Wales cling on for victory

Wales' Pacific Island jinx nearly struck again on Friday as they laboured to a scrappy 17-13 win over Samoa in Cardiff.

They rode their luck though, ending up holding on desperately to a four-point lead after Seilala Mapusua's intercept try had brought the Samoans back into the game on the hour mark.

It looked so good after five minutes.  Wales had stretched the Samoans this way and that, winning an early penalty and scoring a gem of a try when Leigh Halfpenny collected Dan Biggar's kick on the wing.  But that was about it.  For the rest of the match, the Welsh simply struggled to match the physicality of the men in blue and their own organisation faltered as a result.

Offloads didn't stick, the decision-making went awry.  Dan Biggar eschewed three big overlaps in the run up to Mapusua's intercept before then hanging on to the ball too long and chucking out a sitter for the experienced centre to pick off and score.  This was a young team which needed to learn, but any team has to do better than that with 65 per cent of the possession.

Samoa did not offer anything unexpected, indeed the sophistication of their own play was at a lesser level than usual.  Rarely in the first hour did they pose a major attacking threat.  Lolo Lui was sin-binned for a murderous charge on Dwayne Peel which left the scrum-half stunned for a good three minutes.  Only later in the game did the Samoans break free, but it was too late.  Welsh fans will not like to consider what might have been had they tried it a bit earlier.

The Tuilagi brothers were also flinging their weight around with barely legal abandon and the rest of the blue shirts marauded around the fringes of rucks, exploiting well the leeway given to them by referee Peter Fitzgibbon.  It was disruptive and effective, but Wales had to rise above it.  They didn't, and nearly paid the price.

There were good things too.  Some of the handling, particularly from the forwards, was almost dainty.  There was an encouraging number of line-breaks -- eleven to Samoa's two in the end -- which at least shows that the team is heading in a good direction.

The first of those was by Alun-Wyn Jones, who tock an inside pass from Biggar and offloaded to Peel.  Peel accelerated before offloading to Warburton and then being flattened by Lui.  Warburton was brought down a metre short and his tackler was penalised for not releasing too.  Lui went to the bin as Biggar clipped over the points.

Right from the restart Samoa equalised, with Welsh chasers in front of Peel's box-kick, but with the Welsh already creating problems out wide, Biggar spied David Lemi off his wing and hoisted a fabulous cross-kick into Halfpenny's arms for the winger to do the rest.

Biggar extended the lead on sixteen minutes after George Stowers was caught holding on in a tackle, and with Wales' kicking game vastly superior, Samoa could not get out of their half.

As the game approached the half-hour and Warburton -- excellent on the night -- once again found a hole to get through, before James Hook -- another standout performer -- was denied by a crunching tackle from Alesana Tuilagi, you sensed Wales were turning the screw.  A try before the break might have killed things off.

Instead Samoa found their way into Wales' half with some good kicking themselves, and Fa'atonu Fili missed one sitter of a penalty before landing a second and sending the teams into the changing rooms at 11-6 to Wales.

The second half began as the first had ended, Wales in the ascendancy, finding small holes but not opening them up enough.  James Hook had the best opportunity, tearing away down the left where he could have passed inside or chipped.  Instead he dummied and held on and was cleaned up by Lui having isolated himself in the process.

Still, Halfpenny and Biggar had both notched kicks to put the Welsh a comfortable 17-6 ahead, but then Biggar made his howler just as the Samoans were looking ripe for the picking and within a minute, it was 17-13.

From then, it only got worse.  Samoa found a second wind of hurricane-strength and had Wales desperately clutching on in defence.  Mapusua and Uale Mai almost combined to scoring effect down the right.  David Lemi's chip and chase was wonderfully rescued by Halfpenny at the last gasp.  Welsh attacks continued to lack the fluency or cohesion of the first half and shades of 1991 hung in the air.

Alas for Samoa it was not to be.  But with only three days' preparation, this was an impressive display of guts and nous.  For three weeks of preparation, Wales came up distinctly short.

Man of the match:  A tough one to call.  While the Welsh were not on song as a team, there were many individual moments of brilliance:  James Hook, Ryan Jones, Andy Powell, Dwayne Peel and Sam Warburton can all hold heads high.  But sticking it all together and putting his all into it when it often mattered most was the energetic Gethin Jenkins, who also produced a sterling scrummaging effort.  For Samoa, mention should be made to Cencus Johnston and Junior Polu.

Moment of the match:  Halfpenny's try and Mapusua's reply both featured, but Leigh Halfpenny's save of David Lemi's chip and chase was the moment when the sighs of relief began to pour forth from the Millennium Stadium stands.

Villain of the match:  It makes for good viewing, but Lolo Lui should study tapes of his hit on Dwayne Peel and Alesana Tuilagi's on James Hook and spot the difference in the freeze frames:  namely the lack of a ball in Peel's hand.

The scorers:

For Wales:
Try:  Halfpenny
Pens:  Biggar 3, Halfpenny

For Samoa:
Try:  Mapusua
Con:  Fili
Pens:  Fili 2

Yellow cards:  Lui (2, Samoa, dangerous tackle), H Tuilagi (52, Samoa, repeated infringement)

Wales:  15 James Hook, 14 Leigh Halfpenny, 13 Tom Shanklin, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Tom James, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Dwayne Peel, 8 Ryan Jones (c), 7 Sam Warburton, 6 Andy Powell, 5 Luke Charteris, 4 Alun-Wyn Jones, 3 Paul James, 2 Huw Bennett, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements:  16 Matthew Rees, 17 Craig Mitchell, 18 Bradley Davies, 19 Jonathan Thomas, 20 Martin Roberts, 21 Jonathan Davies, 22 Morgan Stoddart.

Samoa:  15 Lolo Lui, 14 David Lemi, 13 Gavin Williams, 12 Seilala Mapusua, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Fa'atonu Fili, 9 Junior Polu, 8 Henry Tuilagi, 7 Ofisa Treviranus, 6 George Stowers (c), 5 Iosefa Tekori, 4 Filipo Levi, 3 Cencus Johnston, 2 Mahonri Schwalger, 1 Justin Va'a.
Replacements:  16 Andrew Williams, 17 Sakaria Taulafo, 18 Kane Thompson, 19 Jonny Faamatuianu, 20 Uale Mai, 21 Henry Fa'afili, 22 Titi Esau.

Referee:  Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)
Assistant referees:  Dave Pearson (England), Rob Debney (England)
Television match official:  Geoff Warren (England)
Assessor:  Bob Francis (New Zealand)

Ferocious French stop Boks

France lived up to their reputation as the giant-killers of world rugby with a deserved 20-13 win over South Africa in Toulouse on Friday.

Beaten at scrum-time and at the breakdown, matched in the line-outs and in the battle of the boot, the Springboks were a step behind their hosts from the word go.

