All Blacks start with a win

New Zealand, coming from behind, showed their true class when beat South Africa 26-21 in their Tri-Nations showdown in Durban on Saturday - making sure their ranking as the world's number one team, looking towards the World Cup, has been enhanced.

We all thought it would be a World Cup final dress rehearsal, and it did not disappoint. The match was played with an intensity somehow above that of last week's opener, with a physicality that defied biology from where we sat in the stands, and it kept every one of the 53,000 spectators enthralled.

Tactically too, the game was fascinating. The All Blacks annihilated the Bok scrum - we saw for the first time today truly how much John Smit is missed - and spent quite a bit of the second half using their own bashers to eat away at the yardage, precisely the tactics hitherto attributed to the South Africans.

Joe Rokocoko, of all people, ignored a gaping three-man overlap on the left late in the game, eschewing that option for an inside pass to Tony Woodcock. Woodcock fumbled, and on moments like those: 18-12 down with fifteen to go, are matches lost.

Line-outs were the predicted disaster for the All Blacks, who lost five of their own throws and resorted to quick line-outs at every opportunity to combat their shortcoming. It worked after a fashion, but it led to much of their ball being hurried to start with, and the backs rarely got well-worked space with which to work.

Yet for all that, it was the maturity and execution of their wide game that told at the end, with two superb quick fire tries in four minutes turning the tables on their battered hosts.

What of the hosts, against whom a huge psychological blow has now been struck, beaten at home by their nemesis ten short weeks before the World Cup starts.

Once again, there was no faulting the commitment or desire, and for the large part, tactics. The loose battle was comprehensively sewn up, with the magnificent Schalk Burger delivering a barnstorming performance of tackling and ball-carrying.

Perhaps, right at the end, there was just that missing ounce of patience and calm required to close out games such as these. It will be a bitter blow to lose this game, but players such as Frans Steyn, Ruan Pienaar, and Pedrie Wannenburg - whose late yellow card was a major turning point - must look at the positives and learn, for the game could have been won. Many locals will insist it should have been.

The tone for the match was set in the warm-up, with the Boks spending their 30 or so on-pitch minutes smashing away at the pads in bunches and jumping at line-outs.

Meanwhile, the All Blacks ran balls through the hands in groups of four with effortless efficiency, practiced a couple of tackles and sprints, and then trotted off the field.

When the teams came back on, it was the Boks who put their warm-up into practice first, enjoying four solid minutes of possession and hammering away at the 10-12 channel with the thicker of the forward tree-trunk battering rams.

It almost cost them, with Jean de Villiers ignoring a clear overlap on the left, but eventually, after Bob Skinstad reminded us of what he can do with ball in hand with a sublime fizz pass to JP Pietersen, the pressure near the All Blacks' line yielded a simple penalty for Percy Montgomery to fire the Boks into a 3-0 lead.

The early line-outs belonged to the Boks as well. They won five out of the first seven in total, two of those on the All Black throw, and the second saw Skinstad and then Danie Roussouw mere blades of grass away from the All Black line. A five-metre scrum resulted, but the All Black pack shoved the Boks off their own ball.

New Zealand stopped kicking for touch then, and a peculiar bout of aerial ping-pong ensued, culminating in a penalty for the All Blacks from 40m out and in front of the posts. Astonishingly, Daniel Carter missed.

New Zealand were not on their game completely, demonstrated first when Jerry Collins ran bizarrely at Aaron Mauger from 10m away, and then when Joe Rokocoko sprinted away across the field but the first four men at the tackle were all green-shirted.

The Boks defence smashed away at New Zealand's runners, who made the mistake of trying to take the Boks on at their own game. Eventually the tackles and strewn bodies were so numerous that Carter had nobody outside him from a ruck, and he kicked for touch disconsolately.

Then, from an up and under, Mills Muliaina was also left stranded at tackle time, held onto the ball, and Ruan Pienaar goaled magnificently from five meters inside his own half.

There were some bizarre moments of ball-watching from the All Blacks, demonstrated no better than when after 20 minutes, Anton Oliver looked in all directions around him before opting to actually pick up the bouncing ball. Not one All Black on the ball was given a millisecond, it was awe-inspiring bodily stuff from the Boks.

