New Zealand 57 – South Africa 15
New Zealand tied the record for consecutive wins in style as they produced a scintillating second half of rugby in Durban to give the home team a resounding thrashing.
First half
Morne Steyn got the Boks off the mark with a penalty from almost halfway after Todd was pinged for not rolling away.
South Africa had the lead but New Zealand had the ball. The defensive effort from the Springboks was ferocious. They were aggressive and piled numbers into the breakdown forcing errors from the All Blacks.
When Kieran Read was penalised for holding on, Steyn once again converted from the tee to make it 6-0 at 18 minutes.
New Zealand launched a marvellous ensemble move from their own five-metre line and after a dozen phases or so, South Africa finally ran out of defenders as a sublime pass from Kaino gave Dagg the easiest of run-ins on the outside. Having missed an earlier penalty Beaduen Barrett also missed the comfortable conversion. These were not going to be the only kicks he missed on the night.
Israel Dagg – scored a couple
But Dead-Eyed Dick Steyn struck his third penalty goal after hooker Dane Coles slapped the ball out of the hands of temporary scrumhalf Beast Mtawarira.
New Zealand were lucky as TMO Jim Yuille and referee Garces awarded a try to scrumhalf TJ Perenara, ruling he hadn’t lost control of the ball in the act of scoring, though he did. The All Blacks led for the first time in the match and after Barrett couldn’t miss the conversion the All Blacks led 12-9 with seven minutes left in the half.
South Africa showed little ambition with ball in hand, choosing to kick at every opportunity even when it looked easier to run it. New Zealand had 74% possession because the Springboks supplied so much of it.
Half-time score: New Zealand 12 – South Africa 9.
Morne Steyn – scored all Boks points again
Second half
As they so often do the All Blacks ramped up the pressure in the opening minutes of the second half. After multiple phases against excellent Springbok defence a superb offload by Barrett had fullback Israel Dagg over the line for the All Blacks to lead 17-9.
Steyn brought the Boks back to within a score when the All Blacks failed to retreat from an up and under. NZ 17-12.
After the Boks poached a Kiwi lineout the result was ruined when fullback Patrick Lambie’s kick was charged down by Kiwi centre Anton Lienert-Brown and Barrett sprinted with winger’s pace to ground the ball to score.
From the restart a Steyn penalty once again brought the home side to within a score at NZ 22-15 but that was the start of the Kiwi happy hour – or 20 minutes.
Damien de Allende – one of the few Boks to stretch his legs
Perenara got his second try after Barrett put Read through a hole in the Boks defence.
Barrett then had a free run to the line when the Boks were on attack with a rare run, but Mapoe spilled de Allende’s offload and flanker Liam Squire dished out to Barrett who had only grass in front of him. NZ 36-15 with ten minutes remaining.
Lood de Jager picked up a yellow for a shoulder charge and the All Blacks mauled a try to Codie Taylor from the penalty kick; then Ben Smith scored after more ensemble rugby. But the Black Riders were still ruthless scoring their ninth try, after Taylor got sent to the bin and the siren had sounded minutes before.
New Zealand had scored 43 points against their old enemies in the second half and racked up their highest score ever against them, and also their biggest margin of victory against them.
Final score: New Zealand 57-15.
TJ Penera scored two tries showed the All Blacks aren’t missing Aaron Smith
The Wrap-up
The All Blacks ruthlessly exposed the limitations of this Springbok side as they romped to victory. They’ve shown there’s a gulf between themselves and the chasing pack. It will be a daunting task for the Wallabies to try to stop them from claiming the outright record in the final Bledisloe game in Eden Park.
If Allister Coetzee was unsure of the size of the task ahead of him it was laid bare warts and all in today’s record defeat. Political interference means he’s got to tackle it with one hand tied behind his back.
Playing a kicking game against this All Black team is a risky affair but executing it as badly as his charges did today is unforgivable. Back to the drawing board and plenty of soul searching is to be done before the end of year tour.
The Game Changer
Up until Perenara’s second try Steyn’s boot was giving South Africa a flicker of hope being behind just 12-17. But Ben Smith gathered a 20-metre high ball superbly and soon Barrett put Read through a gaping hole in the Bokke defence. The All Black scrumhalf was on hand to finish as the All Blacks snuffed out any chance of a comeback, while showing the home side how to use kicking as an attacking weapon.
Beauden Barrett – Man of the match
Man of the match
Lienert-Brown was the standout in midfield as was Ben Smith at the back. But in a game where only one team showed any ambition Beauden Barrett gave a masterclass in how to run a backline, and he’s my GAGR Man of the Match.
The Details
[one_half last=”no”]South Africa – 15
Penalties: M. Steyn (5′, 18′, 27′, 50′, 59′)
[/one_half][one_half last=”yes”]New Zealand – 57
Tries: I. Dagg (22′, 44′), B. Barrett (55′, 71), TJ Perenara (33′, 61′), C. Taylor 74′, B. Smith 77′, L. Squire (80+’).
Conversions: B. Barrett (33′, 62′, 72′), L. Sopoaga (74,78′ 80+’).[/one_half]
[one_half last=”no”]Yellow Cards: L. de Jager (SA) 73′, C. Taylor (NZ) 80′. [/one_half][one_half last=”yes”]Crowd: tba [/one_half]
Get more match information from NZ Herald.
Highlights
