Try time: Sam Whitelock
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The All Blacks completed an impressive clean sweep in the Rugby Championship on Saturday, overcoming South Africa 32-16 at Soccer City on the outskirts of Johannesburg.
In a performance worthy of their status as the top-ranked team in the world, New Zealand weathered an early storm to overturn a half-time deficit and eventually run out comfortable winners.
The result extends the All Blacks' winning streak to 16 consecutive games, moving them within touching distance of the world record.
The Springboks led 16-12 at the break having dominated for most of the first half but were given a lesson in counter attacking to be outscored two tries to one in the opening stanza.
The All Blacks reversed the trend in the second period, adding two more tries while denying their hosts any points to underline their supremacy.
It was a classic case of shifting momentum - while South Africa started with a bang and ended with a whimper, the Kiwis progressively upped the tempo until there was only one team left in the contest.
The much-vaunted Highveld crowd mirrored their team's effort as they made it very clear to the All Blacks they weren't in Auckland anymore in the early stages but the corridors were filled with fans leaving the stadium with ten minutes left on the clock.
As was the case a week ago, Johan Goosen missed his first two attempts at goal but the hosts would nevertheless open the scoring with a rare sight: A South African try from a set-piece move. Willem Alberts bust through the All Black defence before offloading to Jean de Villiers, who showed off some juggling skills but managed to hold on. Bryan Habana was in space outside his skipper and had an easy run in, scoring behind the posts.
Goosen had no problems with the conversion and could further extend the lead to 10 points at the end of the first quarter when Brodie Retallick was penalised for a dangerous tackle.
The All Blacks had hardly ventured into the South African half but took their first chance to score in typical fashion, with a blistering counter-attack from broken play to send lock Sam Whitelock over in the corner.
If the hosts weren't already alerted to the New Zealand's ability to punish their mistakes, they were given a reminder on 35 minutes. Habana came flying up in search of an intercept, it didn't work, and Hosea Gear ghosted through the gap left in the Bok defensive line before offloading to Aaron Smith, who finished. Dan Carter's conversion gave the visitors a lead that made a mockery of the possession and territory stats.
The Boks were dealt another blow as Goosen was forced off injured but replacement fly-half Elton Jantjies held his nerve with his first kick to put South Africa back in front at 13-12.
Jantjies found the target again from 48 metres with the last act of the half to give the hosts a deserved four-point advantage at the interval.
The All Blacks moved back in front almost immediately after the restart however after Jaco Taute missed a tackle on Israel Dagg, who combined with Kieran Read to set up a try for Ma'a Nonu.
Disorganised defending cost the Boks another try as Conrad Smith touched down to put the visitors ten points clear once Carter had added the easy extras.
Two misses from Jantjies suggested the Boks' woes at the kicking tee were far from finished, prompting De Villiers to turn down a shot at goal in favour of chasing a try. And it nearly paid off, but Habana was not able to hang on when presented with a chance in the corner.
The last quarter was one-way traffic. Carter added a neat drop and a penalty to move his team well clear...in more ways than one.
Man of the Match There were a number of candidates in black but the official award went to Kieran Read, who was once again the ultimate example of a complete number eight as his ball skills matched his contribution in the tight exchanges.
Moment of the match: The All Blacks' second try, scored by Aaron Smith, summed up where these teams are at the moment. An instance of a Springbok trying too hard to do something special was punished by a clinical finish. Give All Blacks scraps, and they will feast!
Villian of the match: The 'fans' who left early.
The scorers:
For South Africa:
Try: Habana
Cons: Goosen
Pens: Goosen, Jantjies 2
For New Zealand:
Tries: Whitelock, A. Smith, Nonu, C. Smith
Cons: Carter 3
Pen: Carter
Drop goal: Carter
Yellow card: Dagg (66th min - offside)
South Africa: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Bryan Habana, 13 Jaco Taute, 12 Jean de Villiers (c), 11 Francois Hougaard, 10 Johan Goosen, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Tiaan Liebenberg, 17 Coenie Oosthuizen, 18 Flip van der Merwe, 19 Marcell Coetzee, 20 Elton Jantjies, 21 Juan de Jongh, 22 Pat Lambie.