Before the game, the French promised that they would match the Boks for physicality and they did just that.  A pumped-up French pack put on an absolutely ferocious display -- constantly denying the world champions any opportunity to gain any sort of momentum.

The French would have been bitterly disappointed when they trailed 13-11 at the break after having enjoyed the better of the first half.  South Africa's luck would change in the second half however as two yellow cards and blustery wind contributed to a scoreless second period for the tourists.

A number of eyebrows were raised in France when the Boks arrived just 48 hours prior to kick-off.  Whether their late arrival played a part in their error-riddled performance is a matter of debate, but what is clear is that, on a slippery surface, South Africa made far more errors they we had become used to during the Tri-Nations.

But let's take nothing away from the Tricolors, who stepped up to the plate and produced and near faultless display.  Despite the Springboks' credentials, this was no fluke as Marc Lièvremont's side lived up to the expectations created by their victory in New Zealand in June.

Julien Dupuy's early penalty gave France the lead as the hosts kept the world champions under constant pressure.  Three times in the first fifteen minutes South Africa were robbed of the ball at the ruck and the team in blue were doing a good job of keeping possession.

But you only need to give John Smit's team half a chance and they will put points on the board.  First Morné Steyn levelled the scores with a yet another fabulous kick before he put his side ahead with a neat drop.

When Smit latched onto a wayward line-out throw from local hooker William Servat to barge over from short range, South Africa took an ten-point lead with the conversion from Steyn.

Two mistakes had cost France dearly, but it took less than a minute for Les Bleus to reply.

When the Boks fluffed the restart the French midfield turned on the gas.  With the Bok defence stretched to the limit, Yann David found a gap, a brilliant tap-on from Francois Trinh-Duc gave Vincent Clerc the half-second he needed to sneak into the corner.

Things started to come apart at the seems for South Africa when Steyn was shown yellow on the stroke of half time and Dupuy narrowed the gap to two points.

Soon after the teams swapped sides Dupuy put France ahead when the Bok scrum was destroyed under their own posts.  The wind was at France's back, both literally and figuratively.

South African never realistically looked like scoring in the second period and when Ryan Kankowski, who had a disappointing game in general, was shown a yellow for killing the ball near his own try line, the writing was on the wall.

Replacement scrum-half Morgan Parra missed the penalty but was on target a few minutes later to secure to win for the hosts.

Man of the match:  France skipper Thierry Dusautoir was awesome.  A terror at the breakdown, the Toulouse flank led his team with all the gusto that one could ask for.

Moment of the match:  With France trailing on the half-hour mark, one might have had the feeling it wasn't going to be Les Blues' night, but Vincent Clerc's try seemed to give the hosts the belief that they could win.

Villain of the match:  Whoever that rasta was who murdered the South African anthem.  Please, please never let him get close to a microphone ever again.

The Scorers

For France:
Try:  Clerc
Pens:  Dupuy 4, Parra

For South Africa:
Try:  Smit
Con:  Steyn
Pen:  Steyn
Drop:  Steyn

Yellow cards:  Steyn (SA -- 40th min -- foul play);  Kankowski (SA -- 68th min -- professional foul)

France:  15 Damien Traille, 14 Vincent Clerc, 13 Yann David, 12 Maxime Mermoz, 11 Cédric Heymans, 10 Francois Trinh-Duc, 9 Julien Dupuy, 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Imanol Harinordoquy, 6 Thierry Dusautoir (c), 5 Romain Millo-Chluski, 4 Lionel Nallet, 3 Nicolas Mas, 2 William Servat, 1 Fabien Barcella.
Replacements:  16 Dimitri Szarzewski, 17 Sylvain Marconnet, 18 Sébastien Chabal, 19 Julien Bonnaire, 20 Morgan Parra, 21 David Marty, 22 Maxime Médard.

South Africa:  15 Zane Kirchner, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Adi Jacobs, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 John Smit (c), 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements:  16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Wian du Preez, 18 CJ van der Linde, 19 Andries Bekker, 20 Danie Rossouw, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Wynand Olivier.

Venue:  Stadium de Toulouse
Referee:  Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant referees:  George Clancy (Ireland), James Jones (Wales)
Television match officials:  Graham Hughes (England)
Assessor:  Steve Hilditch (Ireland)

Australia display new-found resolve

More accustomed to throwing leads away, Australia bounced back from a 9-5 half-time deficit to beat England 18-9 at Twickenham on Saturday.

The win is just the tonic Australia need at the end of a year in which they have so often flattered to deceive.  England were limited, but the manner in which Australia came out in the second half and took the game by the cobblers will have had Robbie Deans glowing inside.

It's England's limitations that will be the prime subject of focus after this game, not so much in terms of personnel but certainly in tactical thinking.  At the end of an opening quarter which England utterly dominated, they should have held far more than a 6-0 lead.  A minute later, after Australia's first meaningful spell of pressure, it was only 6-5.  Will Genia, and later in the game, Adam Ashley-Cooper, found something that England never did.

More meaningful than the scoreline ought to be a sober reflection on the number of scoring opportunities Australia butchered as well.  Matt Giteau was twice denied by thumping tackles from Jonny Wilkinson and Rocky Elsom suffered an untimely case of tunnel vision, while a wrong option to chip by Drew Mitchell and a butter-fingered moment from Digby Ioane by the line also meant points went a-begging.

But it is the first twenty minutes that England must focus on, perhaps even the entire first half.  They had nine penalties to Australia's two.  Steve Borthwick and Tom Croft were creating all sorts of problems for Australia's line-out -- they stole three out of seven.  It took Australia 16 minutes to have, and claim, a phase of set-piece possession.  Stats like that should mean a lead of at least ten points.

England did lead 6-0 at the end of the first twenty, courtesy of a majestic drop goal from Wilkinson and a penalty but they had to kick on and press the advantage home.  Instead, outside of an effervescent Wilkinson whose absorption of French rugby culture appears to have stretched to his becoming almost maverick with his steps and chips, there was little beyond the crash, bash and thunder of archetypal English club rugby.  Straight running, lots of contact, lots of rucking, lots of basics ... in the end, quite a lot of nothing at all.  More imagination is needed.

Instead it was Genia who showed the way, sparking a wave of attacks and then slipping through a gap at the base of a ruck to put the Wallabies on the scoreboard.

England continued to dominate, but the question had been posed.  'We can do that,' said Australia.  'What can you do?'

Well, Wilkinson kicked another penalty.  England's defence stood resolute late on -- again, Wilkinson showed his importance -- as Australia came again.  England's pack continued to rumble.  But it was Giteau who looked the most likely to score as half-time neared, with Wilkinson putting in a terrific tackle on him.

