The All Blacks broke South African hearts on Saturday by snatching a 23-21 win right on fulltime in a Tri-Nations rugby union Test played in freezing conditions in Christchurch.
The Springboks led 21-12 at half-time, scored three tries to one and defended heroically but lost on the full time whistle to virtually the only All Black assault that penetrated their line in the whole 80 minutes.
A faultless backline fed winger Doug Howlett, who nailed the New Zealand victory.
The clash got off to a sensational start when the South African kick-off was muffed, taken in by the All Blacks and turned over almost immediately when half-back Justin Marshall missed his first call.
The Springboks swept in to almost effortlessly score a try in the corner to Jean de Villiers in his first touch of the ball and his first game against the All Blacks.
It was a clue to the way the rest of the night went: the All Blacks had territory and possession two-to-one throughout the game, but it was the tourists who scored the tries.
The All Blacks quickly returned to attack but found no way through a Springbok defence that played a very flat line. Although it kept the All Blacks from scoring tries it resulted in a high off-side penalty count.
With hometown boy Daniel Carter on song, the All Blacks regained the lead in the 17th minute through penalties.
The All Blacks held possession all night but never really looked like scoring a try, while South Africa profited from the mistakes.
An All Black scrum broke down at one point and while Marshall and Co waited for Australian referee Andrew Cole to blow the whistle for off-side, the South Africans carried on and found themselves in solid possession through a weak New Zealand
blindside.
The three Springbok loose forwards worked well together in the face of weak All Black defence to put Jacques Cronje in for the second try of the night and South Africa back into the lead.
Ten minutes later the Springboks managed to mount a running assault at the All Blacks, who missed tackles and saw Fourie du Preez go over for a try in the same corner the earlier tries had been scored.
South African fullback Percy Montgomery, who had an excellent defensive game, slotted all the conversions.
For most of the second half the All Blacks never looked like scoring and instead on two occasions watched as their otherwise brilliant attacking winger Joe Rokocoko staged two do-or-die saves.
The Springbok flat defence ended up conceding two more off-side penalties which allowed the All Blacks to close up the points in a second half that was always solid, high pressure rugby.
Throughout most of the second half it appeared unlikely either side could score a try until the All Blacks, a minute short of the full time whistle, finally managed to string together enough of a defence to cross the otherwise impenetrable Springbok try line. – Sapa-AFP