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All Blacks dump Boks in fiery clash

Brad Morgan

7 July 2008

South Africa and New Zealand faced off in a bitterly cold and wet Wellington on Saturday in the opening clash of the 2008 Tri-Nations competition. After a battle of astonishing intensity and physicality, the All Blacks walked away with a 19-8 victory.

After the game it was clear to see that both teams have a huge amount of respect for one another. However, during the contest, there was none of that on show; it was a match filled with niggle, with plenty of off-the-ball incidents.

At scrum time, especially early on, the Springboks struggled badly and that must be a big concern to the national selectors. The tighthead prop New Zealanders rate as South Africa's best, BJ Botha, was left at home (and did a fine job for the Sharks as they dominated the Blue Bulls in the set pieces in a Currie Cup clash) and his absence was noticeable.

Lineouts

The All Blacks dominated the lineouts in the first half by not kicking the ball out and thus dominating the throw-ins. However, referee Stuart Dickinson, who had a poor outing, could be accused of not allowing a fair contest; throughout the first half the New Zealand throw-ins were consistently on the outside shoulder of their lineout jumpers and despite the Springboks' best efforts it was all but impossible for them to get their hands on the ball.

In the second half, as soon as the throw-ins began to move closer to the middle of the lineout, South Africa began to dominate, stealing four opposition balls.

The clashes in the loose were fearsome with the less-experienced All Black trio matching up well against the highly-regarded South African loose-forwards. Schalk Burger, however, with only 15 minutes rugby under his belt in the last six weeks after overcoming a knee injury, was a colossus – a man his size shouldn't be able to get through so much work with so much intensity. Incredible!

His long-time partner on the flank, Juan Smith, was not far behind in his effectiveness, winning a number of turnover balls and putting in plenty of tackles.

Halfbacks

Ricky Januarie enjoyed a fine showing at scrumhalf, working hard not only when he had the ball, but to put pressure on the New Zealand backs and in cover defence. Flyhalf Butch James, though, struggled. It seemed he might have taken a bad knock before he was replaced after an hour; his kicking lacked distance and effectiveness, and he looked as if he was struggling with his breathing and coughing heavily.

Jean de Villiers, at inside centre, enjoyed a fine match. Outside of All Black flyhalf Daniel Carter, he was the pick of the backline players on display. He made a number of good breaks, defended solidly, and teamed up well with Adrian Jacobs, who answered those critics who had questioned his defence in the lead-up to the game.

Bryan Habana had an industrious, if somewhat up-and-down game in which his handling let him down a few times, while Odwa Ndungane had few opportunities to prove his worth.

Jantjes passes test

Conrad Jantjes was bombarded by All Black kicks throughout the match, but he stood up well and enjoyed a good outing. It was surprising when he was replaced by Percy Montgomery late in the game.

Apart from Carter, on the New Zealand side, the team's front row held the edge in the tight phases, while hooker Andrew Hore got through a ton of work. The Kiwi locks, Brad Thorne and Ali Williams, got stuck in and did a fantastic job too.

Midfielders, Ma'a Nonu and Conrad Smith impressed in a fascinating duel against De Villiers and Jacobs.

Kickoff

From the kickoff, the All Blacks swept onto the attack, putting the Boks under pressure, and after just three minutes Butch James was penalised for a late tackle on Daniel Carter. Surprisingly, the New Zealand flyhalf missed a simple kick from an easy angle and distance.

Three minutes later, Carter was given a chance to make amends when the South Africans were penalised for the same offence. This time he was on target, putting New Zealand into a deserved 3-0 lead.

A minute later the most controversial incident of the match occurred. It could have played a major role in the outcome of the contest had referee Dickinson enforced discipline more effectively, but he didn't.

On the counter-attack, Jantjes was caught in a high tackle by Adam Thomson. As Jantjes went to ground, Thorn dived in on top of him, leading with a swinging right elbow. Springbok skipper John Smit saw this and dived on top of Thorn to prevent him inflicting any damage on Jantjes.

Spear tackle

Referee Dickinson blew his whistle at that point to penalise New Zealand for the high tackle. Thorn, though, grabbed Smit, lifted his legs out from under him and dumped him in a spear tackle. All the while Dickinson was calling on him to stop.

Thorn's actions resulted in a massive melee as the two teams went after one another.

Amazingly, after consultation with the assistant referees, Dickinson only warned Thorne and awarded South Africa a penalty. Similar offences have often resulted in red cards, at minimum yellow cards, and if Dickinson had followed the recommendations for such foul play the path of the game could have been very different.

Suspended

As it was, the citing commissioner Tim Harland cited Thorn, who was later suspended for next week's clash in Dunedin. Clearly, Dickinson's response to Thorn's action hadn't been strong enough.

