All Blacks snatch Dunedin victory

Late Mealamu try seals crucial bonus point win

New Zealand beat South Africa 31-27 in Dunedin on Saturday, with Keven Mealamu's late try giving them not only the match, but a potentially series-winning bonus point in the 2005 Tri-Nations.  South Africa also get a bonus point, but it will be scant consolation to them as they will see this match as one that got away.

Graham Henry, the All Black coach, said this was the final.  Jake White, the Springbok coach, said this was a final.  In that case the All Blacks have won the Tri-Nations.  Funny that Australia's participation is discounted!

After grim singing of anthems, a ferocious Tana Umaga led his team in a new haka of great intensity, which lasted till the final whistle.

The intensity spilled over into the match in which mistakes were severely punished, and was not decided till the All Blacks gained the victory with Mealamu's try.

Both sides gave it their all, but All Blacks were livelier.  For one thing they kicked better out of the hand and chased better to put pressure on the Springbok defence while the Springboks kicked to touch, and this time there was not much to choose between the two line-outs as the All Blacks kept the ball away from Victor Matfield, who had an anonymous match.

It was not a match of great construction except for one moment at the start of the second half when the All Blacks went left and right to the touch-lines.  For the most part they probed at close quarters, using Weepu, MacDonald and Collins around the fringes, seeking to avoid contact with the Springboks out wide, while the Springboks seemed to think that their sole attacking weapon was the battering Barry.

The tackle area was often a wild clash and crash but the All Blacks won the turn-overs.

In the end it was a game of consequences, as it always is.  Luke McAlister, on for Leon MacDonald with 12 minutes to go, kicked down towards the Springbok line.  Falling back Jean de Villiers did not control the rolling ball under pressure from Tana Umaga.

The defence held but in the process the Springboks conceded a penalty for off-side which the All Blacks tapped to charge at the line.  That desperate situation ended when the television match official decided that Richie McCaw had knocked on in trying to score.

That made it a scrum for the Springboks, but in this half the All Blacks had had the upper hand in the scrums and Rickie Januarie had trouble getting a pressured ball to Jaco van der Westhuyzen, who cleared under pressure but only 10 metres from the Springbok line.

The All Blacks mauled the line-out.  The referee played advantage and suddenly Mealamu broke away for a powerful thrust at the line which Januarie, Van der Westhuyzen and De Villiers could not stop.

McAlister's conversion from fairly far out ensured that the Springboks would have to score a try to win.

It was a match that the Springboks had seemed on their way to winning when Jaque Fourie scored a try and Van der Westhuyzen and Percy Montgomery were pinning the All Blacks back in their territory with rolling diagonal kicks.

The Springboks had the better of the early part of the game as they played with a slight breeze at a chilly Carisbrook.  The All Blacks conceded several penalties in the half -- 7-2 was the half-time count -- and Percy Montgomery goaled the first one against Carl Hayman at a ruck.  But thereafter, first Montgomery and then André Pretorius missed kicks at goal.

Two of the tries in the half, which ended 21-17 to New Zealand, came from charge-downs.

Aaron Mauger charged down a delayed kicked by Pretorius.  The ball skidded off parallel to the goal lines and landed up with Joe Rokocoko who sped down the left and scored as Pretorius tackled him.  MacDonald converted from touch to make it 7-3 to New Zealand.

The fifth try of the half also came from a charge-down.  This time it was Enrico Januarie who charged down Leon MacDonald's kick.  The little scrumhalf scurried after the ball, gathered it just before the line and dived over for the try.  That brought half-time.

Januarie also had a hand in the Springboks' first try.  As the ball squirted out of a tackle area towards the All Blacks, Januarie, standing in a suspicious position at best, footed it into the ankles of Piri Weepu.  The ball ricocheted sideways off his ankles and Bryan Habana needed no further invitation.  He gathered it in and raced downfield for a try which Montgomery converted.

MacDonald regained the lead for New Zealand, this time after a big error by Montgomery, compounded by a flap of a tackle.