At 9-5, England sat pretty at the break.  This is Australia, after all, the team that always fades.  Except this time, Australia's forwards came out and got into English faces.  Giteau nailed a penalty for an offside, after a movement where both he and Elsom could have released the ball for tries.  A dubious scrum penalty on the hour mark meant Giteau gave his side the lead.  Now England had to respond.  Wilkinson tried his hardest with a sublime chip, regather and offload, but nobody else had the fluency or imagination to carry the move on.  Eventually, the men in white resorted to type, trying to grind it out.  It won't cut the mustard against the more sophisticated teams.

But the killer blow will have had Martin Johnson's forehead dropping deep with rage.  Out the ball came left to Adam Ashley-Cooper, who was taken too high and too upright by both Mark Cueto and Ugo Monye.  The Wallaby full-back renowned for his strength on his feet, powered forward and dragged the two Englishmen over the line with him from 15m out.  Giteau converted to send Australia two scores ahead with ten to go -- two scores England were never going to get.

Man of the match:  Will Genia takes this one, with Quade Cooper and Jonny Wilkinson a close second.  Cooper in particular looked as close to coming of age as he ever has, while Wilkinson looked as fresh as a spring day.  But Genia's pace, intelligence and threatening running posed continual questions that England found too much to cope with.

Moment of the match:  Adam Ashley-Cooper's try killed the game off -- and what a score it was!

Villain of the match:  We're almost tempted to castigate the players for being too clean!  Where's the edge?  No award.

The scorers:

For England:
Pens:  Wilkinson 2
Drop goal:  Wilkinson

For Australia:
Tries:  Genia, Ashley-Cooper
Con:  Giteau
Pens:  Giteau 2

England:  15 Ugo Monye, 14 Mark Cueto, 13 Dan Hipkiss, 12 Shane Geraghty, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 Jonny Wilkinson, 9 Danny Care, 8 Jordan Crane, 7 Lewis Moody, 6 Tom Croft, 5 Steve Borthwick (Captain), 4 Louis Deacon, 3 Dave Wilson, 2 Steve Thompson, 1 Tim Payne.
Replacements:  16 Dylan Hartley, 17 Duncan Bell, 18 Courtney Lawes, 19 James Haskell, 20 Paul Hodgson, 21 Andy Goode, 22 Ayoola Erinle.

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

Referee:  Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand)
Assistant referees:  George Clancy (Ireland), Tim Hayes (Wales)
Television match officials:  Jim Yuille (Scotland)
Assessor:  Michel Lamoulie (France)

All Blacks close out Wales in Cardiff

It was close, but in the end New Zealand broke Welsh hearts yet again after beating their hosts 19-12 at the Millennium Stadium on Saturday.

Wales came agonisingly close to breaking their 56-year duck, but only have themselves to blame for yet another defeat in a game that could have easily ended in a draw.

With just three minutes left on the clock and seven points behind, an intercept by lock Alun-Wyn Jones had the capacity crowd on their feet.  Tired, battered and bruised, 60 metres to the All Blacks' try-line looked like 60 miles for the second row forward.

He did well enough to get to New Zealand's 22, but with red jerseys to his left and his right -- the final pass found a black one instead and all hope of a match-saving touchdown was lost in an instant.

Cool, calm and collected, Dan Carter also produced a big try-saving tackle on Welsh replacement Martin Roberts after a superb Shane Williams burst.  Replays showed it to be high and Carter was booed off by the home fans after being named man of the match.

Fair play to the All Blacks though, they dug deep when it mattered and closed the game out with precision after several last-ditch efforts from the Welshmen.

Wales, determined as ever in front of their passionate home crowd, took the game to New Zealand and would have taken plenty of heart heading into the half-time sheds with the scores locked at 6-6.  It was definitely a fair reflection of the first forty, as there wasn't too much separating the two sides as far as possession and territory was concerned.

The All Blacks used the kicking game more often than not during the first half -- an obvious tactic considering Carter passed the ball just once in the opening 20 minutes.  Wales on the other hand were far more creative and looked dangerous on attack -- only to cough up the ball at crucial moments.

Wales had a chance to open the scoring early on, but a missed goal attempt from Leigh Halfpenny from 48m out, instead allowed New Zealand the honour of posting first points on the board courtesy of a trademark Carter penalty in the twelfth minute.

With Halfpenny guilty of missing and giving away a penalty in the space of five minutes, relief was written all over the young wingers face when fly-half Stephen Jones stepped up to level the scores after Richie McCaw's illegal dabbling in a ruck.

The All Blacks thought they finally cracked the Welsh line, only for the TMO ruling a blatant knock-on by Brendon Leonard.  But referee Craig Joubert was playing advantage to the visitors, and Carter was on hand to put the Kiwis back in front.

The see-saw battle continued, but Stephen Jones wasn't kidding around with his second successful kick of the night that leveled the scores with half-time looming after prop Neemia Tialata was blown for not rolling away in the tackle.

Carter handed the All Blacks the lead after just three minutes of the second-half when veteran flanker Martyn Williams played the ball as the Kiwis pressed the Welsh line.

With both sides now running the ball, and full-back James Hook in particular fielding all kicks with aplomb, it was the Welsh defence which buckled, letting hooker Andrew Hore burrow in for a try in the corner which Carter converted for a 16-6 lead.

The visitors' tails were suddenly up as big lock Brad Thorn rumbled 30 metres upfield to set up an attacking position the Kiwis almost capitalised on.  And then Conrad Smith was held up over the line by Shane Williams after a slick interchange of passes in midfield.

Wales were struggling to get out their own half -- let alone get their hands on the ball -- and Carter added a fourth penalty in the 65th minute when Andy Powell infringed on the floor.

Stephen Jones hit straight back after McCaw was penalised again for a 19-9 ball game as Wales finally managed to break out of their own half.

But it was that man Carter again who was on hand to produce a covering, albeit high, try-saving tackle on replacement scrum-half Roberts after Shane Williams had stepped away from his marker.

Jones claimed a fourth penalty from out wide with five minutes to play to set up a nail-biting finish.

Alun-Wyn Jones then intercepted a sloppy Jimmy Cowan pass, but the excellent Zac Guildford, making his debut on the wing, tracked back and knocked down the Welsh lock's effort to offload.

Wales then squandered a line-out on the All Black five-metre line and were turned over in midfield by the incomparable midfield pairing of Ma'a Nonu and Smith to ensure New Zealand got their European tour off to a perfect start.

Man of the match:  New Zealand fly-half Dan Carter masterminded the All Blacks in both defence and attack, kicking four penalties and a conversion to make it a perfect 13 from 13 on the tour so far.

Moment of the match:  Andrew Hore's try certainly proved the difference between the two sides, but it was Alan-Wyn Jones' intercept that really put everyone's heart in their throats!

Villain of the match:  None to speak of.  Good, clean fun in Cardiff.

