A rusty All Blacks side, battered by bone-crunching tackles, received a pre-World Cup fright when they scrambled to a 25-16 victory over Samoa in their historic one-off Test in Apia yesterday.
The steady boot of Dan Carter saved New Zealand as the first match in Samoa between the rugby-obsessed nations produced the closest result of all their six meetings.
The Test was the first of a five-match build-up by the All Blacks before they name a 31-man squad for their World Cup defense starting in England in September.
Photo: AP
“It’s the start of a big campaign. We’ll remember this one and move on, but there is some work to do, isn’t there?” captain Richie McCaw said, acknowledging that All Blacks’ frailties had been exposed by a good Samoa team.
“I am not sure words now can actually justify the type of match it was, but I will say to the Manu Samoan team: The way you played, that’s what true Test match rugby is about... You kept coming at us,” he said.
Close marking by the powerful home side and multiple handling errors by both teams meant the clash never reached the free-flowing heights expected. The All Blacks were held to 12-3 in the first half, with all the points coming from penalties. The only tries in the match, scored by All Blacks debutant George Moala and rugged Samoa flanker Alafoti Faosiliva, both came in the second half.
Passions were ignited before kickoff with the All Blacks laying down the challenge with their haka and Samoa responding with their fearsome siva tau. However, after kick-off, the fever rapidly ebbed. New Zealand’s set-piece appeared to click effortlessly into place with a scrum too powerful for Samoa and several stolen lineouts.
However, attempts to run Samoa off the rock-hard ground in the 30oC heat sank beneath a constant wave of close-marking Samoa players, whose thunderous tackles sent All Blacks flying backward. Attempts to change tack with forward drives and a Carter cross-kick to wing Moala failed to breach the Samoa defense.
However, as Johnny Leota and Alesana Tuilagi led a hard-charging Samoa defense, the penalties flowed when the off-side line was breached. Carter was able to land four penalties, while Tusi Pisi replied with one for Samoa in the only scoring before halftime. The Carter-Moala routine eventually paid off early in the second spell when the right wing scooped up a cross-kick and ran 30m to the line.
Faosiliva’s try, 15 minutes from time, was the result of two powerful runs in one move through the flagging All Blacks defense by the Bath loose forward. Tim Nanai Williams’ conversion pulled Samoa within six points of the All Blacks and in sight of a shock result, before Carter kicked his sixth penalty late in the game to put the outcome beyond doubt.
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