Perth painted green and gold

They came, they saw, they conquered!  South Africa took one step closer to bagging their third Tri-Nations title after beating Australia 32-25 at Subiaco Oval in Perth on Saturday.

The Springboks remain unbeaten in the tournament following their fourth win on the trot, while the Wallabies -- after four consecutive defeats -- have officially been knocked out of the series.

Australia will look back and rue a poor first half performance that saw the South Africans run in three tries that helped the visitors along to a game-breaking 22-6 half-time lead.  The Wallabies came out firing after the break, but the damage had already been done.

It was a balanced outing from the world champions who silenced their critics who labeled them as "boring", by crossing the opposition whitewash four times to end a polished display with a crucial bonus point.  They blitzed the Wallabies with a high tempo, high risk approach in the first quarter, then battered them up front and with a solid tactical kicking game in thereafter.

This Perth triumph was arguably the best from the number one ranked side in the world, since they dismantled the men in gold in Johannesburg last year.  One feels a replication of this performance in Brisbane or Hamilton in the next fortnight will see the trophy return to South Africa and cap a superb year for a brilliant team.

In fact, had Wallabies winger Lachie Turner not found his way over for a consolation try on the stroke of full-time, South Africa could have recorded their highest winning margin on Australian soil since 1971.

South Africa were simply too quick, too strong, too smart and far more precise and clinical than the home team.  By contrast the Wallabies willing game was mistake-ridden, particularly at the key moments.

A solid scrummaging effort -- reaping three penalties -- was well and truly offset by more turmoil in the line-outs.  Three times Australia paid dearly for poor throws to the back within a five minute period early in the second half after a jinking Matt Giteau try had put them back into the contest at 22-13 down.

Turner's converted try at least gave Australia a losing bonus and a hint of respectability to the scoreline, but nothing could hide the fact they were completely outmuscled and outplayed that now puts the Boks nine points clear of New Zealand with two matches each to play.

Giteau, Australia's shining light, finished with a personal haul of 20 points but simply can't be relied upon every time to get his country out of trouble when there are fourteen other players on the field equally able to do the job.

Giteau was getting slow service from Luke Burgess from phase ball and set pieces and struggling for combination with inside center Adam Ashley-Cooper, who was playing his third different position in three Tests to cover for injured midfield regulars Stirling Mortlock and Berrick Barnes.

Australia need a collective team effort, plain and simple -- this is something that was clearly missing on the night where the Wallabies were blown away by some clever plays from John Smit's rampant Boks.

The Wallabies were put on the backfoot from the opening whistle, and the Springboks were 12-0 up within nine minutes.  Scrum-half Fourie du Preez underlined his class and immense value to South Africa when his side were awarded a free kick after some great interplay between the backs.  Du Preez, alert as ever, quick-tapped and smashed through four tacklers to score.

Centre Jaque Fourie then crossed untouched after Giteau was terribly exposed in defence from a midfield scrum.  What seemed like the simplest of conversion attempts, was fluffed by Morne Steyn as the ball came bouncing back off the upright.

Giteau also missed two penalty attempts before finally landing one in the 28th minute for a 15-3 deficit, but the Springboks soon further asserted their dominance.

Du Preez launched a huge up-and-under which Turner couldn't control.  The ball spat loose to Bryan Habana who cracked on the gas to leave a string of Wallabies players in his wake.  Steyn added the extras and even though Giteau banked another three points, their 22-6 half-time lead was an imposing one.

Giteau reduced the margin to nine points with a converted try three minutes after the break, beating four defenders following a quick tap.  Whatever hope home fans had of a Wallabies comeback, were quickly dashed when Habana strolled over for his second touchdown of the match.

Habana would have been the most relieved South African on the pitch after spilling the ball just one minute prior to his bonus-point try with the line at his mercy.  Steyn made no mistake with the conversion and a penalty seven minutes thereafter.  At 32-13 the result was effectively sealed.

Needing three converted tries to win the game and with twenty minutes remaining, Australia -- in panic mode -- brought on their bench and started to look dangerous when Quade Cooper went on at fly-half and allowed Giteau to move one place wider to inside center.

