All Blacks edge brave Springboks
Brad Morgan
29 August 2005
The Tri-Nations title will de decided in the final contest of the competition, when New Zealand host Australia in Auckland, after the All Blacks edged the Springboks 31-27 at the "House of Pain" in Dunedin.
It was a bruising battle, well controlled by French referee Joel Jutge, who did his bit to allow the game to open up, which it did from time to time, although both teams made their fair share of errors. It was also a back-and-forth encounter, with six lead changes during the match.
What was encouraging from the Springbok point of view was the maturity with which the side approached the game, never panicking, even when they fell behind 21-10. They stuck to their guns, maintained their game plan and ultimately came within a whisker of toppling an All Black team that earlier this season thrashed the British Lions 21-3, 48-18, and 38-19 on home soil.
Outstanding
Again, the Springbok loose trio of Joe van
Niekerk, Juan Smith, and especially Schalk Burger, was outstanding. Ricky Januarie, while he made a number of mistakes, also produced some points for the Boks with his telling pressure-game, while Jaco van der Westhuysen looked polished when he came on to replace an injured Andre Pretorius.
South Africa were first on the board through fullback Percy Montgomery, who nailed a penalty kick after just two minutes, after the All Blacks had used their hands in a ruck just outside their 22-metre area.
In the sixth minute the All Blacks struck back. Aaron Mauger charged down an attempted kick by Pretorius. The ball spun and found its way into Joe Rokocoko's hands. He sprinted away for the corner and Pretorius' desperate covering tackle was just too late to prevent the pacy winger from dotting down. Leon MacDonald converted well from wide on the left to put the Kiwis 7-3 in front.
Two minutes later Montgomery could have reduced the deficit to a point, but he was wide with
his kick at the posts, after the All Blacks had conceded another penalty at a ruck.
Habana again
After 10 minutes, though, the Springboks were back in front after Bryan Habana added another try to his very impressive record. Strong defence by Juan Smith and Jaque Fourie forced an All Black attack to ground just outside the home team's 22.
When the ball squirted out of the ruck, Januarie was on hand to put pressure on NZ scrumhalf Piri Weepu. And when the ball popped out on the blind side, Habana scooped it up and was up to full speed and away in no time at all to score.
Montgomery added the extra two points to make the score 10-7 in favour of the Springboks.
After 12 minutes, Pretorius attempted a kick at goal from inside his half after Ali Williams was penalised by referee Jutge, again for an infringement at a ruck. Although he easily had the distance, the kick passed left of the uprights.
NZ in the
lead
Ten minutes later, the All Blacks hit the front again. After Montgomery knocked on a high kick, NZ hooker Keven Mealamu recovered the ball. He drove hard to the right, just outside the SA 22-metre area, with the South African defence spread pretty thin.
A couple of Boks missed the tackle before Burger collared him, but Mealamu slipped a short pass to flyhalf Leon MacDonald, who raced onto the ball at speed and raced away from the defence to score New Zealand's second try.
He converted his five-pointer to leave the home team 14-10 up
Only six minutes later uncharacteristically bad defence by South Africa allowed Rokocoko in for his second try of the game and New Zealand's third.
Broken tackles
The winger gained possession of the ball after a scrappy lineout in the SA 22-metre area and broke through attempted tackles from Bakkies Botha, Victor Matfield, and Juan Smith before crashing over with two more Boks on
his back.
MacDonald was again on target with the conversion attempt, leaving New Zealand sitting pretty at 21-10 ahead.
Habana came close to closing the gap two minutes later, narrowly missing out on an intercept that would have seen him away.
Right before the halftime whistle Januarie's impressive harassment of the All Black backline paid dividends when he charged down an attempted clearance by MacDonald, quickly spotted the ball, reversed direction, snatched it up and dived over for South Africa's second try.
Halftime
Montgomery added the extra points, leaving South Africa four points adrift at the break at 21-17 down.
Eight minutes after the restart, Monty was short and wide with a long distance pot at goal. Four minutes later, though, he pulled SA to within a point of New Zealand with another penalty. It came after a good flowing attack by the Springboks which eventually was ended just five minutes short of the tryline,
but only after some illegal play by the All Blacks.
On the hour mark, MacDonald moved New Zealand four points in front once more with a penalty after the South Africans were penalised at a ruck. 24-20 to New Zealand.
Six minutes later, Januarie again played a decisive role in turning defence into attack and then into points.
SA take the lead
With the All Blacks on the attack, he anticipated an inside pass from Jerry Collins. Bursting away, he searched for help, but no one was yet near enough to help. He pinned his ears back and sprinted away, before being hauled in by Rokocoko, but not before he had got a lovely pass away to Jaque Fourie, who crashed over beneath the uprights for South Africa's third try.
Montgomery slotted the simple conversion, putting South Africa back in front at 27-24, with 12 minutes left to play.
With five minutes to play the All Blacks launched an all-out attack on the Springbok tryline. Richie
McCaw appeared to have forced his way over. However, the television match official picked up that he had knocked on in his attempt to score and South Africa survived.
Mealamu saves NZ
A minute later, though, New Zealand made the crucial breakthrough. From a lineout about 10 metres out from the South African tryline they mauled first right and then left. Finally Mealamu broke back right again and incredibly found himself with same daylight in front of him. Three Springboks desperately tried to close his charge for then line down, but it was too late.
Luke McAlister, on for MacDonald, added the conversion to make the score 31-27.
With three minutes to play, the Boks tried to find one final scoring play, but they came up short as New Zealand took their record to seven wins in seven matches against South Africa at the "House of Pain".
"The boys let it all hang out," said SA skipper John Smit afterwards. It was, unfortunately, not
quite enough on the day, but the Springboks did South African rugby proud.
Thanks to the bonus point they secured for four tries in their win, the All Blacks pulled to within three points of South Africa in the Tri-Nations standings. Next week, they know that four points for a win over the winless Wallabies will be enough to lift the title. The Boks have forced the New Zealanders to fight to the bitter end, however.
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