The All Blacks again ran the world champion Springboks into submission to win the second Tri-Nations rugby Test 31-17 with another four-try bonus point performance in Wellington yesterday.
A week ago in Auckland in pristine conditions, the All Blacks won 32-12, but were just as dominant in the blustery, wet conditions in Wellington with their high-paced, accurate, running rugby.
The margin could have been higher had the usually reliable Dan Carter not had an off-night with the boot, missing three conversions and three penalties before he was replaced by Piri Weepu as kicker.
In two Tests against the reigning World and Tri-Nations champions, the All Blacks have scored eight tries and conceded only two to firmly lay to rest their nightmare of last year’s 0-3 whitewash by the Springboks.
South Africa were again punished for ill-discipline. A week after Bakkies Botha was yellow-carded, his replacement Danie Rossouw was sent from the field in the fourth minute and the All Blacks snared two tries before he reappeared.
However, it was the All Blacks’ ability to recycle the ball and counter-attack, even when deep on defense, that the Springboks found hardest to handle.
All Blacks coach Graham Henry said the recent victories were down to how the All Blacks have adapted to new law interpretations that allow for quick recycling of possession.
“We were prepared to play rugby from a fair way out from the goal line and were prepared to attack from our own half and that resulted in a couple of tries,” Henry said. “The new interpretation of the tackle law has changed the game a lot. It allows you to get continuity of possession and to build to score points and the guys did that exceptionally well.”
After the first Test hammering, South African captain John Smit said his side had faith in their traditional forward power game and did not need to match the All Blacks’ free-flow style, seeing improvement despite Saturday’s result.
“The result is still the same — we lost the game, but there were far more positives to pull out for our side,” he said, adding however that he was not happy with Rossouw being sent off for kicking McCaw. “It does put us on the back foot. We had a chance with Dan missing some early kicks which made the deficit only 10 points, that’s a point per minute he was off the field.”
“Ten points is still an easy target to follow but they kept coming and kept getting good ball and kept stopping our ball,” he said.
For the second week, the Springboks found their forwards could not dominate the All Blacks eight and their kicking game only served to feed possession to an attacking machine.
Although Victor Matfield regained his lineout dominance, taking four off the All Blacks, the Springboks struggled in the scrums while All Blacks loose forwards Richie McCaw and Kieran Read controlled broken play.
The All Blacks opening try followed Carter’s first missed penalty. Read gathered in the Springboks restart to ignite a counter-attack that resulted in Ma’a Nonu scoring in the right-hand corner.
Play had no sooner restarted when Weepu, who repeatedly found inviting holes around the Springboks ruck, cut through a gap deep in All Blacks territory to send Mils Muliaina on a 40m run to the line.
Carter’s one successful penalty in the first half stretched the All Blacks lead to 13-0 before Rossouw made partial amends for his indiscretion, charging from deep behind a ruck to crash over the line.
Morne Steyn added the extra points and the Springboks had reduced the deficit to 7-13 at half-time.
Steyn cut the gap to 10-13 with a penalty soon after the resumption, which drew an immediate response from the All Blacks with Rene Ranger, in his first Test start, scoring in the corner. Weepu then landed a 40m penalty to put the All Blacks up 21-10 with 10 minutes gone in the second half.
Replacement wing Israel Dagg beat four to score, while Carter resumed the kicking duties to land the conversion and another penalty to put the All Blacks up 31-10 before Schalk Burger scored the Springboks second try.
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