But not at the scrum. On 25 minutes, the All Black pack again got the shove on Bok ball, and again Kelleher was able to make ground as the ball came squirting out. That it came to nothing was once again testament to the excellent in-your-face defence, but there was a clear problem for the Boks there.

After an extraordinary free-kick from a Rodney So'oialo mark, when the number eight nearly caught his own defence napping by slicing the ball across the field, the new Zealanders finally stitched something together. Sitiveni Sivivatu was set free down the left, and had he chipped instead of trying to step outside he would surely have scored. Likewise had Troy Flavell not tried a flashy switch pass and simply drawn his man, Greg Rawlinson might have scored.

The Boks seemed to be upping the physicality another notch at this point with Montgomery raining a series of punches down on Flavell and getting mighty lucky not to be flagged by touch-judge Wayne Barnes, and then Butch James delivering a hit on Carter that arrived panting and sweaty but just in time.

As it was the All Blacks made do with a penalty for hands in the ruck, which Carter converted on the half hour mark.

After a delightful All Black movement involving Carter down the left, South Africa turned the ball over and De Villiers went haring down the right. Sivivatu caught him, and although the ball was popped inside to Willemse, the latter's offload was so poor that new Zealand got the ball back and forced a penalty. Again, Carter missed.

But New Zealand's hands were now working, and another passing movement took them into South African territory, forcing a penalty conceded by Bakkies Botha, a stiff word from Alain Rolland to Victor Matfield, and three points for Carter who made no mistake this time.

A good kick from Butch James then took the Boks to the All Blacks 5m line, with Muliaina running the ball into touch, and the Boks mauled the line-out ball inexorably to the line where Schalk Burger peeled off the back for a super try, marred by some ugly and utterly unnecessary punching and shoving from Bakkies Botha. That was half-time, 11-6.

The All Blacks began the second half on the attack, with a right to left move culminating in a threatening chip from Carter which was just a fraction too far. Form the 22 drop out, the All Blacks regained position and possession, and Mauger made it 11-9 with a drop goal.

Again the All Blacks scrum made mincemeat of a Bok scrum, but again, the Boks bounced back. Burger took the ball on, and then Pienaar's ineffective kick was run back threateningly by Sivivatu and Mauger, but Mauger opted to offload one time too many, and James streaked away for a try under the posts to make it 18-9, including Montgomery's conversion.
The All Blacks were still moving the bal with purpose, playing the Boks at their own game with Collins, Flavell and So'oialo smashing the ball up before Mauger's chip nearly sent So'oialo in, but Pienaar covered superbly.

The intensity showed no sign of letting up with a half hour to go, with even the usually mild-mannered Joe Rokocoko getting involved. The game simmered menacingly.

Muliaina had a break as the All Blacks began to speed up line-outs and stray kick returns, but Collins couldn't keep his grubber in play.

Steyn came on for James with 28 minutes to play, as Skinstad was penalised for an off-the-ball incident involving him and McCaw. Carter's kick hit the post, but bounced kindly for the chasers and the All Blacks had a line-out inside the hosts 22. The Boks pinched it, but Steyn's first touch was to fumble the pass from Pienaar and concede a 5m scrum - coinciding with the departure of Os du Randt.

Wannenburg, who had replaced Skinstad seconds before, was yellow-carded as Sivivatu went close to the line following an inside pass from Carter, who slotted an easy three points to make it 18-12 with a little over a quarter of the game to go.

Twice thereafter the All Black scrum annihilated its counterpart, twice yielding turnovers, from the second of which Rokocoko had a sniff of the line before being tackled into touch. But despite the pressure, the All Blacks just couldn't get the crucial move right, with Kelleher's pass going behind Carter, who knocked on trying to recover it. 18 minutes to go.

It seemed as if the All Blacks, having opted to take the Boks on at their own game, were guilty of the same wasteful adherence to the game plan, with Rokocoko, of all people, guilty of scorning a three-man overlap out left for an inside pass to Woodcock. Woodcock fumbled. 15 minutes to go, and shattered bodies lay all over the field.

A dreadful tired kick to touch from Flavell ensured the Boks got possession down near the All Black 22, and then a penalty conceded by McCaw gave Montgomery the chance to make it 21-12 with 13 minutes to go.

