Durban – South Africa suffered their second consecutive Tri-Nations loss after being hammered 40-7 by a fired-up All Black side.
New Zealand scored six tries to the Boks’ one at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington on Saturday. Last weekend, the Boks, who are missing key players due to injury, were beaten by the Australians in Sydney.
All Blacks prop Wyatt Crockett scored the first try for the homeside in the first quarter, following the momentum Zac Guildford touched down for the Kiwis second try.
Guildford scored one more try and Cory Jane added another two. Colin Slade was responsible for the All Blacks’ fifth try.
Captain John Smit gave South Africa slight hope with his try in the first half of the game but that was to be the only one from the defending world champions, who suffered for their lack of experience and defensive lapses, especially in the second half.
Smit said the Boks’ problems were mainly caused by turning over possession and missing too many tackles.
South Africa missed 24 tackles and turned over possession six times at the breakdown.
The Boks were fortunate that the winds prevented Dan Carter from adding more points on the board – he missed three conversion attempts in the first half.
“The scoreboard does look ugly. Even though we played good rugby at stages during the game, you’re always going to pay if you turn over possession at this level, and we certainly paid for that against these blokes,” said Smit.
“You also can’t afford to miss so many tackles, which also cost us tonight. It’s always terrible to lose, especially against the All Blacks, but we will learn from this and just have to lift our game when we get back home.”
In an attempt to bring a positive spin on the massive defeat, Smit added that the fairly young squad could have only benefited from the experience.
“But we brought some young players over here and they would have grown immensely and would have seen what can be done with ball in hand.”
The Springboks returned to South Africa on Sunday night. They will then face Australia in Durban on August 13 and New Zealand in Port Elizabeth on 20 August.
The All Blacks, meanwhile, host the Wallabies in Auckland next Saturday.
Scorers:
- New Zealand – Tries: Wyatt Crockett, Zac Guildford (2), Cory Jane (2), Colin Slade. Conversion: Dan Carter. Penalty goals: Carter (2).
- South Africa – Try: John Smit. Conversion: Morné Steyn. – Kemantha Govender, BuaNews
