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A collective gloom descended on South African rugby fans after the game on Saturday when New Zealand came from behind in the second half to snatch victory from defeat  - and strike a psychological blow to the Bok’s World Cup hopes.  It is no good saying that the Springbok side was under-represented, with four of their strongest players on the bench due to injury, and the calming presence on skipper John Smit absent.  It is also no good saying that it is the pressure of six solid months of extremely hard rugby that saw the men in green and gold tire in the second half and let the visitors score again and again.  The result is what is going to count, and New Zealand won the game fairly and squarely to win a Tri-Nation’s victory on South African soil.

The home side dominated the first half of the game, throwing everything they had at the visitors, scrambling their defence, stopping their set pieces and snatching possession.  The game opened with two penalties from Percy Montgomery while Dan Carter missed two, giving the Boks an early 6 – 0 lead.  But Carter managed to line up a further two penalties to even the score just before half time.  A try from Schalk Burger, driving towards the goal line and scoring a try under a heap of bodies, sent the score to the 11-6 mark just before the interval. 

A further try from Butch James, with a conversion from Montgomery, appeared to put the game beyond the reach of the All Blacks.  And when Carter’s next penalty attempt hit the post, it seemed that nothing would right for the New Zealanders.  With only ten minutes to go, the score was a seemingly impregnable 21 – 12.

But then the wheels fell off.  A rash of substitutions brought extra strength to the New Zealand side while confusing the Springboks.  Before a packed house of 52 000 spectators, the South Africans dithered and fell about and looked the other way while the All Blacks punched through two converted tries in three minutes – one from Richie McCaw and one from Rokococo .  It was worse than a massacre, it was a mugging.  (At least a massacre implies some kind of battle – the Boks just lay down and whimpered while the New Zealanders ran them over.)

In retrospect, though, and after the depression has dispersed, the All Blacks can at least congratulate themselves on a win against a wroth opponent (well, worthy for 70 minutes, that is.)  It was the All Black’s first significant win of the year after comfortable victories against an under-manned France and an outclassed Canada.  The Boks, perhaps, are just tired of playing non-stop, bruising rugby.

The SA – NZ game was an aggressive and frustrating match, with tempers boiling over in the tackles and many handling errors.  Replacement Bok flanker  Pedrie Wannenburg was sin-binned for killing the ball after he had only been on the field for a few minutes. 

.South Africa (11) 21
Tries: Burger, James
Pens: Montgomery (2), Pienaar
Con: Montgomery

New Zealand (6) 26
Tries: McCaw, Rokocoko
Pens: Carter (3)
Cons: Carter 2
DG: Mauger

The fall-out from the game was swift and dismaying.  Based on the performance of the Boks, coach Jake White announced that he would resting his key players for the World Cup.  The selection he announced for the game in Christchurch consisted of reserve players.  White’s explanation was that he could not risk any further injuries to his top players.  The team selected to go are all caped players, and most of them have aquitted themselves well in the past.  But the New Zealanders and Australians immediately kicked up a fuss, saying that all three Tri-Nations countries had promised to field their best players, and South Africa was letting the side down.  They even threatened to shut South Africa out of the Tri-Nations altogether, playing extra games against each other.  At the time of writing, urgent telephone conferences are being to discuss the impasse.

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