The Springboks bounced back brilliantly to beat New Zealand by 43-10 in Wellington yesterday to keep alive their chances in the Castle Lager Rugby Championship, while retaining the Freedom Cup by inflicting their biggest defeat ever on the All Blacks.
South Africa made all the play but were trailing 10-7 after a tense first half, but the Boks found their mojo to score five tries without reply in the second period to secure a record 33-point winning margin at Sky Stadium, which was better than the 35-7 win over the All Blacks in London before the Rugby World Cup in 2023.
The Springboks dominated the territory and possession ini-tially, but they made too many handling errors to convert that pressure into points. The scrums were solid and the defence resolute, and they played with great physical intent to keep the Kiwis under pressure.
The Bok lineout also opera-ted with much more composure, while the battle of the breakdown was a much more positive affair for the South Afri-cans compared to their struggles of last week in Auckland.
However, it was the All Blacks who led at halftime through a converted try by debutant Leroy Carter and a Damian McKenzie penalty goal, while Cheslin Kolbe replied with a converted try.
There were several agoni-sing near misses for the Boks in a promising first-half spell, with some misfortune leading to two disallowed tries.
Replacement lock RG Snyman went over but his effort was cancelled out because of a Cobus Reinach knock-on. Then Kolbe lost the ball in contact when he was over the line, only to be foiled by a desperate All Black tackle.
Kolbe then gave the Boks the perfect second-half start when he scored his second try of the game following a brilliant Bok scrum that had New Zealand in reverse, and a barnstorming run from skipper Siya Kolisi, splitting the home defence.
Libbok sent the ball through the uprights to pull the Boks 14-10 ahead, and the replacement pivot then succeeded with a long-range penalty goal to edge the Boks seven points ahead following an illegal tackle on Kolbe. But from then on it was all South Africa as the Boks increased their lead and sent the All Blacks packing. – www.saru.co.za
