure of their own.

Earning a penalty and taking the 5m lineout, the All Blacks pulled off a fantastic set piece move. Looking to the back of the lineout, Read went up with three others, pulling five Springboks to move with them which opened a gap in the middle of the line which Codie Taylor fed straight to Richie McCaw who was unopposed and barged through the tackle of Ruan Pienaar who had no chance of stopping the New Zealand skipper.

With the try converted the All Blacks now had a four point advantage and sealed the match with a late penalty to finish seven points clear at fulltime.

The All Blacks had the composure and experience to finish the match the better and also had more effective contributions from their bench replacements while the Springbok bench did not offer quite the same impact.

Several players stood out from both sides but for mine, Jessie Kriel was the pick of the Boks while Charles Piutau was excellent for the All Blacks and received the Man of the Match award for his fine display.

With two losses, the Springboks are now out of the running for the Rugby Championship and it looks likely this years trophy will be decided next week in Sydney.

Match preview:

Good morning and welcome to The Roar‘s live coverage of this second round clash in the 2015 Rugby Championship between South Africa and New Zealand from Emirates Airlines Park in Johannesburg.

Join us for live scores and commentary, with kick off at 1:05am AEST.

This is a keenly-anticipated fixture on the Test match calendar between two opposing sets of fans and players alike. This is the next chapter in this long standing rivalry between the two rugby nations. Who will earn bragging rights heading into the World Cup in a few months’ time?

Despite both injuries and selections geared towards World Cup selections preventing full strength line-ups being named for today’s clash, both sides have unveiled interesting and exciting teams.

They have named an experienced front three and a dynamic and young locking duo, with Eben Eztebeth and Lood de Jager squaring off against Brodie Retallick and debutant James Broadhurst.

The loose forward battle will be one to saviour as the Springboks trio of Schalk Burger, Francois Louw and the recalled Heinrich Brussow looks exceptionally strong, and will need to be up against a proven mix of Richie McCaw, Kieran Read and Liam Messam.

Looking at both forward packs, the All Blacks are stacked with ball playing and linking forwards while the Springboks present an ominous breakdown threat. A wide game seems to be the intent from the All Blacks, while the Springboks will look to disrupt and rule the breakdown. An intriguing clash between making the advantage line versus ruling the breakdown awaits.

The set piece will also be an area of intrigue, with both starting sides looking to build on solid scrum performance while the All Blacks will fancy their chances of putting pressure on the Springbok lineout missing their supremo, Victor Matfield.

Ruan Pienaar and Handre Pollard are given another opportunity for the Springboks in the halves while the All Blacks roll out Aaron Smith for the first time this season. He is joined by his Highlanders teammate in Lima Sopoaga making his debut at first five-eighth.

Sopoaga has had a tremendous season at the helm for the 2015 Super Rugby Champions and New Zealand fans eagerly wait to see if he can translate that form into the Test match arena.

The Springbok midfield is a quality mix of strength and speed with the Damian de Allende and Jessie Kriel and will look to further cement their claims to the starting midfield with another strong performance today.

They will not have a better opportunity to do so against the experienced and proven midfield of the All Blacks in Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith who no doubt will look to put their inexperienced opposites under pressure.

Both back threes offer skill, creativity and speed in spades and inaccurate kicking from either side is likely to be suitably punished.

Israel Dagg will want to continue his solid form from the Argentina Test from last weekend while Ben Smith makes a welcome return to the starting team on the right wing while Charles Piutau is afforded another opportunity on the left flank. Bryan Habana and Cornal Hendricks offer speed to burn for the Springboks while Willie le Roux will look to create havoc from the back.

The much maligned Springbok bench effort from last week has prompted a few changes in the forwards with Trevor Nyakane, Vincent Koch, Flip van der Merwe and Warren Whiteley charged with providing better impact for the Springbok forwards while Cobus Reinach and Pat Lambie will be after meaningful cameos in the last quarter.

Lionel Mapoe may get an opportunity from the bench as a replacement for the injured Joe Pietersen.

The All Blacks bench provides a mixture of experience in Sam Whitelock, Ben Franks, Wyatt Crockett and Victor Vito along with impact in TJ Perenara, Beauden Barrett and Malakai Fekitoa. Codie Taylor will have another opportunity to press his claims for a World Cup ticket with another strong cameo from the bench.

An exciting match is in store for us tonight and each team strategies will be under the microscope as fans look for signs heading towards the World Cup.

In my view, the All Blacks have more proven combinations and experience and I would expect a more cohesive performance from them than this Springboks side but one can never rule out the Ellis Park factor nor the South Africans passion and the reintroduction of Heinrich Brussow, one of few who can claim a clean sheet of performance against the All Blacks. It is a selection a long time in the waiting in the view of many, may very well prove to be the Springboks trump card.

Join me as we cover all the action live and don’t forget to have your say as the match unfolds.

Tip – All Blacks by 4.