The Springboks dropped out a long way downfield.  The All Blacks hoisted a high kick in return which Montgomery, not really close to catching the ball, knocked on.  Mealamu charged, brushing Montgomery aside, before sending MacDonald on a canter over the 22 and under the posts.  MacDonald converted.  14-10 to New Zealand after 21 minutes.

The All Blacks now struck a golden seam as they attacked and then scored an unlikely try.  That got untidy ball back from a tackle scene and Rokocoko, standing, then moving, then weaving beat Bakkies Botha, Victor Matfield, Juan Smith and Pretorius in a confined space to score at the posts.  MacDonald converted.  21-10 and it looked as if the All Blacks were cruising.

Just before half-time Schalk Burger and Pretorius were tackling but clashed heads and both went off.  Burger was bleeding and got back on but Pretorius was replaced by Van der Westhuyzen.

Then Januarie stole his try and the score was 21-17.

The intensity boiled over early in the second half after a scrum with several players involved in a fracas.  Referee Joel Jutge, shouting "Please stop" in his finest English, consulted with linesman Chris White about the "little fight" but took no further action as nobody could identify who had started it.

Montgomery and MacDonald exchanged further penalties to make it 24-21 with 20 minutes to play.

The All Blacks played off a scrum.  They gave to Jerry Collins who sought to play inside.  He threw the ball on a laboured loop which Januarie snatched.  Off he went.  Caught by Rokocoko from behind the scrum-half offloaded to Fourie who swept over under the posts.  Montgomery converted and South African fans held their breath.

Now the Springboks led 27-24 with 15 minutes to play.  Would they break the Carisbrook hoodoo?  They looked like doing so till those fatal, consequential last four minutes which delighted the whole of New Zealand.

Man of the Match:  Schalk Burger again for South Africa, despite a battering, was an outstanding player, Bryan Habana got his try and was superb in defence again, Enrico Januarie had a game of extreme ups and downs, and one wished that Jaque Fourie would get a pass or two more.  New Zealand had Leon MacDonald, answering critics, with a varied game of great effectiveness, Tana Umaga with a tackle on Habana to snuff out a possible try-scoring opportunity for the Springboks in this last five minutes, Jerry Collins who had a great first half but faded as them match played on, neat Aaron Mauger, two try Joe Rokocoko, Piri Weepu who tested the Springboks time and again in the first half, and our Man of the Match:  sturdy hooker Keven Mealamu who was all things strong and intent, made a try and scored the one that counted.

Moment of the Match:  The winning try by Keven Mealamu after brilliant work by the whole All Black pack.

Villain of the Match:  Forgive the front rows for their altercation.  It helped the intensity and the spectacle!  Nobody gets this unwanted tag.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Rokocoko 2, MacDonald, Mealamu
Cons:  MacDonald 3, McAlister
Pens:  MacDonald

For South Africa:
Tries:  Habana, Januarie, Fourie
Cons:  Montgomery 3
Pens:  Montgomery 2

New Zealand:  15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Rico Gear, 13 Tana Umaga (captain), 12 Aaron Mauger, 11 Joe Rokocoko, 10 Leon MacDonald, 9 Piri Weepu, 8 Rodney So'oialo, 7 Richie McCaw, 6 Jerry Collins, 5 Ali Williams, 4 Chris Jack, 3 Carl Hayman, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements:  16 Derren Witcombe, 17 Greg Somerville, 18 James Ryan, 19 Sione Lauaki, 20 Kevin Senio, 21 Luke McAlister, 22 Doug Howlett.

South Africa:  15 Percy Montgomery, 14 Jean de Villiers, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 De Wet Barry, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 André Pretorius, 9 Ricky Januarie, 8 Joe van Niekerk, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 John Smit (captain), 1 Os du Randt.
Replacements:  16 Hanyani Shimange, 17 Eddie Andrews, 18 Albert van den Berg, 19 Jacques Cronjé, 20 Fourie du Preez, 21 Jaco van der Westhuyzen, 22 Marius Joubert.

Referee:  Joël Jutge (France)
Touch judges:  Chris White (England), Giulio De Santis (Italy)
Television match official:  Christophe Berdos (France)
Assessor:  Jim Bailey (Wales)

Australia downed, and out!