Giteau then earned a second try in the 75th minute when he straightened the angle of attack after Cooper dragged three defenders across field and gave him an inside ball.  Giteau rushed his conversion attempt, and missed as a result.

With time up on the clock and South Africa's replacements on the sideline already giving high-fives for a job well done, Turner managed to sneak in for a try from a standing start to give the hosts some credibility.

The 2009 Tri-Nations trophy is surely now South Africa's to lose.

Man of the match:  To single out individuals in a collective effort as impressive as the Boks would be unfair, but the performance of their loose trio, and the physicality and relentless defence of the tight forwards must be lauded.  As must the flair of Jean de Villiers and Bryan Habana's finishing.  But in his 50th Test it was scrum-half Fourie du Preez who stood tallest.

Moment of the match:  All four of South Africa's tries had their own moments of magic, but perhaps Du Preez's opener signaled that these men in green and gold meant business.

Villain of the match:  A few pushing and shoving here and there, but nothing to write home about.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Tries:  Giteau 2, Turner
Cons:  Giteau 2
Pens:  Giteau 2

For South Africa:
Tries:  Du Preez, Fourie, Habana 2
Cons:  M Steyn 3
Pens:  M Steyn 2

Australia:15 James O'Connor, 14 Lachie Turner, 13 Ryan Cross, 12 Adam Ashley Cooper, 11 Peter Hynes, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Richard Brown, 7 George Smith (c), 6 Rocky Elsom, 5 Mark Chisholm, 4 James Horwill, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements:  16 Tatafu Polota Nau, 17 Al Baxter, 18 Dean Mumm, 19 David Pocock, 20 Will Genia, 21 Quade Cooper, 22 Drew Mitchell.

South Africa:  15 Ruan Pienaar, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 John Smit (c), 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements:  16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Jannie du Plessis, 18 Andries Bekker, 19 Schalk Burger, 20 Ricky Januarie, 21 Adi Jacobs, 22 Frans Steyn.

Referee:  Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)
Assistant referees:  Chris Pollock (New Zealand), Vinny Munro (New Zealand).

Carter kicks All Blacks to victory

A late penalty from Dan Carter -- as a result of a pinpoint territorial kick -- gave New Zealand a win and the Bledisloe Cup on Saturday after a 19-18 win over Australia in Sydney.

For Australia, the defeat ends their competitive aspirations for another year.  They came up just short under the pressure in the end, unable to find the inspiration necessary to close the game out, which has been a theme of their play under Robbie Deans.  It's been an anti-climactic time, full of improvement but without project completion.

Signs are now there of mental fatigue, the sort that comes from losing so many close matches that you end up not believing you can win.  It's yet possible Australia could go the course of this tournament without winning a game, which would not befit a team with its undoubted talents, but until they find a way of controlling the game better they will continue to fall short.  At 15-6 ahead with 25 minutes to go, this game was there for the taking.

New Zealand may have got their blade back.  Australia were not shredded by any means, but the control of the breakdown and contact situation the All Blacks exerted in the second bodes well for the potentially decisive clash against the all-bullying Boks in Waikato on September 12.  It was a step up from the disaster of Durban.

Dan Carter's return helped things as he gave a lesson to Stephen Donald in the art of kicking consistency from the hand.  Sitiveni Sivivatu counter-attacked superbly.  But the real work was done by the forwards, whose support and ferocity were outstanding.  Each and every breakdown was dominated by black shirts, illegally too often in the first half, physically far too well in the second.

In contrast to Carter and co. Australia's kicking was distinctly average.  It did not help to lose Berrick Barnes and James O'Connor, but there were too many loose kicks and too many to silly places.  With Sivivatu running so well, the last place you'd want to kick would be down his throat, but there it went three or four times in the second half.  Small details, but it made a huge difference.

However gripping it ended up being, the first half was a bit of a non-event.  Neither side strung much together, while Jonathan Kaplan's stringency at the rucks would eventually open the game up but ensured that the first half was interrupted by no fewer than 15 penalties.

Australia, publicly instructed to cut down their penalty count, fell foul of Kaplan's whistle twice in the first two minutes.  Rocky Elsom, back playing for the first time in three months, tackled Richie McCaw in the air for the first, Matt Giteau was a little unfortunate to be deemed offside from a knock-on for the second.  Carter stepped up to give New Zealand the lead.

