Match Details
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19 |
Kick off times:
7:35pm
(Local) Sat 5 Jul
5:35pm
(AEST) Sat 5 Jul
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8 |
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Head to Head:
Played 75 : New Zealand 42, South Africa 30, Drawn 3
Last Time:
16/08/08 : New Zealand 19 - South Africa 0 at Newlands, Cape Town
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The All Blacks have marked themselves as the team to beat in this year’s Tri-Nations tournament with an impressive 19 – 8 victory over the Springboks in an enthralling and pulsating game tonight in Wellington, that was worthy of the title Test match.
On a wet and chilly night in the New Zealand capital, the All Blacks, who were knocked out by France in the quarter-finals of last year’s Rugby World Cup, started well with flyhalf Dan Carter using some intelligent kicking to pin the Boks in their 22.
A penalty against Boks flyhalf Butch James for a late hit on Carter gave the All Blacks a chance to take the lead after just two minutes but Carter, unusually, hit the post from right in front.
The Boks however failed to clear from the rebound and a minute later Carter got a second chance from a penalty right in front for offside. Carter this time made no mistake to put New Zealand up 3 – 0 after five minutes.
From the kick off a melee ensued after All Blacks lock Brad Thorn upended Springbok captain John Smit. The result was a penalty to the Boks with James goaling from forty metres out to level the scores.
The All Blacks dominated possession in the first ten minutes, causing enormous problems for the Boks at the scrum but South Africa absorbed the early pressure and began to win some turnover ball with flanker Juan Smith particularly impressive.
The game settled down to become an enthralling contest between the All Blacks speed and skill and the Springboks power and commitment.
On twenty minutes Carter put the All Blacks back in front from a penalty on the 22 about 15 metres in from touch after Smit gave away a penalty for offside at a lineout.
The Boks had the chance to even things up soon after, following a strong burst from flanker Schalk Burger, which led to All Blacks hooker Andrew Hore straying offside at the breakdown.
But James missed the penalty attempt from 40 metres.
Again Carter’s excellent kicking game put the Boks on the defensive and when No.8 Joe van Niekerk was caught coming in at the side of a breakdown after he launched a counter-attack, Carter added his third penalty from 40 metres out to put New Zealand out to 9 – 3.
But it was the Bok’s who scored the first try, 5 minutes out from half time.
Dangerous inside centre Jean De Villiers galloped through a gap on halfway after a neat pass from his centre partner Adrian Jacobs. De Villiers then put Bok speedster Bryan Habana away on a sprint down the touchline, which was finished with a long range dive into the left corner. James however missed the conversion to keep the All Blacks a 9 – 8 ahead at half time.
But the All Blacks were further in front soon after the re-start after some sustained pressure in the Boks 22 and some slick ball movement saw the ball come wide to No.8 Jerome Kaino who forced his way over outwide.
Carter landed a superb conversion from out on the left hand touchline to give New Zealand some breathing space at 16 – 8.
The game began to open up as the half progressed and the fast pace suited the All Blacks who began to find gaps in the South African defence.
The All Blacks were right on top and could have gone further ahead when Kaino collected a superb Carter grubber kick to dive over but he was penalised for offside by referee Stuart Dickinson and the try was disallowed.
Giant South African flyhalf Francois Steyn came on for James with 25 minutes to go and the change sparked the Springboks into some threatening attacks.
But the All Blacks held on and an “early” tackle on replacement fullback Leon MacDonald led to another penalty goal to Carter to put New Zealand out 19 – 8 with only ten minutes to go.
The Rugby World Cup quarter-finalists, New Zealand, continued to press in the remaining minutes but the World Champions, South Africa, held them out to keep the deficit to 11 points.
The team’s now move on to Dunedin in New Zealand where they will meet in the second match of the Tri-Nation’s next Saturday.
Full time score:
Tri-Nations 2008
All Blacks 19(Jerome Kaino try; Dan Carter 4 penalties, conversion) defeated Springboks 8 (Bryan Habana try; Butch James penalty) in Wellington. (Half time score: New Zealand 9 – South Africa 8)