South Africa head to Dunedin with all to lose

South Africa held off a ferocious second-half assault to sucker-punch Australia with a second Bryan Habana try and win their Tri-Nations encounter 22-19 in Australia, their first win there for seven years.

Bryan Habana was the hero for the Boks with two breakaway tries, one at each end of the game, and the Bok defence was again the key to victory.

South Africa now stay top of the Tri-Nations Championship with three wins from three matches.  The Wallabies stay bottom with just two bonus points from four matches.

The Wallabies made most of the running in the match putting the ball through many phases with the patience their coach Eddie Jones had asked for but the Springboks scored two tries to their one.  Both Springbok tries were scored by speedster Bryan Habana, both when the Wallabies knocked on when hot on the attack.

The Wallabies had most of the possession as they threw into 24 line-outs, the Springboks just eight.  This time, by and large, the Wallaby line-out worked.  It worked near the front partly thanks to Bill Young who moved into Victor Matfield and co. somewhat suspiciously, and when Matt Dunning replaced Young just before half-time he took over what was obviously a spoiling tactic.

The Wallabies also had the best individual runs of the match, notably by Morgan Turinui and, on one brilliant occasion, Drew Mitchell.

Percy Montgomery's goalkicking was not up to his usual standard.  He goaled three penalties and a dropped goal but missed three penalties and two conversions.  Two of the penalties missed bounced off the crossbar.

The Wallabies suffered a setback even before the kick-off when Elton Flatley withdrew because of double vision.  Morgan Turinui moved to inside centre, Clyde Rathbone came off the bench to outside centre and Adam Ashley-Cooper came onto the bench.

From the second line-out of the match -- and the Wallabies threw in to 12 in the half to the Springboks' four -- The Wallabies launched a great attack until, facing a tackler, David Lyons knocked on.  Schalk Burger scooped up the ball and played to his left -- to Jean de Villiers, to Jaque Fourie to Bryan Habana about ten metres from his line.  The rapid wing set off down the field and did not really look in danger of being caught as first George Gregan and then Lote Tuqiri covered.  Percy Montgomery missed the conversion as he did his first two penalty attempts.

The Wallabies paid dearly for a penalty count that went 9-5 against them in the half, but the Springboks also suffered the absence of Breyton Paulse in the sin bin.  During his absence the Springboks scored three points.  The Wallabies' only points were the penalty for Paulse's infringement of coming in the side and kicking the ball when it was on its way back to the attacking Wallabies.

Two of the South African penalties were against Young at scrums.

When Jean de Villiers was penalised for slowing the ball down at the tackle, Matt Giteau goaled a little unsteadily, and for the rest of the match Mat Rogers did the kicking.

Montgomery goaled his first penalty when Rathbone was penalised at a tackle.  That made the score 8-3 to the Springboks after 17 minutes.

When Paulse wandered off to the sin bin, Rogers kicked the penalty goal from far out on his left and it was 8-6 after 120 minutes.

When Al Baxter copped a tough penalty at a tackle, Montgomery made it 11-6 and then extended the lead to 14-6 just before half-time when Tuqiri and others were off-side.

The off-side occurred during a hectic Springbok attack.  First Schalk Burger ran off the back of a line-out and after interpassing the Springboks went wide to their left but a long, wayward pass from André Pretorius squandered a huge overlap.  Habana footed the pass on and a five-metre scrum ensued when Drew Mitchell played it back from the field of play to touch-in-goal.  Young was penalised at the scrum but the Springboks opted to scrum again and attacked to their right where the off-side occurred.

The Wallabies had the better of the second half starting with a long, mazy run by Mitchell when the Springboks were attacking.  He beat five tackles until De Villiers caught him, but that brilliant run seemed to inspire the Wallabies who hammered at the Springbok defence.  When Os du Randt was penalised at a tackle/ ruck, Rogers goaled and it was 14-9.

John Smit won a turnover from his opposing captain George Gregan and the Springboks looked set to score till Rathbone caught Paulse from behind.

