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All Blacks 19, Springboks ... zero!

Brad Morgan

17 August 2008

It happened once in the 19th century and not a single time in the 20th century, but at Newlands on Saturday it occurred for the first time since 1891 as New Zealand shut out the Springboks on South African soil to win their Tri-Nations showdown by 19 points to ... nothing.

Percy Montgomery celebrated becoming the first man to play 100 tests for the Springboks and Juan Smith made his 50th appearance in the green and gold, but neither man will recall the occasion with any fondness.

What is surprisingly, if one looks at the score, is that the Springboks enjoyed far more try scoring opportunities than the All Blacks. However, poor option taking, poor ball retention, and a lack of patience undid all the good work that brought the SA side to within metres of the New Zealand tryline on numerous occasions.

Unreliable lineout

While the Springbok scrum was solid and "Beast" Mtawarira really impressive at loosehead prop, it was the lineout that was strangely unreliable. If anything, the opposite could have been expected.

The All Blacks, led by Richie McCaw's committed example, ruled the loose phases. They succeeded in regularly turning over ball; the manner in which they did so was fine by the reckoning of referee Matt Goddard, but it had Springbok skipper Victor Matfield in a huff.

One got the sense that the difference between a good leader like Matfield and an exceptional leader like John Smit was evident in the cauldron of the high stakes game.

Indignity

When the Springboks faced Argentina at Ellis Park on 9 August they started shakily, making unforced error after unforced error and the story was the same at Newlands from the very first kick of the game. This time, however, the All Blacks didn't let them off the hook and the Boks suffered the indignity of scoring 63 points against the Pumas and a week later scoring none against the All Blacks.

The contest began with Butch James overcooking his kick off and the All Blacks were awarded a scrum in the centre of the field. The Springboks wouldn't have known it at the time, but that mistake was but a microcosm of what was to come. Frustratingly, many of the errors would occur in vital positions and prevent the Boks from scoring points.

After South Africa won an early penalty and opted for a touch finder, they won the subsequent throw-in. Pierre Spies took the ball cleanly, but the untidy play that was to characterise the side's performance showed itself when Spies threw a poor pass and Andries Bekker followed it up with another.

All Black try

Then, with six minutes played and the All Blacks on the attack, they moved the ball to the left on the South African 22-metre line. With Springbok defenders in a straight line in front of the Kiwis, New Zealand captain Richie McCaw grubbered the ball through towards the corner flag.

Butch James flew across on the cover defence, but Conrad Smith just beat him to the touchdown, although the television match official's decision could have been questioned as some replay angles made it appear as if Smith had missed the ball.

Daniel Carter was off target with his conversion attempt, but the visitors led 5-0.

Three minutes later, the Springboks were heavily on the attack and had forced a scrum five metres from the New Zealand tryline. Spies broke off the back of the scum and passed to Fourie du Preez. He spotted a half-gap between two players and, pinning his ears back, took off. Just before he was tackled, however, he somehow dislodged the ball and coughed it up before he made contact with the tacklers.

On the quarter-hour mark yet another promising attack was blunted when Schalk Burger knocked on.

Missed opportunity

With 20 minutes played, the All Blacks had an opportunity to extend their lead when the Boks were penalised for entering a ruck from the side. Luckily for South Africa, Carter hooked his kick and the score remained 5-0.

Five minutes later, Carter was given another chance to increase New Zealand's lead when the Boks were penalised at the breakdown again. The normally reliable flyhalf was off target once more and the gap stayed at five points.

A strong counter-attack from SA was ended when Adrian Jacobs went for a gap, was tackled, and robbed of the ball in the ensuing ruck.

The South Africans were continually on the wrong end of a string of penalties and free-kicks and captain Victor Matfield could barely contain his anger at referee Goddard, who gave Carter another opportunity to raise the size of the All Blacks' lead after 28 minutes. Carter, astonishingly, missed his fourth kick out of four.

After 33 minutes Bryan Habana, who was enjoying a very industrious game, was stopped just short of the All Black tryline. From the resulting five-metre scrum, Spies drove for the line but conceded a penalty, which allowed the Kiwis to once again ease the pressure they were under.

Close

Three minutes from half-time, a good counter-attack down the left flank created some space for Habana. He cut inside and then back outside to dive over in the corner, but television replays revealed that a desperate covering tackle just before the winger cut inside had forced him to step on the sideline. The All Blacks escaped with a lineout.

There were only five points in it at the break, but the Springboks would have been frustrated that they had failed to score after dominating territory and creating by far the better try scoring opportunities.

Five minutes into the second half the Springboks finally had an opportunity to kick at goal – something which they had not had the entire first half. Percy Montgomery, though, hooked his kick slightly and it passed just right of the uprights.

Two minutes later, Montgomery had another crack at goal after Brad Thorn had stupidly blocked Fourie du Preez as he chased through on a kick. Montgomery was wide again.

Habana injured

Sadly for the Springboks, Habana hurt a hamstring chasing the same kick and was replaced by Conrad Jantjes.

After a great kick by Du Preez, the Springboks won a five-metre scrum when Mils Muliana was forced to carry the ball over his tryline. The All Blacks responded by turning the ball over and yet another South African attack deep in New Zealand territory was thwarted.

The All Blacks almost scored through replacement prop John Afoa after 55 minutes, but a last-ditch tackle by Montgomery kept him out. The test centurion left the field shortly afterwards to great applause after having played just less than an hour.

Francois Steyn replaced Montgomery and not long after that Ricky Januarie took over from Du Preez and Luke Watson replaced Burger.

Carter's brilliance

The All Blacks then put South Africa under sustained pressure, taking the ball through 11 phases, before the outstanding Daniel Carter accelerated through a half-gap near the posts. He was half-stopped as Steyn came across to help defend. Carter, though, with exceptional awareness, stretched over and grounded the ball, even though he had been knocked onto his back.

The conversion kick was from in front of the posts and Carter knocked it over for his first successful kick in five attempts. It put the All Blacks 12-0 in front.

Three minutes later, Januarie knocked on as he picked up the ball from a scrum. When Juan Smith played it, he was offsides and Carter was afforded another shot at goal. He missed again and the Springboks escaped being punished.

Desperation

With six minutes to go, the All Black flyhalf forced the Springboks deep into their 22-metre area with a pinpoint touch-finder. Steyn took a quick throw-in and the home side, in desperation, tried to launch a quick attack.

The New Zealand defenders were up quickly to stop it, however, and when Jean de Villiers tried to lob a pass over Keven Mealamu, he came up well short. The replacement hooker gratefully caught the ball and crossed the tryline for New Zealand's third five-pointer of the game, effectively sealing the outcome of the contest.

Carter stuck over the easy conversion and the All Blacks were 19-0 to the good.

Only a few minutes remained and no further points were scored, leaving New Zealand deserved winners by a shocking scoreline.

SA's best

"Beast" Mtawarira was South Africa's best player among the pack, while Andries Bekker was hard-working and did some good things around the field; Bakkies Botha's physicality would have been welcome at the rucks, nonetheless.

JP Pietersen continued his welcome return to form in the backline, but the Springboks, as a whole, underperformed.

Having lost to the All Blacks on home soil, the Springboks need nothing less than two wins over Australia over the next two weeks, preferably with bonus points for scoring four tries on both occasions, to have any chance of winning the Tri-Nations title. Even then, their fortune will not be in their own hands.

The Springboks take on Australia at the Absa Stadium in Durban on 23 August. They face the Wallabies again the following weekend, 30 August, at Coca-Cola Park (formerly Ellis Park) in Johannesburg.