Giteau equalised and then gave the lead back to Australia, with the All Blacks twice penalised for hands in the ruck -- once extremely dubiously -- and once for not rolling away as Australia found some rhythm with the ball in hand.

New Zealand fought back, once again finding weakness in the Australian scrum, for which Al Baxter swiftly paid the price with a first-half substitution.  Fury was etched all over his face as he slumped onto the bench and spewed forth expletives, but he can't have too many complaints, he was fundamentally undone by Tony Woodcock.

The hands began to do the talking for the All Blacks too, not so much with the ball going wide but with keeping the ball alive.  It eventually yielded space for Luke McAlister out on the left, but Giteau covered the attempt at a grubber and pounce finish.

Then the visitors blotted the copybook with ten minutes of bizarre slackness in both mind and body.  A plethora of handling errors ruined rhythm, four penalties were given away, including one for dissent that gave Giteau the chance to make it 9-3.

Right on the half-time whistle came a moment which could well be one that Australians will look at as pivotal.  Berrick Barnes made a break and Nathan Sharpe took the ball on, stopped just short of the line.  With the defence scrambling, Jimmy Cowan killed the ball about as cynically as could be and was penalised.  But there was a clear case for a yellow card, particularly with the ongoing infringements by the All Blacks mounting and the game might have taken a very different course had New Zealand begun the second half both 12-3 down -- Giteau landed the penalty -- and a man down.

As it was, Australia were a man down within moments of the second half starting, when Richard Brown upended Owen Franks.  Carter missed that penalty, but nailed one a minute later for a stray hand in a ruck, then watched on as his forwards committed the same offence and allowed Giteau to make it 15-6.

From then on, the All Blacks took control.  With Brown off, the forwards attacked the fringes and found plenty of change as Australia ran out of tacklers.  Cowan had a try disallowed for a technical obstruction by Jerome Kaino, a marginal call.  Carter found his target from the tee to make it 15-9.  New Zealand's forwards kept up the pressure and as first O'Connor and then Barnes disappeared to injury, Australia's answers to Carter's territorial control dried up.

The game opened up, with Joe Rokocoko making a mess of an overlap after seizing on the confusion in Australia's defence by a wicked kick bounce.  Peter Hynes was sent away on an overlap, but opted to kick ahead rather than look inside to where Adam Ashley-Cooper was in space.

But New Zealand found the breakthrough, with Kieran Read -- highly impressive at eight -- tearing onto loose ball at speed and handing to Sivivatu, whose pace created enough room for Ma'a Nonu to loop outside and score in the corner.  Carter landed a fine touchline conversion to make it 16-15.

Australia have struggled in situations like this in the past, but this time they hit right back, earning a penalty by the posts with some good rucking and enabling Giteau to give them back the lead.

But a terrific kick by Carter into the corner and some fatal hesitancy from Lachie Turner and Drew Mitchell saw the latter hold onto the ball too long in a tackle and Carter stepped up to stroke the winner home.

Robbie Deans quietly summed up the mood around the stadium immediately after the match saying:  "We came up short" and pausing for a good seven seconds before adding:  "again".

Man of the match:  the New Zealand pack takes a multiple award for its work -- it's tough to single one out.  But the contribution of Sitiveni Sivivatu was inestimable to the team's threat.

Moment of the match:  Tries are harder to come by these days (but all the more thrilling because of it), but the key moment in that try was a no-look scoring pass from Sivivatu to Nonu.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Pens:  Giteau 6

For New Zealand:
Try:  Nonu
Con:  Carter
Pens:  Carter 4

Yellow card:  Brown, 43, Australia, dangerous tackle

Australia:  15 James O'Connor, 14 Lachie Turner, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Berrick Barnes, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Richard Brown, 7 George Smith (c), 6 Rocky Elsom, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 James Horwill, 3 Al Baxter, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements:  16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Ben Alexander, 18 Dean Mumm, 19 David Pocock, 20 Will Genia, 21 Ryan Cross, 22 Peter Hynes.