The Wallabies had a scrum there but under pressure Mitchell did not find touch.  Paulse passed infield to Montgomery who took his time, concentrating and dropping a long goal.  17-9.

Soon afterwards the Wallabies had their best moment.  From a line-out Turinui burst over Pretorius and when tackled fed Rathbone with a short pass to his right and Rathbone scored under the posts. 

Rogers converted.  17-16 with 29 minutes to play.

Still the wallabies attacked as the Springbok defence looked leaky.  When Bakkies Botha was penalised at a tackle, Rogers missed but when Botha was penalised for a collar tackle, Rogers goaled and the Wallabies led 19-17 with 19 minutes to go.

The home side was the attacking side but they suffered a devastating blow when within striking distance of clinching the victory.  Rogers was the player who knocked on this time.  Montgomery picked up and passed to his left.  Jaco van der Westhuyzen, on for Pretorius, fed Fourie who gave to Habana who sped down the touch-line, beating speedy Mitchell to score the try which won the match.

This means that South Africa will need to do what no Springbok team has done -- win a test at Carisbrook -- in order to win the Tri-Nations 2005 and retain their title won in 2004.

Man of the Match:  For Australia Clyde Rathbone, Dan Vickerman and Mat Rogers had great performances.  Two Springboks certainly stood out even above Jaque Fourie, Enrico Januarie and John Smit -- Juan Smith who was brilliant in the line-outs, with the ball in hand and in the tackle and Bryan Habana, whose defence was excellent.  But it was his two tries that made the big difference in the end to make him our Man of the Match!

Moment of the Match:  Bryan Habana's second try.  It was harder than the first one and its timing made it the vital score of the match.

Villain of the Match:  Presumably it was Breyton Paulse for his yellow card but it was hardly villainy.  Then Bill Young's shenanigans may have been more calculated villainy.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Tries:  Habana 2
Pens:  Montgomery 3
Drop goal:  Montgomery

For Australia:
Try:  Rathbone
Con:  Rogers
Pens:  Rogers 3, Giteau

Yellow card:  Breyton Paulse (South Africa, 19)

Australia:  15 Drew Mitchell, 14 Mat Rogers, 13 Clyde Rathbone (Adam Ashley Cooper, 75), 12 Morgan Turinui, 11 Lote Tuqiri, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 George Gregan (Chris Whitaker, 69), 8 David Lyons, 7 Phil Waugh (George Smith, 69), 6 Rocky Elsom (John Roe, 24-39, 61), 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 Daniel Vickerman, 3 Al Baxter, 2 Brendan Cannon, 1 Bill Young (Matt Dunning, 42-55, 61).
Unused replacements:  16 Stephen Moore, 18 Mark Chisholm.

South Africa:  15 Percy Montgomery, 14 Breyton Paulse, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Andre Pretorius (Jaco van der Westhuyzen, 61), 9 Ricky Januarie (Fourie du Preez, 55), 8 Joe van Niekerk, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha (Albert van den Berg, 65), 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 John Smit (captain), 1 Os du Randt (Gurthro Steenkamp, 58).
Unused replacements:  16 Hanyani Shimange, 19 Jacques Cronjé, 21 Wayne Julies.

All Blacks smash Wallabies in Sydney

Kiwis keep the Bledisloe Cup

Coming back from 13-0 down, for the second successive week, the All Blacks beat the Wallabies 30-13 in their Tri-Nations/ Bledisloe Cup match at the Telstra Stadium in Sydney on Saturday.  The winning margin could well have been greater.

Winning meant New Zealand retained the Bledisloe Cup and kept their hopes alive of winning the Tri-Nations though they would have liked the bonus point which would have come with a fourth try.

Australia's chances of winning the Tri-Nations must surely now be purely a theory.

Australia started well, but then the All Black pack got on top and by the end they were winning the scrum, the tackle and the line-out.

The Wallabies, in their defence, were rendered tattered by a succession of injuries which saw them clear their bench and Chris Whitaker at fly-half for the last part of the match.