Then came a moment of magic that brought the All Blacks right back into it. So'oialo caught a high ball from Steyn, and then slipped past five or six defenders before offloading to Collins, who got into the Bok 22. Wide the ball went left, and then, after five close phases, McCaw picked and went over for the try. Carter converted to make it 21-19 with ten to go.

Now the All Blacks had the bit between their teeth, and Carter nearly got a breakthrough when he spotted nobody home at full-back and chipped. Pienaar covered superbly again, and kicked long down field, but Rokocoko took the loose ball from Weepu and set Leon MacDonald on his way, looped MacDonald, and finished off a superb counter under the posts to give New Zealand the lead for the first time with seven minutes to go. Carter made it 21-26 with the conversion, and South Africa had shot their bolt.

Right at the end, needing a desperate length-of-the-pitch move to win it, Steyn dropped a simple ball from Pienaar and conceded a 5m scrum. There was just no gas left. The All Blacks controlled the ball well and as the siren sounded so too did Rolland's whistle as the ball was buried.

So a pulsating affair was brought to a close and the All Blacks stood tall as their hosts, strewn over the field, lay shattered from what was a Herculean effort. Yet the effort, as great as it was, failed to yield the result a nation craved and so the All Blacks confirmed their status as the world's premier team.

Man of the Match: This award could go to any one of about six players with the rest of the bunch not far behind. For New Zealand Rodney So'oialo was massive, he tackled and carried the ball relentlessly, and then their was that mesmerising run in the build up to McCaw's try. McCaw too was full of running and tackling and as usual he turned the ball over with aplomb and consummate ease. Then there was the South African nominees, and in particular Ruan Pienaar. His kicking game was a delight to watch and he saved his sides bacon on more than one occasion. Yet it was the Trojan like Schalk Burger who takes this award. Not often does a losing player take the award but his game just gets better every week. He tackled with relentless regularity and explosive force. He carried the ball with unbridled aggression and worked feverishly at the breakdown. He is one of the world's finest at present.

Moment of the Match: Again there were so many little moments on which the game could have hinged but two come to mind. Firstly the yellow card for Pedrie Wannenburg was crucial. It was during those long ten minutes that the South African scrum took a real beating. Then there was the Rodney So'oialo run that lead to McCaw crashing over. At a time where the All Blacks needed some magic the big number eight conjured a run full of pace and dexterity that left the Bok defence in tatters, and they would never recover.

Villan of the Match: Firstly there was Percy Montgomery who had no business launching an attack on Rodney So'oialo and then there was Bakkies Botha, who also had no business starting a thirty man scuffle after Burger had scored.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Tries: Burger, James
Con: Montgomery
Pens: Montgomery 2, Pienaar

For New Zealand:
Tries: McCaw, Rokocoko
Cons: Carter 2
Pens: Carter 3
Drop Goal: Mauger

Yellow card: Pedrie Wannenburg (South Africa, 54 - professional foul, hands in ruck)

The teams:

South Africa:15 Percy Montgomery, 14 Ashwin Willemse, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 JP Pietersen, 10 Butch James, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Bob Skinstad, 7 Danie Rossouw, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Victor Matfield (c), 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 BJ Botha, 2 Gary Botha, 1 Os du Randt.
Replacements: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 CJ van der Linde, 18 Johann Muller, 19 Pedrie Wannenburg, 20 Michael Claassens, 21 Wynand Olivier, 22 Frans Steyn.

New Zealand: 15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Joe Rokocoko, 13 Isaia Toeava, 12 Aaron Mauger, 11 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Byron Kelleher, 8 Rodney So'oialo, 7 Richie McCaw, 6 Jerry Collins, 5 Greg Rawlinson, 4 Troy Flavell, 3 Carl Hayman, 2 Anton Oliver, 1 Tony Woodcock
Replacements: 16 Kevin Mealamu, 17 Neemia Tialata, 18 Ross Filipo, 19 Chris Masoe, 20 Piri Weepu, 21 Luke McAlister, 22 Leon McDonald.

Referee: Alain Rolland (Ireland)
Touch judges: Wayne Barnes (England), Simon McDowell (Ireland)
Television match official: Hugh Watkins (Wales)

By Danny Stephens in Durban 365 Digital