The scorers:

For Wales:
Pens:  S Jones 4

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

Wales:  15 James Hook, 14 Leigh Halfpenny, 13 Tom Shanklin, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Gareth Cooper, 8 Ryan Jones (c), 7 Martyn Williams, 6 Andy Powell, 5 Luke Charteris, 4 Alun-Wyn Jones, 3 Paul James, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements:  16 Huw Bennett, 17 Duncan Jones, 18 Bradley Davies, 19 Dafydd Jones, 20 Martin Roberts, 21 Jonathan Davies, 22 Tom James.

New Zealand:  15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Zac Guildford, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Brendan Leonard, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Jason Eaton, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Neemia Tialata, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Wyatt Crockett.
Replacements:  16 Corey Flynn, 17 Owen Franks, 18 Tom Donnelly, 19 Adam Thomson, 20 Jimmy Cowan, 21 Stephen Donald, 22 Ben Smith.

Referee:  Craig Joubert (South Africa)

Bledisloe blackwash in Tokyo

New Zealand completed a clean sweep in the 2009 Bledisloe Cup on Saturday with a 32-19 win over Australia in Tokyo.

The Wallabies got off to a good start but faded as the match went on and were unable to score in the second half.

Australia led 16-13 at half time after a Peter Hynes try cancelled out an earlier score from All Blacks wing Sitiveni Sivivatu.

Sivivatu has rounded off a fabulous team effort to put New Zealand ahead after two Matt Giteau penalties had given Australia an early lead.

But the Wallabies were able to wrestle the lead back when Sivivatu earned a yellow card for taking Adam Ashley-Cooper out in the air.

The All Blacks move back in front shortly after the break when centre Conrad Smith broke clear to score.

Dan Carter added three more penalties to seal the deal for New Zealand.

It was a more committed Australian side who showed they had regained their physicality to put the experience of Wellington and their 33-6 loss to the All Blacks in their last encounter behind them.

But they were still unable to find the finesse to put the All Blacks under sufficient pressure.

Number eight Wycliff Paul twice went close to scoring, being held up on the line the first time, and losing the ball in the tackle the second time.

Handling mistakes proved costly on several occasions for the Wallabies.

Half-back Will Genia, inside centre Adam Ashley-Cooper and wing Digby Ioane were each slippery on attack but were unable to head off the All Blacks cover defence.

New Zealand's performance was not as dominant as in Wellington but with all the emphasis on coaching changes the lineout proved more competitive from the outset.

Australia did make the most of the sin-binning of wing Sitiveni Sivivatu after a dangerous tackle on an airborne Ashley-Cooper and wing Peter Hynes was awarded a controversial try soon after when referee Mark Lawrence became frustrated at the delay in the decision-making of a Japanese television match official.

Earlier, clever All Blacks handling overcame determined Australian defence to produce the first try of the game after Matt Giteau had landed two penalty goals to one by Dan Carter.

Carter took a heavy hit but still managed to recycle the ball and half-back Jimmy Cowan threw a long pass to flanker Richie McCaw who in-passed to lock Tom Donnelly.

He linked with full-back Mils Muliaina and he found McCaw in support and his pass outside found wing Sitiveni Sivivatu in the clear.

Carter landed a conversion from wide out for a 10-6 lead.

Giteau and Carter exchanged penalty goals in the 29th and 30th minutes.

Australia struck back after Sivivatu's sin-binning and moved the ball to wing Peter Hynes, with Genia firing a long pass from a maul.

Hynes was in the clear but three All Blacks cover defenders looked to get him as he dived at the line.  Referee Mark Lawrence called for the television match official to see if Hynes grounded the ball short of the line.

Initial replays were inconclusive but Lawrence lost patience with the amount of time taken and ruled the try had been scored.  Giteau landed a fine conversion to give Australia a 16-13 lead.

Moments later, after some poor All Blacks decision-making, Palu ran off the back of a scrum toward the line but was unable to ground the ball as Cowan got under him and the All Blacks were able to survive until the half-time whistle.

Sivivatu marked his return with a 60-metre kick which hit the corner post and when Australia cleared downfield Muliaina ran the ball upfield to link with Carter.

From the maul the ball was moved to wing Cory Jane standing at first receiver.

He threaded through the defence and passed to centre Conrad Smith who stepped through the Australians and went over for a 45th-minute try.

Penalty goals to Carter took the All Blacks to a 26-16 lead before Giteau landed his fourth to bring Australia back to the seven-point margin.

But almost immediately Carter landed a fifth penalty goal to regain the 10-point margin.

Carter's fourth penalty goal brought up his 200th point in Tests against Australia.

The scorers:

For Australia:
Try:  Hynes
Pens:  Giteau 3

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Sivivatu, Smith
Cons:  Carter 2
Pens:  Carter 5

Yellow card:  Sivivatu (NZ - 33rd min - dangerous tackle);

Australia:  15 James O'Connor, 14 Peter Hynes, 13 Ryan Cross, 12 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Matt Giteau, 9 Will Genia, 8 Wycliff Palu, 7 David Pocock, 6 Rocky Elsom, 5 Mark Chisholm, 4 James Horwill, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 1 Benn Robinson.
Replacements:  16 Stephen Moore, 17 Matt Dunning, 18 Dean Mumm, 19 George Smith, 20 Luke Burgess, 21 Drew Mitchell, 22 tbc.

New Zealand:  15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Rodney So'oialo, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Adam Thomson, 5 Tom Donnelly, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Neemia Tialata, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Tony Woodcock
Replacements:  16 Corey Flynn, 17 John Afoa, 18 Jason Eaton, 19 Kieran Read, 20 Brendon Leonard, 21 Stephen Donald, 22 Zac Guildford.

Venue:  Olympic Stadium
Referee:  Mark Lawrence (South Africa)
Assistant referees:  Craig Joubert, Taizo Hirabayashi (Japan)
Television match officials:  Akihisa Aso (Japan)
Assessor:  Bob Francis (New Zealand)

ABs hand Wallabies wooden spoon

New Zealand secured second place in the 2009 Tri-Nations at Wellington's Westpac Stadium on Saturday with a convincing 33-6 win over Australia.

The daggers were out for Graham Henry and co. this week but the All Blacks answered their critics with their third victory over Australia this year, scoring three tries to none in a dominant display.

While the protagonists produced an entertaining game of rugby, the error count -- by Australia at the breakdown and line-outs especially -- made it clear to see why neither team could match the Springboks in this year's Tri-Nations.

In both regards the New Zealand were the better side.  The All Blacks line-out has come under a lot of fire of late and while they made a marked improvement, the progress made must be taken with a pinch of salt considering Australia hardly bothered to compete when their hosts threw the ball in.

But let's take nothing away from the way the All Blacks approached the game.  Three tries were just reward for their positive running and domination of possession.

Perhaps the real story here is Australia's inability to string two solid performances together.  If you're going to play a running game, ball retention at the breakdown is primordial.  The men in gold gave away possession while on attack far to easily, far too often -- in stark contrast to their win over South Africa just two weeks ago.

Two months ago, many were convinced that Robbie Deans' Wallabies would be serious challengers for the title in 2009, but just one win from six games is not the kind of return expected from a team with such promise.