New Zealand: 15 Israel Dagg, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Hosea Gear, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Liam Messam, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements: 16 Keven Mealamu, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Luke Romano, 19 Adam Thomson, 20 Piri Weepu, 21 Aaron Cruden, 22 Tamati Ellison.
Referee: Romain Poite (France), Greg Garner (England)
Assistant referees: Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)
By Ross Hastie at Soccer City
Comments
JayStarr says...
@ new_j4a: No! I can do and say as I want..! And if you can't disagree like an adult, then you are just as bad as anything you think I said.
@ sandal: I am fully aware of what I said and have already dealt with that particular post on that particular feed - I was wrong and I said "I am eating my words as I speak". I am happy to admit when I got it wrong. But besides the fact that the All Blacks HAVE dominated SA recently, I still stand by my original post regarding my prediction - at that point in time that is how I perceived matters. The All Blacks were very good on Saturday, but the Springboks went into half-time with the lead - don't forget that. Despite what newj4all might think, the All Blacks played as well as they did in the 2nd half as much because of their own greatness as the Springboks' (unforced) drop in intensity and standards. If they kept up the pressure and could do basic things such as tackle and catch a ball at key moments, the scoreline would've looked different - and then I wouldn't have been SO wrong after all.
But once again: I can say and predict whatever I want - I can make it as outrageous as I want - I can pick my grandmother at 15 for the Boks in my teams if I want - I can support a team playing against the Springboks if I want... Neither you nor newj4all or anyone except the people who own this site has the right to tell me what I should do more of and what I should do less of - or what I shouldn't do at all. You are not my parents, my professors, my editors or whatever control-freak roles you play in your real lives. I will do and say as I want, kapish?
Posted 09:29 08th October 2012
kitch says...
goldenstatenba.. couldnt agree more. If there were a trophy for irb rookie of the year, surely he would be a serious contender.
i have always held the opinion our big weakness was at half back, and have looked on with envy at just about any other team(esp evident at rwc) and in particular aussie with genia. I hope aaron smiths career is a long one bc never before have our backs had such quick service as what he provides .. just that extra split second seems to make the difference between getting outside your man or getting suffocated by the rush defence!.. and then theres his speed off the mark!
Posted 06:09 08th October 2012
KiwiLad says...
Georgesmith, it may come as a surprise to you, but Rugby is a 15 man game, and neither Dan Carter, or Richie McCaw won the game for the ABs.
The team did it all together, that is why we call it a team, and also why we do not just send one player out to play 15 others, something to think about..
Posted 06:00 08th October 2012
sandal says...
@ JayStarr
In fairness to new_j4a, here is one of your postings to the preview for this match.
""All the people saying the All Blacks will win convincingly: What are you smoking? When last did the AB's beat the Springboks "convincingly" even in New Zealand? Now you excpect them to do that on the highveld after flying back from Argentina? You're saying people are getting carried away after the Boks' performance against a weakened Australia - how about you getting carried away after the AB's performance against a tired Argentina?""
This was a sensational victory, which I am sure you will not deny was convincing. I am sure, too, you will allow that it came in the face of a greater disadvantage than even the travel to and from Argentina and playing on the high veld.
We should all leave the extravagant, boastful forecasts to Trinats, who does it so much better. He is always bragging about what the Wallabies are going to do (never, these days, what they have done), and this bragging adds so much relish to his opponents' enjoyment of actual results.
Posted 05:32 08th October 2012
sandal says...
@jonesrp
You say: ""Anyone else notice Habana nervously look around to the ref after he`d scored...?? He must have thought it was going to be South Africa`s day after that ..""