New Zealand:  15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Josevata Rokocoko, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Luke McAlister, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Isaac Ross, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements:  16 Aled de Malmanche, 17 John Afoa, 18 Jason Eaton, 19 Rodney So'oialo, 20 Brendon Leonard, 21 Stephen Donald, 22 Ma'a Nonu.

Referee:  Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)
Assistant referees:  Craig Joubert (South Africa), Cobus Wessels (South Africa)

Boks strike gold at Newlands

South Africa underlined their Tri-Nations intentions with a clinical 29-17 victory over Australia at Newlands in Cape Town on Saturday.

An upset was on the cards after Wallaby full-back Adam Ashley-Cooper crossed for a try in the opening minute of the game.

But the Springboks bounced back in emphatic style, conjuring up a trademark performance of brain and brawn that bore forth 24 points from the metronomic boot of Morné Steyn and a try for old soldier Victor Matfield.

The result represents more than one South African hand on the Tri-Nations trophy, it extinguishes any lingering doubts about South Africa's standing as the world's best team.

They saw off the best of Britain and Ireland, recorded consecutive wins over the All Blacks and have now handed a frisky Australian side a lesson in structured rugby.

Once again the hosts were outscored in the try department -- Matt Giteau followed Ashley-Cooper over the whitewash -- but what does it matter when you hold such territorial mastery?  Not even Cecil Rhodes was this hungry for land.

It's telling to note that all but one of South Africa's 12 penalties were awarded within reasonable range of the gold posts.  Of the dozen, Morné Steyn converted seven and Francois Steyn missed another.

By way of contrast, Australia were awarded eight penalties, none of which tickled the fancy of Giteau's left peg.

South Africa's game plan is as simple as it is effective:  brutal defence, solid set-pieces, dynamic counter-rucking and, most importantly, field position.  It's not the most attractive way to play rugby, but the beauty is that it's almost impossible to trump.

Australia thought the antidote could lie in shaking South Africa out of their structure by playing it fast and loose.  It worked well enough in fits and starts, but these Boks are far too experienced to be flustered by a team in its early adolescence.

Ashley-Cooper's early try was, in retrospect, the worst possible start for Australia:  it stung like a boot in South Africa's collective backside.

Seething counter-rucking squeezed three quick-fire penalties out of Australia and the locals had nudged ahead by the 13th minute.

Berrick Barnes won back the lead with a smart drop-goal, but a penalty and drop-goal combo from Morné Steyn pulled South Africa clear -- and there they remained, without even the briefest look over their shoulders.

With a cushion of points in place, John Smit saw fit to add a little jazz to the Boks' sheet music by dinking through the daintiest of grubbers for the on-rushing Bryan Habana.  Lachie Turner managed to get a hand to it, but the bobbling ball was snatched by the giant mitts of Matfield who crashed over for the unlikeliest of tries.

Australia's day then went from bad to worse.  Much worse.

In quick succession they lost their captain, Stirling Mortlock, to injury and Giteau and Richard Brown to the sin-bin -- the fly-half earning his time for an ugly, airborne challenge on Fourie du Preez;  the flank for finally breaking the patience of referee Alain Rolland at the breakdown.

The Boks profited from Brown's misdemeanour via Morné Steyn's boot to leave the game all but out of reach of the visitors at 23-10 at the break.

Australia made a better fist of the second period.  The rust that ruined their passing game in the first half fell away (what kind of tournament allows a side to sit around for three weeks after their opening game?) and they began to play their rugby in South Africa's half.

Whilst Australia's line-out was nothing short of abysmal, the gold scrum held up surprisingly well and they were even able to repel a five-metre scrum on their own line.

But they were, again, powerless to prevent Morné Steyn from sending over his sixth penalty as the game ticked towards the hour mark.

A sublime break from young James O'Connor, on for Mortlock, put Australia within striking distance of the green line and Giteau finally knifed through to score his side's second try.

But it was too little too late, and Morné Steyn -- who else? -- drilled home that very point by landing his seventh penalty of the afternoon at the death.  It doesn't get more ruthless than that.