New Zealand also suffered a setback when Daniel Carter was helped off with a leg injury but by then the All Blacks led 23-13.

For 68 minutes Australia did not score a point.

Two calls for knock-ons robbed the All Blacks of first a probable and then a possible try.  On both occasion there was the impression that the ball had gone backwards.

There were also close calls for the Wallabies when the television match official judge d that Lote Tuqiri had got a hand to the ball a nanosecond before Carter did.

Rico Gear lost the ball about three metres from the line.  Piri Weepu and Joe Rokocoko managed to knock on a kick with the line beckoning.  A diagonal kick by Carter was gathered by Rokocoko, but Mils Muliaina knocked on the flicked pass from the stately Fijian.

Once Weepu broke blind from, a turn-over but ignored a plethora of support all around him to grubber the ball into touch.  The winning margin could well have been greater.

The opening quarter of the match belonged to Australia, the second quarter to New Zealand, the whole second half to New Zealand.  In the opening quarter Australia went ahead 13-0 after 12 minutes but by half-time the score was 13-10 and Australia perhaps lucky to be ahead.

The Wallaby hero of the first quarter was young fullback Drew Mitchell.  He broke sharply three times in this period, the second producing a brilliant try.

He came in at fly-half from a midfield scrum, beat Daniel Carter on the outside with a hand-off, beat Mils Muliaina and then as Jerry Collins leapt on his back he skidded over for a try on the wet turf.  That try converted by Giteau took Australia to 13-0.  It was a brilliant try from a set piece.

Before the try Giteau had kicked a straightforward penalty when Chris jack was penalised for holding on and then a more angled one when Richie McCaw was penalised at a tackle.

There were during the match, but especially in the first half, several long passages of play as first one side and then the other ran.

Much of New Zealand's efforts were spoilt as the backs tended to run across the field -- after Weepu had taken a step or two or three sideways before passing.  In the second half the All Blacks became more direct.

But it was Weepu who scored New Zealand's first try.  Muliaina countered off a feeble kick and gave to Rokocoko near touch.  The wing bumped Mitchell out of the way and was stopped at the line.  Back the ball came to Weepu who darted, barged and scored far out.  Carter converted.

Aaron Mauger grubbered and Tana Umaga flykicked ahead to keep the pressure on Australia who lost Jeremy Paul to a shoulder injury.  His place was taken by Brendan Cannon, recently back from injury.  He had a rusty match.

Elton Flatley and Clyde Rathbone also came on from recent injury, though Flatley then had to be replaced in the second half, sending Whitaker to fly-half.

Mauger had a great break just before half-time but then threw a woeful pass to his left.

New Zealand started the second half sharply and enjoyed almost complete domination of the half.  The Wallabies' attacking opportunities came almost exclusively as a result of penalties.

Two scrum penalties gave New Zealand the lead in the half.  The Australian scrum was under pressure throughout and became scruffier and scruffier as the match went on.  First Bill Young and then his replacement Matt Dunning were penalised for collapsing and each time Carter goaled, the second time in off the upright.

The Wallabies were defending grimly.  A wobbly line-out left Daniel Vickerman to clean up but he was shunted back and held on in the tackle.  Vickerman penalised, McCaw tapped and charged ahead at George Gregan and other Wallabies to score a try confirmed by the TMO.  Carter converted.  23-13.

The wallabies battered at the New Zealand defence, one at a time with more force than skill till big Stirling Mortlock, whose game had been reduced to a tight forward's speed and mode of play, was tackled.  McCaw won a turn-over off him and suddenly the All Blacks were racing left out of their 22.  Rokocoko took a pass somewhere near the half-way line, ran, chipped, gathered and raced over for a try which he celebrated, rising lark-like from the ground before plunging to earth at the posts.  Luke McAlister, on for Carter, converted.

There was still time and energy for the All Blacks to hunt down a bonus-point try, but in vain.

Man of thee Match:  Richie McCaw, Jerry Collins, Chris Jack Carl Hayman, Keven Mealamu were great in the All Black pack and Aaron Mauger did clever things behind them Joe Rokocoko made a try and scored one.  For Australia John Roe was gallant but our Man of the Match was Drew Mitchell, a young player who was the most electric back on the field, able to flash into effective action.