Yes, I saw that. He probably thought he was going to be called back for the forward pass from De Villiers. The man with the whistle was in no place to detect it, however. But the touch judge was. Anyway, it was close and that sort of thing gets missed all the time. It was a good try.
Posted 04:54 08th October 2012
sandal says...
@new_j4a
I would gladly provide you with the instances you seek. About five minutes into this match I started taking notes, because it appeared it was going to be a difficult night. Note-taking was indeed rewarding. It has not been easy to post, however, because I think PR has placed a stop on any discussion of the officiating in this match. I was unable to post though I made several attempts.
How StunTheMullet got his post in I don't know. After all, it contains two words that have been removed from the penultimate line of the match report, and whose inclusion in my postings seemed to prevent any of them being accepted. The rejection was instant, so presumably automated.
And those two words represent the elephant in the room, which PR is doing its best to ignore. Let us consider this, however:
A whistler who awards no penalties is not policing the game. Agreed?
A whistler who penalises only one team is policing only one team. Agreed?
Would you consider such a whistler to be revealing a bias? Or might it be that the whistler has had a collosal meltdown, and he and the IRB need to address and explain his failings?
Is it possible for any team on the planet to play the first 54 minutes of a game without commiting any offences? Is it possible for it to play the first 68 minutes and commit only one offence? Name such a team. Is it your team, new_j4a? Are the Springboks that team? Or might a fault lie with the whistler?
Posted 04:47 08th October 2012
Weta344 says...
@ Ramage
Bullying from the US against NZ? Hopefully a disagreement amonst friends, surely. Having grown up in NZ as a kid I have a lot of love for Kiwis and the AB's. All of my kids know the haka and I can still sing a few Maori songs even if I have forgotten what the words mean :). I know our two countries don't always see eye to eye, but surely it is in the context of friendship?
Anyhow congratulations to the All Blacks and I think SA played very well. Also I think the Aussies deserve some respect for their showing in Argentina. I expected Australia to lose and not really show up, but they showed a lot of heart. They are fighters to the end and although they are my favorite team to hate I have to respect them. I enjoyed having the Argentinians in the mix this year and I am sure the will be a handful from here on out.
Posted 02:46 08th October 2012
Oceansnz says...
@ Sandal
You my friend, comment well consistently! I always enjoy seeing your comments.
Posted 02:15 08th October 2012
porridge_time says...
My oldest son attends the rugby academy at Hastings Boys High School. He has classes twice a week, they are assessed and marks are accredited to their school certificate.
Posted 01:56 08th October 2012
porridge_time says...
TVaddick...
I've lived in NZ for over a decade now in the Hawkes Bay region. From a very young age Kiwi children are encouraged to participate in sport. Rugby is the national sport, but a variety of sports are available to all from day one.
Children join their local club at 5 and will stay with the club through the grades until they enter secondary school, the schools then take them until they leave. All rugby is weight graded with an emphasis on running with ball in hand, plus the level of coaching across the board from a young age is fantastic.
The majority of secondary schools - certainly the bigger ones - run rugby academies where the talented are given a greater level of coaching. These academies liaise closely with local clubs and provincial teams, with senior pupils attending training sessions etc.
As Ramage points out you only need to look at the quality of young talent in the ITM Cup to understand why New Zealand are continually ranked number one. The NZRFU in my opinion have created a system and structure that ensures that not only do the best players rise to the top, but that they are given all the skills to help them in the professional game both and off the field.
Posted 01:43 08th October 2012
dropkick says...
ABs adding some real value to the game at the moment. Their goal is to win by scoring tries and take the ref out of it. Mr Rolex did all he could to keep Boks in it but ABs 15 man rugger simply overwhelms any and all defences.
SA great for first 20 but at some stage you need to engage the buttons marked brains and talent and unfortunately for the Boks they have precious little of either.
Note to all of the McCheat trolls. Just roll the tape on skullduggery Burger, Spy, Big Bad Botha and kkkrew before you start foaming at the chops. McCaw's goal is to get the pill to someone who can do something with it... i.e. attack. Boks loosies aim is to kill the ball and failing that kill fullstop!
