Springboks suffer a Black-out in Cape Town
August 16, 2008 - 8:39pm
Story by: ARU
The All Blacks put themselves in the box seat to claim their fourth successive Tri-Nations with a comprehensive 19-0 victory over the Springboks in Cape Town tonight.
The loss means the Qantas Wallabies can lose both their Tests in South Africa and still claim the Tri-Nations by beating the All Blacks in Brisbane on September 13 but after watching the match from the stands at Newlands, Wallabies coach Robbie Deans may be hopeful his team can do well in their upcoming matches.
The Boks experienced troubles at the breakdown all night and the All Blacks took full advantage.With an unlimited supply of ball no team can hold the All Blacks.
Taking their lead perhaps from the way the Wallabies defeated the Boks at the breakdown in Perth, the All Blacks dominated at the tackle area to such an extent that the Springboks became the first South African team in over 100 years of South African Rugby to fail to score in a Test at home against the All Blacks.
The stats were clear : the possession went 65% to 35% to the All Blacks and the Turnovers Conceded went against the Springboks by 29 – 12.
The Test had been set up perfectly for the Springboks. It was played in a packed Newlands Stadium on a beautiful Cape Town day with clear blue skies.
The match was already memorable as it marked the 100th Test of Percy Montgomery, the great Springbok fullback, the first South African player to ever reach that extraordinary milestone. To make the moment even more potent Montgomery’s children came out to celebrate with him before the kick off.
If that wasn’t motivation enough for the home team, rugged flanker Juan Smith ran out for his 50th Test.
A loss would put the destiny of this year's Tri-Nations in the All Blacks' hands, so as they say there was plenty to play for, for the team in green.
The All Blacks put extra energy into their haka, pulling out the Kapa O Pango which they reserve for special occasions when they need added inspiration, but it was completely drowned out by a fired up Cape Town crowd beating on small drums handed out for the purpose.
You felt for the man at the centre of this very fiery cauldron – young Australian referee Matt Goddard.
The All Blacks had all the early ball, keeping it in hand, but were met by fierce Springbok defence and surprising pressure at scrumtime, with the first three New Zealand scrums screwing badly.
But the Boks seemed to be overcome by the emotion and the All Blacks remained able to keep their cool, the possession and territory.
After some uncharacteristic South African errors the All Blacks spread the ball wide on the South African 22. The ball came to captain Richie McCaw who put a grubber kick through that bounced kindly for centre Conrad Smith to ground it in the left corner. Flyhalf Dan Carter missed the conversion but after five minutes the All Blacks led 5-0 at a shocked Newlands.
The Boks started to enjoy some possession and territory as they finally came into the game after ten minutes but a knock on by South African scrumhalf Fourie du Preez, a ruck penalty against hooker Bismarck du Plessis and a forward pass by Adi Jacobs saw three good chances go begging.
The Springboks had picked a kicking team with Montgomery and Du Preez both starting but they seem determined to run the ball at ever opportunity, a policy that suited the All Blacks.
The All Blacks were also utilising short grubber and chip kicks to turn around the Springboks rush defence.
All the pressure was coming from New Zealand and it would have been no surprise to see them go further ahead but Carter missed a penalty shot on 20 minutes.
The Springboks looked like they were through a few minutes later but Goddard pulled back inside centre Jean de Villiers for obstruction.
The rub of the green seemed to be going very much in the All Blacks favour as Carter was given another shot at goal on 24 minutes but again the talented flyhalf put the attempt wide.
The Springboks had a chance soon after going very close when winger J P Pietersen regathered a kick ahead but again the All Blacks turned the ball over on the line.
Soon after All Blacks winger Sitiveni Sivivatu hobbled off with what looked like a hamstring injury and was replaced on the left wing by Auckland utility back Isaia Toeava.
On 30 minutes Goddard again penalized the Springboks at the breakdown and Carter had another shot at goal, which again, went wide. Carter had now missed four shots from four.
The Boks now had pressure on the All Blacks line with two scrums five metres out. From the first rampaging No.8 Pierre Spies went close, charging over McCaw. But the All Blacks held on with magnificent committed one-on-one defence and superb work at the breakdown again causing game-changing turnovers.
Bryan Habana looked like he had evened things up just on half time with a superb individual effort but a foot in touch ruled the try out and the All Blacks held on.
Despite a helter-skelter end to the half, the teams went to the break with the All Blacks still narrowly ahead at 5-0.
The Boks had to re-think their work at the breakdown if they were to come back into the game with New Zealand playing Crusaders like Rugby, led by McCaw, where they played to the ball at every ruck turning the ball over time and time again.
South Africa would have to commit more players or the glut of possession would still go New Zealand’s way.
Montgomery had a chance to bring the gap back to 2 points five minutes into the second half when the Boks were given a rare penalty, for a late shoulder charge from scrumhalf Jimmy Cowan on his opposite number Du Preez.
Montgomery’s chance went wide but shortly after he was given another chance after another shoulder charge off the ball on Du Preez, this time by lock Brad Thorn, but again the man playing his 100th Test went wide.
Six shots at goal for six misses was now the combined total for the game.
Habana then went off injured with replacement Conrad Jantjes coming on and there was a change in the front row for the All Blacks with John Afoa coming on for Greg Sommerville.Cowan was replaced soon after with Piri Weepu coming on.
Afoa could’ve wrapped up the game on 55 minutes when he just failed to ground the ball in the left hand corner after some sustained All Blacks attack.
The Boks continued to put pressure on both the scrums and lineouts but South Africa still refused to compete at the breakdown so New Zealand dominated possession and the Springboks could not get any continuity.
More changes on 60 minutes with Du Preez replaced by Ricky Januarie and Luke Watson coming on at flanker for Schalk Burger, whose impact on the game had been greatly negated. Shortly afterwards Hore was replaced by Keven Mealamu.
New Zealand were so dominant it seemed only a lucky try would rob the All Blacks of an increasingly deserved victory.
Montgomery was then replaced by Frans Steyn, his 100th game sadly not one of his best in the Springbok jersey.
With the Boks refusing to compete at the breakdown it gave the All Blacks unlimited tackles and after 15 phases in the Boks 22, (South Aftrica would have been lucky to have three continuous phases in the game), Dan Carter burst through for a try under the posts on 65 minutes to sew up the game.
Carter converted, the first succesful shot at goal on the day, to give the All Blacks an unassailable 12-0 lead.
It got even worse with five minutes to go as Mealamu took a wayward de Villiers pass to go in close to the posts. Carter converted to give New Zealand a 19-0 lead and with five minutes to go the All Blacks were now looking at an unimagined bonus point victory.
They just failed to do that but they leave South Africa with a job well done. McCaw was given the Man-of-the-Match at the end but it could easily have been Carter or 20 other All Blacks.
What and how the Boks can turn it around next weekend is anyone’s guess.
From the Wallabies side, the Men of Gold must know if they stick to their game plan over the next two weeks, keep their composure and play anywhere near their best, they could come away with their first win on South African shores since 2000.
Tri-Nations
Full time score
All Blacks 19(Conrad Smith, Dan Carter, Keven Mealamu tries; Carter 2 conversions) defeated Springboks 0 at Newlands in Cape Town. (Half time: All Blacks 5 – South Africa 0)