Moment of the Match:  Drew Mitchell's try was a great one and Joe Rokocoko's even more so but the try from the smallest run was the one that decided the match -- Richie McCaw's try.  The flank put the ball down, tapped it with great concentration, picked it up and then drove with strength and determination.  That try made the win for New Zealand.

Villain of the Match:  None was immediately obvious though a tackle on Morgan Turinui and a tackle on Elton Flatley may not have been entirely wholesome.  But our Villain of the Match was Daniel Carter for a trip after a penalty, a gratuitous bit of silliness.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Try:  Mitchell
Con:  Giteau
Pens:  Giteau 2

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Weepu, McCaw, Rokocoko
Cons:  Carter 2
Pens:  Carter 3

The teams:

Australia:  15 Drew Mitchell, 14 Mark Gerrard, 13 Stirling Mortlock, 12 Morgan Turinui (Clyde Rathbone, 49), 11 Lote Tuqiri, 10 Matt Giteau (Elton Flatley, 36 -- Gregan 74), 9 George Gregan (captain, Chris Whitaker, 66), 8 David Lyons (Phil Waugh, 55), 7 George Smith, 6 John Roe, 5 Nathan Sharpe (vice-captain, Mark Chisholm, 66), 4 Daniel Vickerman, 3 Al Baxter, 2 Jeremy Paul (Brendan Cannon, 34), 1 Bill Young (Matt Dunning, 44-57).

New Zealand:  15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Rico Gear, 13 Tana Umaga, 12 Aaron Mauger, 11 Joe Rokocoko, 10 Dan Carter (Luke McAlister, 69), 9 Piri Weepu, 8 Rodney So'oialo (Marty Holah, 74), 7 Richie McCaw, 6 Jerry Collins, 5 Ali Williams (James Ryan, 76), 4 Chris Jack, 3 Carl Hayman (Greg Somerville, 60), 2 Keven Mealamu (Derren Witcombe, 67), 1 Tony Woodcock.
Unused replacements:  20 Kevin Senio, 22 Leon MacDonald.

Referee:  Tony Spreadbury (England)
Touch judges:  Alain Rolland (Ireland), Dave Pearson (England)
Television match official:  Malcolm Changleng (Scotland)

Boks grind out another vital win

Aggressive defence seals the win for SA

South Africa completed a 100 percent Tri-Nations home record for 2005 when they ground out another vital win, beating New Zealand 22-16 at Newlands in Cape Town on Saturday.  The teams scored one try each, but penalties and some aggressive defence won the day for the Springboks.

It was not the fluid game that most expected, partly due to the north-westerly gale that had sprung up during the course of the day before the kick-off, and partly due to the aggressive defence that disrupted New Zealand's attacking rhythm.

However that suited the Boks just fine.  It was disruption and plunder of the New Zealand ball that was the tactic of choice, and the more ragged the New Zealand attacks became during the second half, the more obvious the outcome.

South Africa's back row swarmed all over the New Zealand half-backs and line-outs, and rushed them into a series of errors, especially in the second-half.  Dan Carter, on whose shoulders a seemingly never-ending shower of praise is heaped, had a terrible game, and despite Aaron Mauger's attempts to bale him out, neither could spark the All Black backs into anything like the life they showed against the Lions.

Nobody who saw the game will ever be convinced that Richie McCaw had fully recovered from his attack of mumps either, so sluggish did the New Zealand pack leader look.  He was also unfortunate enough to come up opposite Schalk Burger, whose maturity, skill, and desire for the full eighty allowed us a glimpse of the truly finished Burger product.  He was an inspiration to his team, as was Victor Matfield, who is fast etching his name onto the tablet of all-time greats.

South Africa were 13-0 ahead after ten minutes.  Percy Montgomery stroked over an early gift courtesy of a wandering hand, and Andre Pretorius stroked over a close-range drop goal for the early advantage.

