SOUTH AFRICA

Christmas comes early for Januarie

Tuesday 15th July 2008

Man of the moment: Ricky Januarie is congratulated by Bok colleague Bryan Habana

South Africa's match-winning scrum-half Ricky Januarie believes his sensational solo effort against New Zealand was one to remember, but doesn't rate his all-round performance as his best against the mighty All Blacks.

Januarie pulled the game out of the fire for the Springboks last weekend who, with four minutes of the match remaining, were staring down the barrel of yet another defeat at Carisbrook.

Since their very first clash against the All Blacks in 1921, the Springboks have failed to record a win in Dunedin from seven attempts. Their last visit to the chilly New Zealand town in 2005 was the closest the men in green and gold have come to snatching victory.

But three years on and the painful memories of the House of Pain were Januarie's gain as the pugnacious number nine turned history on its head with his match-winning try in the 76th minute that brought New Zealand's record run of 30 games won at home to an abrupt end.

Throughout the match, Januarie had punched well above his 80kg and perhaps part of the reason is that he has no problem playing at the daunting ground.

While other players approach Otago rugby's Carisbrook headquarters with hesitation, Januarie couldn't wait to get back there. In fact, he's not sure that this weekend's stellar performance was even his best in a Springbok jersey.

"I'm not going to say this is my best ever game for the Springboks," Januarie told the media after the game.

"That's probably still our 2005 game here when I scored my best try ever.

"So after the final whistle went in Wellington, I immediately put that game behind me and I said this was a new game in Dunedin and I would try and bring back the happy personal memories I had here in 2005."

Of course the Springboks still lost that match, going down 31-27 to a late Keven Mealamu try, so Januarie can take extra pleasure out of the fact his try ended a barren run for the Springboks in Dunedin, and also in New Zealand for the last decade.

"Any time you get a win for the Boks, it's great," said Januarie.

"But the All Blacks haven't lost to us at home for the last 10 years and to be the first team to do it is just phenomenal,"

With South Africa down to 14 men thanks to the yellow-carding of their captain, Victor Matfield, and trailing 28-23, Januarie was able to tear off the side of a ruck and then storm over for a superb try after chipping and regathering the ball.

The 26-year-old Januarie is a scrum-half of great daring, and his try summed up his never-say-die spirit.

"I've been trying the whole time to get around the rucks. I had to use a lot of pace and then I got outside and I had to chip because I couldn't step the last guy," said Januarie.

"I had to kick the ball with the outside of my boot to make sure I got the bounce and I was thinking about the bounce a lot while I was chasing the ball. I was lucky and got the bounce."