All Blacks Secure First Win in Republic Under Henry

The New Zealand All Blacks downed a clearly off the pace South African Springbok side 45 to 26 at Loftus Versveld stadium in Pretoria. The game was torrid at times, patchy elsewhere and the Africans did play with as much passion as they have to give to the game. Coupled with some cheap shots, it just wasn't enough as they were outclassed in front of a home crowd so obsessed with victory they even cheered injuries to the All Black players.

The South African side were exposed as the average team that they are, by a second string All Black side. It must be said that with the number of injuries to the starting team, by the end of the first half it was beginning to look more like the number one team preferred by coach Henry and the selectors. While the Springboks raced out to a small lead, it never looked like they had any ideas about how to actually go about winning the game. Chief among the players that caused the downfall was Percy Montgomerey who kicked away so much ball he'd be better off playing AFL.

South Africa started with a hiss and roar, whipping out to an early lead in the opening exchanges. What was notable however was that all their scoring plays were from All Black mistakes, and you know that an All Black side is only going to make so many of those in one game. It seems that they made most of those inside the first 20 minutes of the game. The turning point was a 61 metre penalty conversion to first five Daniel Carter who then proceeded to set up the first All Black near try, followed by an actual try to the fat man, Tialata. Go the front rower! Everyone loves to see the porkers running on to a kick out wide to dot down in their first starting test.

In the second half there were a number of tries run in by the All Blacks who sailed away with the game. The Africans were able to bag a couple before full time to make the scoreline more flattering, but you'd always expect that in a game that was over with 20 to go and playing at altitude hard on the heels of a gruelling test. Jerry Collins made some deft moves, including taking a tap penalty kick to set up Sivivatu, as well as putting through an educated grubber kick for Rico Gear to run onto and dot down under the bar as the last try of the match. I have criticised Jerry before about not living up to the hype, but he certainly came good tonight.

Not so good was the lineout, as expected. The Africans won five off the All Black throw, however when Oliver was taken off for Mealamu, and Chris Jack came on, the lineout woes largely dried up. The Africans exploited the weak lineout well with kicks to touch, however this seemed to become their only idea on how to advance the ball and ended up simply kicking away too much ball to the All Blacks who recovered in the lineout. The Africans were comprehensively outplayed out wide tonight, and in midfield where a number of All Black busts began.

Also of concern was the number of injuries to key players. Leon McDonald, Greg Somerville, and Chris Masoe (who played extremely well until being injured - unlucky not to have been awarded a try that appeared to at least deserve inspection by the TMO, but I will concede that the ref was right on the spot) all appeared to suffer serious injury requiring them to be replaced. Ali WIlliams may have more to worry about than drink spiking tonight after belting an African lock that admittedly asked for it. We may hear some more about this, but in my view it was handled appropriately by the referee who in general was adequate, but stopped play too often and failed to let the advantage run in some instances.

The game was a tetchy affair and I doubt that McCaw and Smit will be sharing a drink tonight. Again McCaw copped some heavy attention, but not much more than you would expect a number 7 to cop when he's that good. He made some mistakes early on, but reverted to his stellar levels quickly thereafter and had a good game. Luke McAlister was handy, and the replacements that came on clicked in well to the team. However, this was a test match in name only, the Africans not being in quite the same league as this All Black side.

It is difficult to see where the Africans can go from here. This is now their longest losing streak ever. Their last best hope for a win is against the Wallabies in the last match of this years Tri-Nations. Coach White will be able to point to the last rally by his team, but there was little in that, the game having been won already and the All Blacks clearly playing within themselves. They did after all crank things up a gear to score the final try when required. There were some wonderful tries scored by the All Blacks, particularly some from sustained pressure and developing play - great to see.

So, the readers of this blog got the margin wrong - all bar the 16% that picked a 13+ scoreline. Well done to those of you that are in that group. Two more games to go in this season, and clearly the best team has won the competition again. The talk now will focus on the All Blacks peaking too early, or being chokers, but we'll just have to wait and see if that talk is anywhere near the mark.