"Promise" -- perhaps that is the key word here because for all their talent, this Wallaby side does not have the maturity needed to compete with the best as illustrated by James O'Connor's display in Wellington.  The young full-back's potential for greatness is undeniable, but he had a bit of a nightmare at Westpac.  You can't buy experience and one gets the distinct impression that he, like his side, are far from the finished product.

But back to the All Blacks, who looked the more dangerous side in the first quarter and their enterprise on attack was rewarded with a 9- 3 lead as Dan Carter and Matt Giteau exchanged penalties.

When Berrick Barnes slotted a drop for the visitors and Isaia Toeava was sent to the sin bin for a high tackle, the Wallabies looked set to grab control of the game.

But Mils Muliaina and Cory Jane had other ideas.  Muliaina's clever high kick placed O'Connor under pressure and Jane did brilliantly to snatch the ball from him in mid-air before making a dash for the line.

Carter's conversion gave New Zealand a 16-6 lead and that's how the scores would remain as the All Blacks finished the half with all fifteen men on the field and seven points better since Toeava's yellow card.

Speaking of Toeava, the outside centre was in sparkling form, showing why Henry had given him the number thirteen jersey.  If only his partnership with Ma'a Nonu had flourished in South Africa they way it did in Wellington I hear All Black fans saying.

In the second period Richie McCaw's men did a excellent job of closing Australia down.

Forced to play catch-up, the Wallabies grew more and more ragged as New Zealand turned the screw tighter and tighter.

With the scrums an absolute mess for both sides and New Zealand enjoying free reign in the line-outs, Australia were starved of quality possession.

When, on occasion, the visitors were able to build some kind of momentum, the home side's loose trio were at their pilfering best at the rucks- significantly stealing the ball back on their own line on Australia's only real crack at th whitewash.

The wheels came off the Wallaby cart in the last ten minutes when first Ma'a Nonu burst through Giteau's channel and then shook off three challengers to score New Zealand's second try.

Joe Rokocoko dived over in the corner in the dying moments to rub salt in the wounds and cap a deserved win for the home side.

Man of the match:  He only played 60 minutes, but Cory Jane's contribution was a telling one.  It seems like a easy choice to pick the try scorer but way Jane found his way to the try-line was significant considering the All Blacks trouble under the high ball in South Africa.  Whenever Jane had the ball, something seemed on as he injected some creative spark into his backline.  The home loose trio deserve a mention too.

Moment of the match:  Easy.  Jane's try gave the All Blacks a ten-point lead (despite being a man down).  From then on, the Wallabies were playing catch up ...

Villain of the match:  Nothing to mention here.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Jane, Nonu, Rokocoko
Cons:  Carter 2
Pens:  Carter 4

For Australia:
Pen:  Giteau
Drop:  Barnes

Yellow card:  Toeava (NZ -- 29th min -- High tackle)

New Zealand:  15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Isaia Toeava, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Joe Rokocoko, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Jimmy Cowan, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Adam Thomson, 5 Tom Donnelly, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Neemia Tialata, 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 Hosea Gear.

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

Venue:  Westpac Stadium, Wellington
Weather:  Clear skies, still 10°C
Referee:  Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant referees:  Wayne Barnes (England), Cobus Wessels (South Africa)
TMO:  Shaun Veldsman (South Africa)

Springboks claim Tri-Nations

South Africa, back on their game after last week's blip, have claimed the Tri-Nations with a bludgeoning 32-29 win over New Zealand in Hamilton.

New Zealand fell foul to sucker-punch after sucker-punch, with Francois Steyn landing three penalties from within his own half in the first half alone, as every minute indiscretion from the home side was punished ruthlessly.

The defence functioned again, letting the All Black backs have not a whiff of space.  As the second half wore on and the All Blacks' chase of the Boks' lead grew increasingly frantic, the Boks relaxed into an all-too-familiar routine of tackling and waiting for the error to prey on.  It's becoming a mental edge they have in that area now as well as a physical one.

Then, on 53 minutes, Jean de Villiers picked off a 50-50 pass as he has done so often for his country, and raced away to finish off the game as a contest under the posts.  A minute later, Richie McCaw spilled a simple pass in midfield.  In two acts, the contrasting tales of the two teams were told:  one of patience and reward for eanest endeavour, the other of creative but futile attempts to move the immovable.

And yet somehow, they ended up clinging on for it.  If there is a worry for this Springbok team going forward, it is the propensity to concede late tries which has seeped into their season.  Australia managed it three times in three games, New Zealand managed it here to fight their way back from 29-12 down after De Villiers' effort.  It was a belting finale.

That was one which, for the first hour, you would never have predicted in a million years.  It was the usual Bok story:  stealing line-outs, tackling behind the gain-line, forcing penalties, racking up points, kicking deep for territory and chasing hard not to lose it ... just generally irritating, frustrating and battering the opposition.

Then there is Frans Steyn.  It's a special kind of weapon to have in the arsenal when you can just shrug your shoulders on the award of a penalty on your own 10m line, point to the posts and relax as the ball goes sailing over the bar for three points.  It's a hell of a thing to face as a team as well.  You could see All Black necks crane as the kicks sailed over their heads, then see the heads click resignedly into place as the flags went up.  New Zealand had all the territory in the opening quarter, yet found themselves trailing 9-6, two 50m+ penalties from Steyn and a snap drop goal from namesake Morne to two penalties from Carter.

Then came a classic Springbok try.  The ball went up, up, up, the catcher -- this time the unfortunate Joe Rokocoko -- dropped it, Bakkies Botha took it on and Fourie du Preez sniped from the ruck to dive over the line and score.  Morne Steyn landed his kick -- not a single place-kick from either team was missed all day -- and it was 16-6.

That sparked the All Blacks into action.  Within two minutes the ball was being run by Sitiveni Sivivatu from his own 22, who got a little bit of change from his run but once again found his option so well closed down that there was never any danger.  It was a feature of the rest of the half:  the most telling moment coming when Stephen Donald took a ball on a charge and found it stripped from him expertly in the tackle.

A further double-exchange of penalties rounded off the half, with another monster from Frans and a chip from Morne countering two from Carter.

But again, New Zealand were left frustrated by the Bok defence right at the half's close.  Having engineered a short line-out to good effect -- full line-outs were a catastrophe for the ABs all day -- the All Black forwards took the ball up close to the line, but it was too slow coming out and Carter's grubber was rendered ineffective by the sheer depth of the green-clad cover.  New Zealand trailed by ten at the break and without a single try to their account in a match they needed to win and score four tries in.  Only an effort akin to the infamous Paris blitz of November 2004 could have done the second-half job.