100 wins tells the story. Arise Sir Richie.. to the victor the spolis.
Posted 01:25 08th October 2012
BillyMutt2 says...
Didn't take too long for the usual sour grape suspects to start whining about cheating, etc. Yes, that's you @leebok and you @forward_pass.
If you cannot come up with something intelligent to say, do us all a favor and go spew your drivel elsewhere.
Posted 00:26 08th October 2012
Craig says...
Also want to respond re refereeing and new_j4a's post: in the first half it was one-sided. I only noticed two obvious misses where SA should have been called up - one the forward pass to Habana for his try, and the other when (I think C Smith) the ABs caught a kickoff and were tackled and sacked in the air - I've seen yellows for similar though I thought it was a penalty only. But got no mention from ref.
However, I'm NOT saying the calls against the ABs weren't justified. I think there were 6 penalties against them in the first half and I seem to remember grudgingly accepting all of them were fair bar two - one where we cleaned out a ruck and fell to our feet a few metres beyond it - yes I know the law but it was pedantic, and there were countless rucks in which the Boks blew over and off their feet and were not pinged.
The other one I noticed was where an AB supposedly joined the ruck from the side when the ball wasn't out - it was out and he was not from the side. But on the whole ABs were infringing and got pinged.
My issue was, it seemed the ref was only watching the ABs for that half. I think if we are all being honest a ref could eagle-eye any team and ping them repeatedly. I mean, ball should be fed straight into the scrum, no team can push before ball in etc. That never happens, but refs get on with it regardless. I do think the ref was not being strict (or even paying attention) to SA infringements (esp at ruck time) in that first half.
I'd also like to acknowledge that Rettalick was lucky not to be marched and he needs to cut that rubbish out of his game immediately. And that K Read should have been yellow carded for the collapsed maul near the AB tryline. However I think I Dagg being binned was over the top by many degrees.
So, fairly average performance by Alain Rolland in my opinion, favouring the Boks in the first half, the ABs in the second.
Posted 22:28 07th October 2012
Craig says...
Just want to throw some grounding in here for us ABs fans and some encouragement to the SA fans... Is NZ rugby really better from the ground up? Or have we been incredibly lucky to have our national team guided by a stunning coach (Henry) for so long, and have him followed by his understudy?
Just wanting to put it out there that, on S15 form, SA had probably the best/equal best chunk of players to choose from. Give the Springboks a great coach (and HM may turn out to be - I'm not knocking him) and NZ will lose, sometimes at least, to the Boks (who truly are our traditional rival).
Not taking away from this amazing ABs team, but just aware that SA rugby is not sick like Aust rugby is, it just isn't clicking at the very top level.
And, of course, we've had a healthy squad - SA hasn't.
And two of the best locks of all time (and one of the greatest halfbacks) have recently retired from SA rugby.
Awesome win ABs, but SA will come back. They have youth, strength, passion for their jersey and its history, and clearly good ground-level structure if S15 is a guide. So let's not be too cocky in NZ.
Posted 22:20 07th October 2012
isthatrightref says...
@ Forward_pass... if you go to greenandgoldrugby.com you can buy an "I'm not an alcoholic, I only drink when McCaw's offside" t-shirt: available in envy green, quade yellow & holier-than-thou white, among others.
@ steve_tew... can you please arrange a meaningless 4th Bledisloe somewhere in Asia, there'a a gap in the cabinet where the much-prized DHL Trophy oughta be :-)
Posted 21:17 07th October 2012
nzmaoriboy says...
