New Zealand 7-35 South Africa
by David Nicholson
at Twickenham
WITH just two weeks to go to the Rugby Union World Cup the Springboks inflicted a record defeat on New Zealand on Friday night, dominating and dismantling the All Blacks in a display of power and precision.
The reigning World champions are not going to relinquish their title easily and laid down a muscular marker for the tournament in France that will make the other teams take notice.
South Africa pinned the All Blacks on their try line for the opening 20 minutes as they pressed for the opening score.
The pressure mounted as the Springboks eschewed the three points from the repeated penalties the men in black committed, opting for the attacking option of kicking to touch or taking the scrum.
Referee Matthew Carley's patience eventually broke after 14 minutes of repeated offences and sent Scott Barrett to the sin bin where he was joined 60 seconds later by skipper Sam Cane.
The New Zealand defence held out for a further five minutes until the Bok's skipper Siya Kolisi scored the opening try after his return from injury.
Kolisi said after the game: “I’m honoured to be back. It’s been an amazing journey for the group. To see so many beautiful South Africans here, I can’t tell you how proud I am.
"We thank you, we appreciate you, we do it for you. Keep backing us. We worked hard. We knew what happened the last time we played them. We said we were going to give it everything. We had to work over and over even though they had less men."
This was a very poor All Black performance with uncharacteristic mistakes and handling errors made under intense pressure from the mighty Boks.
Head coach Ian Foster praised his opponents and said: "South Africa played magnificent, a really physical game, started strong and put us under a lot of pressure. Congratulations to them.
“As we go into a World Cup, it’s a really clear reminder about the importance of set piece and maintaining your discipline. I thought the first 20 minutes our defence was actually outstanding, we kept hanging in there, but we kept giving them another shot."
The other sides already know the Springbok forward pack is a powerful weapon with a world-class set of replacements on the bench which keeps the pressure on for a full 80 minutes.
But ominously for other teams that is now coupled with electric-paced wingers and a rising star in the centre with the skillful Canan Moodie drawing gasps from the Twickenham crowd at his audacious ability.
New Zealand were not just dismantled but now face a forward crisis for their opening game against France after Scott Barrett's red card for a headshot as he crashed into a prone Malcolm Marx.
Barrett will surely miss that crucial opening game and his side will also be without Tyrel Lomax who was stretchered off with a nasty-looking injury to his knee.
First-half tries from Kolisi and Kurt-Lee Arendse were followed by scores from Malcolm Marx, Bongi Mbonambi and Kwagga Smith after the interval.
The All Blacks were facing the ignominy of not scoring at all until Cam Roigard’s late consolation try saved some face.
New Zealand launch the showpiece tournament against hosts France on September 8, with South Africa beginning the defence of their title against Scotland in Marseille on September 10.
These two old rivals could meet again in the quarter-finals but South Africa will have the mental advantage after this comprehensive victory.