Instead, and following a televised half-time interview with Wayne Smith which had "what on earth can we do" radiating from his every syllable, it was the Boks who came desperately close to scoring.  Sivivatu mis-fielded a high kick, Morne Steyn seized upon it and set Bismarck du Plessis on his way to the line where he was tackled just short.  Had Bakkies Botha not been quite so intent on cleaning out Mils Muliaina and looked to take an offload, he would surely have scored.

The body blows kept coming.  Sivivatu panic-passed and nearly let the Boks get away again.  John Smit put in a monster hit on Brad Thorn which even earned a handshake of admiration from the lock.  New Zealand fluency faltered under the pressure.  A Bok score was inevitable.

Finally De Villiers' sense for an intercept served him once again, in what will be his last match in green for some time, and the All Blacks could only look on distraught as he raced away, with Morne Steyn's conversion making it 29-12.  Just after the restart came McCaw's spilled pass.  It was all over?

Not quite.  As McCaw said immediately afterwards when quizzed on the last half-hour:  "I wish we could have done it from the start."

Isaia Toeava's impact as he came on for Donald was immediate, as he took on a Ma'a Nonu offload and fed Sivivatu for a quick counter-try, with Carter converting expertly from the touchline.  New Zealand's fluency upped as the Boks seemed content to sit back and try and soak it up.  Carter landed another penalty and the All Blacks were back to within a score.

The Boks stormed into action once again, hounding Rokocoko under a high kick, charging up on Cowan for the clearance and with Du Plessis so nearly creating a try with a charge-down.  A penalty was conceded in desperation and Morne Steyn restored the ten-point cushion.

Back came the home side, with flickers of 2004 in their speed and width.  Breathless stuff abounded as the ball spun from one side to the other, with the green blanket finally stretched.  Carter put in a super cross-kick and all McCaw had to do watch catch and fall for the try with two minutes to go.  It usually takes a kicker a minute to prepare for a touchline conversion with no guarantee of success.  Carter took 20 seconds and made it look nonchalant.

Still the black waves of pressure crashed, with width now the name of the game and with the forwards operating in pods on both sides.  The hooter sounded.  Carter got the ball and cross-kicked again.  Long, long it sailed, curving downwards towards Kieran Read's outstretched hands, with the green defence scrambling across once more ... but it was just too long.  About a yard.  It wasn't the hardest yard this Bok team has managed in this tournament, but it was the winning one.

Man of the match:  Kieran Read, Dan Carter, Tony Woodcock and Ma'a Nonu all shone for New Zealand, while Pierre Spies, Schalk Burger, John Smit and Jean de Villiers were all on top form in green.  But once again, as he has done so many times, Fourie du Preez controlled the game so well from the rucks, scrums and line-outs.  He was the man to provide most of the Boks' winning platform.

Moment of the match:  Many moments to consider in an excellent game.  But for sheer individuality and brilliance, we'll plump for Dan Carter's hurried late touchline conversion which gave the All Blacks a fighting chance in the final two minutes.  Twenty seconds to line-up and land a touchline conversion is awesome.

Villain of the match:  Far too much good stuff here to even consider villainy.  Even when Bakkies Botha was admonished for some skullduggery, his "thanks sir" response to Nigel Owens was too comical to remember what the admonishment was even for!

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Tries:  Sivivatu, McCaw
Cons:  Carter 2
Pens:  Carter 5

For South Africa:
Tries:  Du Preez, De Villiers
Cons:  M. Steyn 2
Pens:  F. Steyn 3, M.Steyn 2
Drop goal:  M. Steyn

New Zealand:  15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Josevata Rokocoko, 13 Ma'a Nonu, 12 Stephen Donald, 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 Adam Thomson, 19 Rodney So'oialo, 20 Brendon Leonard, 21 Isaia Toeava, 22 Cory Jane.

South Africa:  15 Frans Steyn, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 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 (captain), 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements:  16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Jannie du Plessis, 18 Danie Rossouw, 19 Schalk Burger, 20 Ricky Januarie, 21 Adi Jacobs, 22 Ruan Pienaar.

Referee:  Nigel Owens (Wales)
Assistant referees:  Wayne Barnes (England), Stuart Dickinson (Australia)
TMO:  George Ayoub (Australia)

Wallabies end Springboks' run

South Africa will have to put their Tri-Nations champagne on ice for a little longer after succumbing to a 21-6 defeat to a much-improved Wallaby side in Brisbane on Saturday.

So much has been said and written about how good the current Springbok side is, but they met their match at the Suncorp Stadium and few would deny that Australia deserved their victory.

The Wallabies' two-tries-to-nil win means that the Tri-Nations is still far from decided as the Springboks must now travel to Hamilton in search of the two points they need to secure the trophy.

Robbie Deans and his team have come in for endless stick in recent weeks but they silenced their critics with a huge improvement at both the rucks and line-outs to provide their backs with plenty of quality possession.

From the very start, South Africa put any suspicions that would "play it safe" to bed as they matched Australia's eagerness to spread the ball around, but the home side produced far more on attack.  Three times the Wallabies were denied a try in the act of scoring by a last-gasp tackle.

Was a deviation from the kick-and chase game that worked so well in the Republic the right call for the Boks?  While it produced the goods last week, the visitors only seriously threatened the Wallaby try-line on a handful of occasions.

Whether the Springboks' choice of tactics were appropriate on the night will be matter for debate, but it certainly produced an entertaining game of rugby, so we won't complain.

While the Wallaby backs provided all their team's points, the gold-clad pack laid the platform for victory by matching the Springboks' physicality at the breakdown.

While South Africa's scrum produced a better display than a week ago, for the most part it the Aussies had the upper hand when asked to crouch and engage.

A high-paced game got off to an intense start, but unlike their previous Tri-Nations matches this year, the Springboks were unable to build a lead as the Wallaby defence stood up to the early blitz.

Matt Giteau had given Australia a 6-0 lead from two penalties when Morné Steyn slotted a drop goal on the half-hour mark.

But it was clear that Australia were going to match their visitors in the contact situations and as the Wallabies grew in confidence, they started asking more and more questions of the Springboks, significantly actually competing at line-out time, unlike earlier in the game.

Not that Victor Matfield and co. were given a huge headache at the set piece, but the best line-out in the world were not able to dominate their hosts in the fashion they did in the two previous encounters.

Giteau replied in kind to Steyn's drop a few minutes later (from a movement started on solid line-out possession) to restore the gap only for Steyn to find the mark form the kicking tee on 37 minutes.

The first half might have been tryless but it wasn't for lack of effort from both sides -- Australia were denied a try by a brilliant tackle from Bryan Habana on Lachie Turner above the whitewash while Heinrich Brüssow had a try disallowed for a forward pass with half time beckoning.

The threat for the home side was coming from South Africa's midfield with Jean de Villiers and Jaque Fourie twice combining to break through.

The teams headed for the changing room with the hosts 9-6 up and Habana off the field injured.