It was a a great game & it pretty much panned out how I expected (earlier post)The Bok's will be all "HELL HATH NO FURY" for the first stanza..& if they lead they will kick & pressurise to protect it(& wait for mistakes).However if their initial onslaught fails and they fall behind their is no noticeable plan B, it was pretty painful to watch their inability to manufacture any attacking headway in the second half . And this pretty much highlights the week point of their game! I agree with most Saffer posters HM's tactical substitutions were average..The backs couldn't capitalise on good forward momentum in the first half! and it was the reverse problem in the 2nd half, the big boys were puffed and they themselves couldn't give their backs the fast ball they needed to manufacture pressure,position and points.To me that's a serious disconnect in team play and game plan! obviously they will get better. To the posters whom cherry pick instances of cheating and skull duggery by the AB's & McCaw! You sound like your life is full of excuses for everything that doesn't go how you want!(childish much). Fact is McCaw is the SCHIZZ & has been voted as such by his peers! 8 of the worlds former rugby "LEGENDS" 3 times??..So I'm sure your post's wont hurt his feelings that much..And just being a fan I will give Eels & co the benefit of the doubt when it comes to knowing a "little bit" about rugby he he. Love the RUGBY & that is all peeps
Posted 21:02 07th October 2012
Toulousain says...
@golden_statenba. a smith is indeed a real spark! the speed of pass, acceleration, decision-taking and support lines are there for all to see, and really set tempo/fluidity. but people often forget the extra advantages a 9 has in terms of defensive positioning at scrum, lineout etc, e.g. not having to be back 10, being allowed to tackle forwards who have slipped their binds in the scrum, etc. these advantages, when married to his pace and reading of the game, mean he is v disruptive without the ball too!... just watch his movement any time the opposition has a scrum that right shoulders, or lineout that is thrown to the back, or tracking behind for box-kicks. he's everywhere!
Posted 19:53 07th October 2012
new_j4a says...
@sandal who says... "In any event, the All Blacks scored four tries before they were granted a single penalty. That is undeniable and it is stunning, the achievement of a truly great team." I do not follow your logic here (lack of logic, perhaps?). Teams are not granted penalties like some sort of bonus or right. Penalties are used to punish players/teams for misdemeanors and to redress the unfair balance that these misdemeanors create. A dearth of penalties AGAINST the Boks says something positive about their discipline. The ABs ARE GREAT, but this has nothing to do with an absence of penalties against their opposition....unless,...unless you are seriously suggesting that the ref was bent. I would be very surprised if that serious assertion came from someone so sensible. You did make a broad unsubstantiated claim in an earlier post, but we haven't heard the detail so I was assuming that you were backing off that rather rash statement (especially since the only correction to the ref's performance has been to correct the lack of on field yellow against Retallick....a simple mistake, IMO)....Please, if you are going to make slanderous statements, lets have a few facts to back them up.
Posted 19:35 07th October 2012
new_j4a says...
@Forward_pass, provide some examples of this "foul play" I would be willing to bet a large sum of money that you have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Give us a couple of instances: minute:second and the Law violated. Go on, just for fun, you can do it! Cheat a little yourself, ask a friend who has actually played.
Posted 19:19 07th October 2012
TVaddict says...
@Ramage
lol, fair enough! Very true!
Although I am obviously honoured that you would mention my comments to your friends, I'm afraid my comments were misunderstood. I wasn't saying you were racist, I was comparing you to old racist people in how it is amusing in a dark way to hear/read the abusive things because obviously it ultimately doesn't matter. Sorry you thought I'd called you racist, I'm sure your lovely and multicultural and all that. :)
Er.. my comments about the players were complements about the New Zealand depth, did you get that? Or were you answering them directly to be facetious?
Yeah, the New Zealand coaching systems are incredible. I remember watching a documentary about it and it was fascinating to watch. It's a wonder that any other teams ever compete against them! Reminded me of Sparta, where men are brought up to make the rugby ball as much a part of them as their own beating heart! Is it true that at secondary school (so ages 11-16ish) that you can basically do a qualification in rugby? Or is it like a choice between rugby or general P.E. or what? I wonder if systems like that will ever be put into place here in England, it obviously works.
Posted 17:37 07th October 2012