Then Rico Gear made a sizzling break through the centres, but his support let him down, and Jean de Villiers once again read the offload to intercept and outstrip Rodney So'oialo for the opening try.

Pretorius' drop goal was his lone success from five attempts on a distinctly mixed day for the fly-half, who rarely got his backs into decent motion.  But South Africa's game was not about making points of their own, rather forcing their opponents into presenting them.

Byron Kelleher left the field shortly after De Villiers' try, feeling the after-effects of a massive hit early on by Matfield.  Piri Weepu replaced him, and looked to be the All Blacks' one true source of inspiration.

The All Blacks eventually clawed their way level, through a brace of penalties from Carter and a superb try by Gear.  Jerry Collins' floated pass over the on-rushing Springbok defence was one for every centre to be proud of, never mind a flanker, and Gear took the ball wide and at pace and blazed into the corner.

New Zealand had the upper hand at this point, reading the Boks' defensive rushes and floating a series of passes wide and flat to the pacemen, but Montgomery, Jacques Fourie, Breyton Paulse and Bryan Habana were exceptional in the amount of ground they covered to stymie the moves.  Gear's try was the only one to get away.

Montgomery kicked a simple penalty on the stroke of half-time to give the Boks the lead, and it was a lead they never lost as the wind increased in strength and blew into the All Black faces.

He landed two further penalties early in the second half to stretch the lead to nine, and then the Boks simply defended in numbers.  Not once did an All Black attacker break cleanly for more than ten metres' gain, and the number of SA tackles behind the gain-line was simply phenomenal.  Several times more intercept tries looked on the cards, and several times referee Andrew Cole called the moves back for infringements which might not have been on other days.

Carter, Umaga, and McCaw all knocked on under pressure, and when Juan Smit took the number of turnovers into double figures midway through the second half and Breyton Paulse fired a peach of a kick into New Zealand's left-hand corner, New Zealand's shoulders drooped.

Carter brought them back to within a score ten minutes from the end, but despite the industry in the final part of the game, the Springbok defence held, and South Africa ended a winless streak against the All Blacks at Newlands that stretched back 29 years.  They earned their lap of honour.

Man of the match:  Bok flank Schalk Burger.  Pillaging, rampaging, and DISCIPLINED.  What all have wanted from Burger for so long may finally have arrived.

Villain of the match:  New Zealand lock Ali Williams ought to be censured for the number of times he tried to niggle his opponents, but the reactions of his targets were so exemplary that the niggle was rendered more ridiculous than villainous.

Moment of the match:  When Breyton Paulse fired a spiralling kick 50m back into the corner with 20 minutes to go, after the All Blacks had threatened to break the line several times.  Any New Zealand resurgence faded thereafter.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Try:  De Villiers
Con:  Montgomery
Pens:  Montgomery 4
DG:  Pretorius

For New Zealand:
Try:  Gear
Con:  Carter
Pens:  Carter 3

The teams:

South Africa:  15 Percy Montgomery, 14 Breyton Paulse, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 André Pretorius, 9 Enrico Januarie, 8 Joe van Niekerk, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 John Smit (captain), 1 Os du Randt.
Replacements:  16 Hanyani Shimange, 17 Gurthro Steenkamp, 18 Albert van den Berg, 19 Jacques Cronjé, 20 Fourie du Preez, 21 Wayne Julies, 22 Jaco van der Westhuyzen.

New Zealand:  15 Leon MacDonald, 14 Rico Gear, 13 Tana Umaga (c), 12 Aaron Mauger, 11 Mils Muliaina, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Byron Kelleher, 8 Rodney So'oialo, 7 Richie McCaw, 6 Jerry Collins, 5 Ali Williams, 4 Chris Jack, 3 Carl Hayman, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements:  16 Derren Witcombe, 17 Greg Somerville, 18 James Ryan, 19 Marty Holah, 20 Piri Weepu, 21 Luke McAlister, 22 Joe Rokocoko

Referee:  Andrew Cole (Australia)Touch judges:  Alan Lewis (Ireland), Donal Courtney (Ireland)Television match official:  Nigel Owens (Wales)