Man of the match:  Schalk who?  Morné Steyn deserves praise for his work, but he is afforded an armchair ride by his forwards, and the man winning him the lion's share of kickable penalties was Heinrich Brüssow.  We have suspected it for a while but it is now official:  the Boks have unearthed a flawless diamond.

Moment of the match:  Surely Victor Matfield's try -- or rather John Smit's outrageous grubber!  The frustrated fly-half deserves to be heavily fined for behaviour that would surely have caused self-respecting props to weep shameful tears on to their meat pies.  Let's hope big Bakkies Botha also answers to the name 'Enforcer' in the bar.

Villian of the match:  No debate here.  Matt Giteau can expect a visit from the citing officer for his reckless, elbow-first 'challenge' on the airborne Fourie du Preez.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Try:  Matfield
Pens:  M Steyn 7
Drop:  M Steyn

For Australia:
Tries:  Ashley-Cooper, Giteau
Con:  Giteau 2
Drop:  Barnes

Yellow card(s):  Giteau (Australia) -- body-check, 34;  Brown (Australia) -- off-side, 35;  Smith (Australia) -- hands in the ruck, 78.

The teams:

South Africa:  15 Frans Steyn, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 John Smit (c), 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements:  16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Jannie du Plessis, 18 Andries Bekker, 19 Danie Rossouw, 20 Ricky Januarie, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Adi Jacobs.

Australia:  Adam Ashley-Cooper, 14 Lachie Turner, 13 Stirling Mortlock (c), 12 Berrick Barnes, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Luke Burgess, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 George Smith, 6 Richard Brown, 5 Nathan Sharpe, 4 James Horwill, 3 Al Baxter, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements:  16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Ben Alexander, 18 Dean Mumm, 19 David Pocock, 20 Will Genia, 21 Peter Hynes, 22 James O'Connor.

Referee:  Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Assistant referees:  Nigel Owens (Wales), Tim Hayes (Wales)
Television match official:  Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)

All Blacks bustled out of Durban

A crisis is looming in New Zealand rugby after the All Blacks fell to a second consecutive Tri-Nations defeat in South Africa, 31-19 in Durban on Saturday.

Morne Steyn scored every single one of his team's points with a terrific display of place-kicking.

The All Blacks had challenged themselves to respond from last week's defeat in Bloemfontein.  But their comebacks lacked incision and/or punch.  At times they ran at illusory gaps in ridiculous field positions, at other times the passing was so woefully inaccurate you wondered if they had done any linking work at all in training in the week.

Some players ran when they should have kicked, others took contact when they should have run, others kicked when they should have taken contact ... the list of wrong options goes on.  However much laent talent there is in this team, it is simply not gelling.  Whether that is a brains trust matter, a matter of the personalities or mentalities of the players themselves or a lack of leadership is difficult to say, but one thing is clear, if this is the squad trusted to take New Zealand rugby forward, it needs to sit down together and thrash out a number of issues regarding strategy, handling and teamwork, for all three were errant here.

Another thing clear is that Joe Rokocoko badly needs a rest.  His talent is as unrefutable as his current form is atrocious, and Graham Henry cannot afford to hang him out to dry any longer.  A spell scoring tries in the Air New Zealand Cup would be just the tonic the big wing needs.  Another international appearance like this could scar him for life.

He was not the only one to have an off-day on Saturday though, with Stephen Donald going a good way to proving his doubters right, Ma'a Nonu once again subdued and Sitiveni Sivivatu inexplicably error-prone.  Even Richie McCaw fell prone to some extraordinary mistakes during the second half, a disturbing development for All Black fans to witness.

South Africa once again made it as ugly a win as can be, but find a Springbok supporter who cares.  The beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and none of the green-clad present will find a more beautiful vision on Sunday than the Tri-Nations table, nor would they remember one more than the departure of the twice-beaten All Blacks.

We mentioned in our preview that statistics tell so much of rugby's tale.  Here's a few from this game:  New Zealand made twice as many handling errors:  28-14.  New Zealand gave away penalties:  14-8, New Zealand lost line-outs on their own throw:  4-1.  New Zealand lost their own scrums:  2-0.  Did South Africa win this or did New Zealand throw it away?