Twice Australia came within inches of scoring in the third quarter as they began to assert themselves, only to be denied by brilliant tackles in the final inches (Du Preez ripping the ball from Will Genia's hands and Fourie bumping Giteau into touch in the corner).

Australia finally broke the deadlock when Adam Ashley-Cooper ran a great angle on Berrick Barnes' outside to slice through the Bok midfield.

Trailing by ten points the South Africans were forced to kick more and more, but with Habana nowhere to be seen the effectiveness of their chase had disappeared.

It was all Wallabies in the final ten minutes as the Springboks began to run out of options on attack and were succumbing to the pressure on defence and in the scrums.

James O'Connor provided the icing on the cake when Rocky Elsom blocked a Du Preez clearance and young flyer pounced on the loose ball to seal the win.

Man of the match:  The home pack deserve a collective pat on the back for their engagement, illustrated by a couple of crunching tackles from Tatafu Polota-Nau -- if he had lasted more than half an hour, he would have been in the running for our gong.  But we'll give the award to Berrick Barnes, whose return made a huge difference to the Wallaby back-line with the extra options he provides to Giteau.  The two regularly swapped places to share the kicking load and Barnes' pass to put Ashley-Cooper clear was class.

Moment of the match:  It was pretty much all square until Ashley-Cooper's try gave the home side a ten point lead -- they never looked back.

Villain of the match:  Not a villain to be seen.  This match was a true advertisement for the game as a whole.

The Scorers

For Australia:
Tries:  Ashley-Cooper, O'Connor
Con:  Giteau
Pens:  Giteau 2
Drop:  Giteau

For South Africa:
Pen:  Steyn
Drop goal:  Steyn

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

South Africa:  15 Ruan Pienaar, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morne 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 Danie Rossouw, 19 Schalk Burger, 20 Ricky Januarie, 21 Adi Jacobs, 22 Frans Steyn.

Venue:  Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Referee:  Wayne Barnes (England)
Assistant referees:  Bryce Lawrence (New Zealand), Vinny Munro (New Zealand)
TMO:  Chris Pollock (New Zealand)

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)

ABs fail to break SA resolve

New Zealand came up short against South Africa in the Tri-Nations on Saturday, going down 28-19 after fighting back from 17-3 down.

As with last week, it was the first half that cost the All Blacks.  A dire 47 minutes left them trailing 17-3 and having had barely a sniff of the line.  Only when Conrad Smith wove his way through three tackles to score a scintillating solo try did the belief finally begin to course through the black shirts.  This time it was too late.

Last week's slow All Black start could have been forgiven.  But this is now two weeks in a row.  The first-half statistics -- three line-outs lost out of seven, two scrums out of five, only 20 per cent of the first half-hour possession and eight penalties conceded -- would be gruesome reading for Graham Henry and co. in isolation, but couple that with similar stats from last week and you have a burgeoning problem.  Expect a first half of fire and improved set pieces from the All Blacks in Durban next week in response.

South Africa's gameplan was as limited as we have seen all year -- even more so than against the Lions.  So much for Peter de Villiers' initial ideals of expansive and beautiful rugby.  Debate rages on about whether he coaches the team or they do their own thing with him giving bits of advice, but the unity of purpose here suggests that players and coach are now singing from the same songsheet, regardless of whose it is.

It ain't pretty though.  Bryan Habana had nothing to do bar chasing kicks, a task he set about with gusto -- it probably saved him from frostbite, so cold was the rarified Bloemfontein air.  Fourie du Preez controlled the game peerlessly from the base of the scrum with the boot, teaching Brendon Leonard a masterclass in the measured arts.  It was no coincidence that when Piri Weepu brought his own culture to the game, things evened up immeasurably -- Graham Henry should take careful note there, using Weepu and Leonard with the latter making an impact would have been a far better option.

Leonard was also penalised twice for feeding at the scrum;  a laudable initiative from Alain Rolland but one he failed to sustain.  one scrum feed, from Fourie du Preez in the second half, actually surprised number eight Spies so much that the ball popped out and was stolen by the All Blacks.  Overfeed!

The South African ball rarely made it past the centres;  so blinkered were they to the concept of keeping it near the forwards that even Jean de Villiers at one point eschewed a three-man overlap, not even looking outside, and popped it inside to an onrushing forward.  Stephen Donald's channel was mercilessly targeted, a tactic which only really half-worked.

The driving maul, also frequently employed, worked a good deal better.  Out of all the nations in world rugby to try and react since those abominable ELVs were dropped, South Africa have mastered the driving maul the best.

But the abrasion and pressure created by the green-clad Leviathans bullied out the penalties which ultimately won them the game.  Had Ruan Pienaar had his kicking boots on, it could have been wrapped up by the break.

New Zealand's attempts to move the ball wide foundered under that forward pressure as well, not to mention some abysmal execution at times which occasionally left you wondering if the All Blacks hadn't merely first met each other on the flight over.  Again, Leonard's hesitancy as he felt his way into the game was a drawback, but neither Nonu nor Donald found any change from the defence and Joe Rokocoko and Sitiveni Sivivatu were wrapped up tight.  Once throttled, the All Black game went limp.

The visitors took an early lead after De Villiers had conceded a needless penalty for a late tackle and Donald had landed his first, but that was cancelled out by Frans Steyn from over 50m when Brad Thorn was caught not rolling away.

Pienaar hit the post with two more penalties -- one of them a sitter -- as the home side's intensity with the ball up-jumper and accuracy with the boot told.  The ball-carrying from Juan Smith and Pierre Spies in particular was exceptional.

Pienaar made it third time lucky as the All Blacks collapsed a maul, precipitating a nine-minute spell where the Boks did not leave the All Blacks 22 except to take a line-out for a clearance kick.  It culminated in a try for Pienaar, who looped the tackled De Villiers and cantered though the space vacated by Rokocoko into the corner.

Frans Steyn added a penalty on the half-hour to make it 14-3, Pienaar missed another sitter on the stroke of half-time as the Boks took full control.

Pienaar did not emerge from the dressing room after the break as a result of a foot injury, but replacement Morne Steyn fitted the initial bill, landing the first penalty of the half for a marginal offside involving Smith.

Momentum swung dramatically when Smith scored his try, with New Zealand looking more energetic, more effective and more cohesive.  Passes stuck, turnovers were forced, gaps sprung up in the green wall.  Donald narrowed the gap from the tee to 17-13, having converted the try.  It seemed as if those missed kicks might come back to haunt the Boks.

Frans Steyn steadied the boat with a penalty, but Donald once again pegged him back.  New Zealand had it all to do still with 17 minutes to go but the opposition was in sight.

But with eight minutes to go, Weepu dithered at the back of a ruck and Kieran Read over-ran him.  Spies hacked the ball forward, Weepu rescued it then threw a silly no-look past, picked off by Juan Smith who gave Jaque Fourie the run-in for the killer try.

In the final minutes, Donald's penalty gave New Zealand license to dream of a late winner once more before Morne Steyn sealed the deal with two minutes to go.

