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All Blacks

Springboks

Full Time  
Wellington Regional Stadium, WELLINGTON

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Match Report

New Zealand coach Graham Henry says the All Blacks must improve if they are to continue their dominance at home over Australia in next week's Tri Nations-Bledisloe Cup clash.

The All Blacks trounced a second-string South Africa 40-7 in their Tri-Nations opening match in Wellington but Henry knows the opposition at Eden Park next Saturday night will be a much sterner test for his side.

"I thought our kicking game was average at times," Henry said.

"We didn't defend particularly well from the break down I think ... so we've got some work to do.

"The Australian's are a very good rugby side and if we don't improve in those areas we'll be trouble next week."

Henry was particularly pleased with the performance from his forwards.

"The lineout was very fluent tonight and obviously the boys got scrum dominance as the game went on and we played well at the breakdown. They were the areas last week where we were not as effective as we should have been," he said.

The All Blacks scored six tries to one in the runaway win as they exposed the inexperience of the South African line-up.

The New Zealanders stepped up several levels with a far more controlled performance from the decidedly rusty shake-down against Fiji last week.

Captain Richie McCaw said he could feel a greater intensity in the All Blacks but they could not afford to get carried away by the 33-point winning margin.

"It was not a complete performance. We've still got to make sure we don't think we are good enough yet because at times we got things wrong and turned the ball over," he said.

It was a record-breaking outing for All Blacks pivot Dan Carter, who suffered an off-night with the boot missing four shots at goal but still contributed 10 points to become the top all-time points scorer in Test rugby with 1204, nine clear of England's Jonny Wilkinson.

The Wallabies have their sights set on breaking a decade-long victory drought against the All Blacks in New Zealand after they thumped South Africa 39-20 last week.

Australia have lost their past 11 Tests in New Zealand and haven't won at Auckland's Eden Park in a quarter of a century.

The Wallabies ended a 10-Test losing streak against the All Blacks in Hong Kong last November.

AAP 

2010 Tri Nations - Head to Head Record

Match 1

New Zealand 32, South Africa 12
At Eden Park, Auckland, 10 July

For New Zealand: Tries by Conrad Smith, Ma’a Nonu, Kieran Read and Tony Woodcock; 3 conversions and 2 penalty goals by Daniel Carter.
For South Africa: 4 penalty goals by Morne Steyn.

Halftime: New Zealand 20, South Africa 3
Referee: Alan Lewis (Ireland)

Match 2

New Zealand 31, South Africa 17
At Westpac Stadium, Wellington, 17 July

For New Zealand: Tries by Ma’a Nonu, Malili Muliaina, Rene Ranger and Israel Dagg; conversion and 2 penalty goals by Daniel Carter, penalty goal by Piri Weepu.
For South Africa: Tries by Schalk Burger and Danie Rossouw; 2 conversions and a penalty goal by Morne Steyn.

Halftime: New Zealand 13, South Africa 7
Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)

Match 6

New Zealand 29, South Africa 22
At FNB Stadium, Soweto, Johannesburg, 21 August

For New Zealand: Tries by Tony Woodcock, Israel Dagg and Richard McCaw; conversion and 4 penalty goals by Daniel Carter.
For South Africa: Try by Schalk Burger; conversion and 5 penalty goals by Morné Steyn.

Halftime: South Africa 16, New Zealand 14
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)