A bit of both really.  South Africa never once let up the pressure on their opponents, harrying, chivvying, bulldozing and squeezing out all the errors and penalties, with Morne Steyn's boot punishing everything it was given the chance to.

Once Rokocoko and Sivivatu had revealed their fragility under the high balls, the Boks were merciless in their exploitation.  The panic that set in and the pressure the All Blacks put themselves under to pass and run their way out of the holes was fast food to the Bok defence, which was just as merciless in its sacking of any isolated All Black -- there was an inexplicably high number of those too -- as it was in pouncing on the handling errors and punishing the infringements.

The teams exchanged penalties early on as Nigel Owens stamped his authority on the game.  He was consistent, if stringent, and controlled the game with his usual measured schoolmaster approach, challenging the teams to respond.

New Zealand responded first, with Richie McCaw making a break from a line-out on his own 22 before setting Nonu and Muliaina away, but with Sivivatu slipping it seemed the move had died.  But there was Rokocoko to flip the ball out and Isaac Ross once again displayed a flash of his immense promise with the try in the corner.

Donald converted from the touchline to make it 10-3 after ten minutes and briefly, advantage All Blacks.

But back came the Boks with the pressure.  High balls, big tackles, vigorous rucks.  An offside after 14 minutes, 10-6.  Holding on isolated in the tackle, 10-9.

Another breakout from the All Blacks, led by Muliaina was halted by a high tackle on Jimmy Cowan, which saw JP Pietersen sent to the bin and Donald make it 13-9, but Ross followed Pietersen moments later for a silly offside, from which Steyn made it 13-12.

The killer blow was landed by Steyn, typically capitalising on a huge piece of defensive work fom his scrum, which turned New Zealand ball over three metres from the line.  All the Bulls fly-half had to do was step and dive over, a manoeuvre he made look decidedly nonchalant.

His conversion made it 19-13 and there was another penalty just before half-time as well which made it 22-13.

Donald and Steyn shared four penalties early in the second half, which was rendered a stalemate by a combination of the Bok defence and All Black mis-handling, but the pressure from the men in green just did not let up -- even while Bakkies Botha was off the field for ten minutes for hanging about offside.

Steyn landed a late penalty to put the game beyond reach and could have made the score more emphatic in the final minute, but inexplicably pushed a simple late penalty wide.  Not to worry.  He now holds the record for the most points scored in any one Tri-Nations game, beating Andrew Mehrtens' previous best, and with that, plus a Lions-conquering kick to show for his first five caps, it could be that success could follow him everywhere he goes.  In fact, with the Boks in this form, he can't fail.

Man of the match:  We can go on about Steyn, but again, this was a win built on hard work and physicality, with the epitome of the winning style being Juan Smith.  An immense display.

Moment of the match:  Not many to choose from, but for aesthetics, we might go for Isaac Ross' try -- one of very few open bits of play in the game.

Villain of the match:  Nothing on the field, but how about the marketeers who continue to saturate the market with so many fixtues that some 8,000 empty seats could be witnessed at Absa Stadium?  How can a Test match of this prestige not be a sell-out?  Because there's always the next one around the corner, that's why ...

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Tries:  M Steyn
Cons:  M Steyn
Pens:  M Steyn 8

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Ross
Cons:  Donald
Pens:  Donald 3, McAlister

Yellow cards:  Pietersen (South Africa, 29, high tackle), Ross (New Zealand, 30, deliberate infringement), Botha (South Africa, 50, deliberate infringement)

The teams:

South Africa:  15 Frans Steyn, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 John Smit (c), 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements:  16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Jannie du Plessis, 18 Andries Bekker, 19 Danie Rossouw, 20 Ricky Januarie, 21 Adi Jacobs, 22 Wynand Olivier.

New Zealand:  15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 Stephen Donald, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Rodney So'oialo, 7 Richie McCaw (capt), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Isaac Ross, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements:  16 Keven Mealamu, 17 John Afoa, 18 Jason Eaton, 19 Kieran Read, 20 Piri Weepu, 21 Luke McAlister, 22 Cory Jane.

Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees:  Alain Rolland (Ireland), Tim Hayes (Wales)
TMO:  Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)