Man of the match:  Hard work up front was the order of the day, and the hardest and most effective grafter of all was Pierre Spies.  He's not just about the tries he scores in Super 14 ...

Moment of the match:  The killer blow was Jaque Fourie's try

Villain of the match:  A few bits of niggle, but nothing too untoward.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Tries:  Pienaar, Fourie
Pens:  F Steyn 2, Pienaar, M Steyn 3

For New Zealand:
Try:  Smith
Con:  Donald
Pens:  Donald 4

South Africa:  15 Frans Steyn, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Ruan Pienaar, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Heinrich Brussow, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 John Smit (c), 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Beast Mtawarira.
Replacements:  16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Jannie du Plessis, 18 Danie Rossouw, 19 Ryan Kankowski, 20 Ricky Januarie, 21 Morne Steyn, 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 Brendon Leonard, 8 Rodney So'oialo, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Isaac Ross, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Neemia Tialata, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements:  16 Keven Mealamu, 17 Owen Franks, 18 Jason Eaton, 19 Kieran Read, 20 Piri Weepu, 21 Luke McAlister, 22 Cory Jane.

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

All Blacks take advantage

New Zealand have won the opening match of the 2009 Tri-Nations, struggling past Australia 22-16 in Auckland on Saturday.

Having trailed 13-10 at half-time, the All Blacks utilised the stiff breeze at their backs to full advantage in the second half and played the game firmly in Australia's half.  Three penalties from the boot of Stephen Donald did the trick as Australia failed to find away through the All Black defence and the men in yellow made far too many infringements.

Australia will look at it as one that got away.  Stirling Mortlock was candid in his on-pitch post-match interview that his side's discipline let them down and it was hard to argue with him.  There were 12 penalties conceded in all, far too many at this level, and the turnover count will be gruesome reading for Robbie Deans when it arrives.

Then there were the first half errors that cost the Wallabies precious points.  Berrick Barnes, having scored one wonderful try himself already, utterly ruined what was effectively a five on two overlap through a mixture of indecision and poor execution under pressure.  All he needed to do was draw and pass.  He was not the only guilty party when it came to decision-making though.

In the other camp, New Zealand will need to up their game before travelling to South Africa to face the Boks.  The men in black missed 19 tackles in all, also losing four of their own throws at the line-out.  Excellent work in the rucks was often undone by a lack of cohesion in the half-backs and only when Piri Weepu took a firm hold of the game at scrum-half did the All Blacks find their shape.

Tactically, Australia came with a high-risk policy of committing as few people as possible to the rucks.  It worked to an extent -- certainly they played all the rugby in the opening half-hour -- but the Wallabies have to be prepared for opponents to counter it physically.  The strategy only works if the service from the base of the scrum is crisp and zippy.  Today it was not and the All Blacks were able to pile in the numbers and win those turnovers as a result.

But after 25 minutes you would have been a fool to predict a New Zealand win.  Australia led 13-3, a scoreline which flattered New Zealand.  The Wallabies did all the attacking, moving the ball ably and sweetly with Matt Giteau and Barnes alternating at fly-half to direct the traffic.

After five minutes, Barnes took a ball on the short side at pace and sliced through, beating off two weak covering tackles to get to the line for a super opening score which Giteau converted.

When Giteau landed a penalty four minutes later to make it 10-0, there seemed already to be little way back for the hosts, who just could not keep pace with the Wallaby movement.

Yet the Wallaby scrum provided a point of weakness for the All Blacks to concentrate on, with Al Baxter given a rough ride both by Tony Woodcock and referee Craig Joubert.  It was a little chink of armour the All Blacks used well.  Stephen Donald missed a chance from the tee after Baxter had been penalised once, he made no mistake five minutes later after Mortlock had been caused offside at a high kick.

The match turning point could well have been Barnes' missed opportunity.  Donald had a kick charged down from a line-out, a charge-down with more than a whiff of offside about it.

Giteau did wonderfully to regather and pop a pass out, almost while sliding across the turf on his belly.  Barnes took the ball at pace and had Mortlock and Smith coming close at straight angles, Horwill inside him and Drew Mitchell out wide to pass to.

Too many options?  Maybe, but at this level you have to make a decision.  Barnes dummied a switch with Mortlock which Muliaina read well.  The full-back caught Barnes, whose offload to the onrushing Smith was too late, too hard, too high and knocked on.  Giteau's penalty a minute later for hands in the ruck did nothing to ease the sense that a huge opportunity to take a match-winning lead had been blown;  there's a world of difference between 13-3 and 17-3.

On 25 minutes, the All Blacks finally stitched together a movement off a line-out and it yielded a try for Richie McCaw.  Sitiveni Sivivatu and Rodney So'oialo -- both of whom stood out as workhorses all night -- combined to make ground in midfield, then after a few more phases Conrad Smith broke the line and offloaded inside to McCaw for a score through a gap where a back-row should have been covering.

Australia's attack kept plugging away with some ever more creative formations, not least the move which had five players as a running screen in front of Giteau standing deep, but couldn't find a way through to extend the lead to the extent that it should have been with that wind at their backs.  Indeed, had Mitchell not batted down the pass from Donald's clean break, Australia could have been behind at the break.

The second half began with a flurry of penalties, two to New Zealand and one to the Wallabies, tying the scores at 16-apiece.  But with Weepu on for Cowan, New Zealand found an extra measure of control, crucial to be able to utilise that wind properly and pin Australia back.

It became an arm-wrestle, which suited New Zealand far more.  On the hour, they took the lead again after a dreadful pass from Burgess saw Giteau's kick charged down.  Three phases later, George Smith was fortunate not to be yellow-carded for the hand that took the ball out of Weepu's hands at the ruck, but Donald's penalty was punishment enough.

Australia had another gilt-edged chance to launch a line-threatening attack after Kieran Read dropped a high ball in his own 22, but the ball was turned over at second phase, once again with the Wallabies failing to commit enough people to secure possession.  It was turned over and hoofed a mile downfield.

Donald landed another with eight minutes to go, as Australia upped their desperation levels, to seal the game.

Man of the match:  Hard work was the order of the day in this win and none worked harder than Jerome Kaino.

Moment of the match:  It has to be the missed chance to go two tries ahead from Australia in the first half.  They could have been out of sight if that had been run home.

Villain of the match:  So clean it was almost sanitised!  No award.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Try:  McCaw
Con:  Donald
Pens:  Donald 5

For Australia:
Try:  Barnes
Con:  Giteau
Pens:  Giteau 3

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

Australia:  15 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 Phil Waugh, 20 David Pocock, 21 Will Genia, 22 James O'Connor.

Referee:  Craig Joubert (South Africa)
Assistant referees:  Marius Jonker (South Africa), Cobus Wessels (South Africa)
TMO:  Vinny Munro (New Zealand)