James put over a good kick from 40 metres to draw South Africa level with New Zealand at 3-3.

A short while later the first scrum took place and New Zealand, worringly for SA, overpowered the men in green and gold.

Regrouping, the Boks made good ground up the field on the back of a number of free kicks but, with the tryline just metres away, Burger was penalised for holding onto the ball.

Carter penalty

Halfway through the opening period, the All Blacks moved in front again when Carter knocked over his second penalty.

South Africa has an opportunity to hit back four minutes later when Andrew Hore was penalised for being offsides at a ruck. There was no reward for SA as James' kick was wide of the mark.

Just before the half-hour mark, inside the South African half, Joe van Niekerk threw a poor pass to Jacobs, which saw the centre get the ball and man at the same time. In an effort to make up for his mistake, Van Niekerk flew across to help Jacobs, but dived onto the ball from the side of the ruck, and referee Dickinson had no hesitation in awarding a penalty against him.

Carter stepped up and nailed his kick cleanly to give the All Blacks a 9-3 advantage.

SA try

Five minutes before the break, South Africa stunned the Wellington crowd by scoring a superb try. Juan Smith got things going by winning a turnover. The ball was moved to the left where Jacobs cleverly drew two places before passing to De Villiers, who was in a gap.

The big blonde centre raced up the field and with a perfect pass to his left found Habana steaming up on his outside. The speedy winger dived over in the corner for a well-executed try.

James' conversion was badly off line, but the scores were almost level, with New Zealand only one point ahead at 9-8.

With the halftime whistle beckoning, SA captain Smit left the field with a groin injury. Later he said it began when he was illegally dumped by Thorn early in the game. Bismarck du Plessis took over the duties at number-two.

Half-time

The first half ended with the game evenly poised at 9-8 in favour of the New Zealanders. They dominated the early going, but South Africa had fought back effectively in the latter stages of the half.

Early in the second half the New Zealanders were lucky not to be penalised when Jantjes tackled an isolated Daniel Carter in the All Black 22-metre area.

The Kiwis then swept onto attack and, after a series of charges at the South African defence, a cleverly delayed pass by Carter set up Jerome Kaino for a try out wide on the left. The All Black flyhalf drilled the tough conversion down the middle of the uprights to give the score a very different look at 16-8 to the home team.

With only five minutes played of the second half, the Springboks lost their second front-row forward when CJ van der Linde went off and was replaced by Brian Mujati.

Control

Carter kept the All Blacks on the front foot with his kicking, while the pack controlled the scrums for the Kiwis. The lineouts belonged to South Africa.

On 58 minutes, another bad refereeing decision (although the call most likely came from assistant referee James Leckie) robbed Kaino of a second try. The eighthman was the first to reach a neat grubber behind the South African tryline, but was penalised for being offsides. Television replays indicated the decision was badly wrong; it wasn't even close to being offsides.

Butch James then left the field, looking groggy and weak. Frans Steyn came on in his place, while Luke Watson replaced Joe van Niekerk, which was a strange decision if one considers that Springbok coach Peter de Villiers had earlier in the week said Watson isn't an eightman.

Montgomery for Jantjes

With 17 minutes to play, Montgomery replaced Jantjes. It was a surprising decision because Jantjes had played very well, but the decision was possibly fuelled by the fact that Montgomery's goal-kicking boot would be a better bet to replace James' than that of Steyn.

The danger of Steyn's massive boot was, however, soon on view to all to see when he attempted a drop from 55 metres out. Despite the heavy ball, the wet and the wind, his effort passed just under the bar.

With a little more than 10 minutes to play, Carter added a further buffer to New Zealand's lead when Burger was slightly early on a tackle and penalised for that. It took the All Blacks into a 19-8 lead and for all intents and purposes the game's result was decided.

Narrow escape

There was a narrow escape for South Africa when Carter charged down an attempted clearance by Steyn. Habana, though, beat him to the ball in the in-goal area and dotted down.

Inexplicably, in one of many strange decisions, the television match official, George Ayoub, ruled Habana had carried the ball over the tryline when he clearly had not. Obviously it wasn't clear to Ayoub, but the television commentators saw what most people saw.

Ayoub's decision meant South Africa had to face up to a five-metre scrum. The resulting defensive action almost resulted in a New Zealand try, but a forward charge was held up over the line.

With the result decided, the Springboks went in search of a bonus point, trying to run the ball out of trouble – which had got them into trouble on quite a number of occasions during the course of the game – but it all came to naught as the final whistle brought the curtain down on an attritional battle that would have warmed the hearts of the traditionalists and old-timers.