Rugby: Boks shortened up by big display

By Gregor Paul 

New Zealand 29
South Africa 15

It must be terrifying for rugby's chasing pack that the All Blacks can dust off the Springboks these days without Richie McCaw, Dan Carter or Israel Dagg.

And it wasn't so much dust them off, either. This was emphatic. A better team playing better rugby getting the result they deserved.

The Boks will agitate for days, weeks, maybe even months to come that they were hampered by an unjust red card.

There's certainly merit in debating whether it was just or not, but they will be wasting their time, quite spectacularly missing the point, if they think that was the difference. They weren't going to win with 15 men - for the simple reason that no side is ever going to be able to come to Eden Park and win by only running into contact not space.

It was always a little hard to be carried away by the Boks' optimism about their chances. Their confidence had been fuelled by hammering Australia, but seriously, that really doesn't count for much.

There was never any prospect of the All Blacks capitulating at the coalface.

That's not how it works and the All Blacks gave one of the great defensive
performances.

Their structure held and towards the end of the game, they were smashing the Boks for fun. The ease with which the All Blacks absorbed the Boks cast them in the role of George Foreman in the Jungle: they slugged away at the All Blacks, every blow followed with a whispered inquiry if that was all they had.

All of which made it feel like there is a never ending well of self-belief, courage and composure embedded in this All Black camp - epitomised by outstanding captain Kieran Read.

He gave the ultimate 'follow me' performance. He was everywhere, he was low in the carry, driven, hard, resolute and calm - and almost scored a hat-trick.

If the Boks thought they had seen a crack with the absence of McCaw, they didn't so much as get the crow bar out the tool bag.

Not far behind the skipper were Sam Whitelock and Brodie Retallick - a lock pairing with edge and authority. The latter discovered a fearsome running game.

Beauden Barrett is on the hero list. Thrust into battle after 20 minutes, he made a big statement about his big future.

The focus shouldn't be on individuals, though, as this was a night where the All Blacks inspired with their collective effort.

Not only was their defence superb, they went well at scrum and lineout, held the Boks to just one rolling maul and didn't give much away at the breakdown. When it came to the actual playing of the game, the bit the Boks always forget is just as important, the All Blacks were light years ahead. They created space and exploited space. The Boks wanted to keep running into contact and more often than not, they would run once too often, spilling the ball.

It was the All Blacks who were missing their big names, scrambling around with the kids from their bench, but it was the All Blacks who were more accurate and aware.

The Boks were of course restricted in what they could do because they were reduced to 14 men.

Was it unfair? Probably. Reckless, brilliant, deliberate - or possibly even a bit of all three, the intent of Bismarck du Plessis's thunderous hit on Daniel Carter will be debated for weeks yet.

He deserves the benefit of the doubt on the first yellow card. Carter was fair game, du Plessis was onside, he timed it beautifully and he clobbered his man. The head coming through was a bit ugly, but he did use his arms and rugby has to be careful that it doesn't react automatically to big hits that really do need to be part of the game.

But his second infringement was bad. A deliberate elbow to Liam Messam had intent. It was Messam who was at the core of the scrap that ensued after the Carter tackle and du Plessis clearly hadn't forgotten.

And those exchanges in the seconds after that first incident were further indication of why this Springbok side fancies itself. They think they are big enough and bad enough to bludgeon and bully their way to the top of rugby's pecking order but their chronic lack of footballing skills will always leave them vulnerable.

The challenge they presented last night was exclusively physical. There's almost 20 years of history that says that's not enough to gain a win at Eden Park.

New Zealand 29 (K. Read 2, B. Retallick tries; D. Carter con; B. Barrett 2 cons, pen) South Africa 15 (B. du Plessis, P. Lambie tries; M. Steyn con, pen).

It's still the Garden of Eden for All Blacks

The temptation is to declare this a great All Blacks' victory led by a stirring display from their stand-in skipper. But this result will always have the proverbial asterisk beside it because of a farcical red card dished out to Boks enforcer Bismarck du Plessis, just minutes into the second half.

Yes, the All Blacks won well to extend their undefeated run in 2013 to seven tests and make it four from four in this Rugby Championship. And, yes, Kieran Read was magnificent as he led his men admirably in the absence of the injured Richie McCaw and scored a try in each half for good measure.

But for nearly half of this contest it was 15 men against 14 - du Plessis sinbinned in the first half for a flat-out bad decision - and red carded less than two minutes into the second half for a raised elbow in a tackle. That tilted this delicious match decisively in the home team's favour.

The All Blacks did what they had to. They didn't make the borderline calls. Read led brilliantly, Brodie Retallick produced another scintillating display of his all-round skills, and flankers Sam Cane and Liam Messam stood up to their physical challenges splendidly.

The scrums were a mess throughout - a glaring advertisement for the fact the new regulations haven't worked. Beauden Barrett also stepped in admirably for the injured Dan Carter after just quarter of an hour and was decisive in all he did, while the rest of the backs played their parts in a high-tempo contest.

The match did take a toll on the All Blacks. Carter's shoulder looks bad, while Israel Dagg departed at halftime with a leg injury.

The Boks were all fire and brimstone, but were taken out of the contest by the du Plessis red card. We won't know how good they really are until the return at Ellis Park.

After all the talk about whether the All Blacks would cope with the Bok physicality, it took just three minutes for the home side to answer those doubts with a rollicking forward try to skipper Read. It came after Ma'a Nonu's cleverly angled kick had set up a lineout just 5m out, and once Owen Franks made the first hitup, it was left to Read to power over with a little help from his mates for an early 7-0 lead.

Morne Steyn got the South Africans on the board five minutes later with his first penalty, and then things really kicked off in an action-packed 16th minute when the All Blacks lost Carter, and the Boks lost du Plessis to the sinbin.

The hooker's shoulder charge on Carter looked dodgy, but replays showed the hit was legit and that referee Romain Poite had over-reacted big time.

The All Blacks may have lost their master playmaker in the incident, but not their cool once everything settled down after some pushing and shoving.

Barrett made a bad start when he missed touch off a penalty, but made up for that in the 22nd minute when his big break up the middle set up Retallick for a clean run between the posts.

At 14-3 down, the Boks were not done. Just after the half-hour mark they declined a shot at goal and were rewarded when the returned du Plessis was driven over via a 10-man shove. Only a late Barrett penalty extended the All Blacks' lead to seven by the half.

Then the game turned. Two minutes after the restart du Plessis had raised his elbow into the throat area of Liam Messam, and Poite had flourished his second yellow card for the tough hooker, followed shortly by the obligatory red.

From there - as is the way with these things - the contest was effectively decided.

The All Blacks added second-half tries to Read and Sam Cane, who had a storming game, to bring up the bonus point, and a match-winning 29-10 lead with a dozen minutes left.

It then got rather ugly. The All Blacks lost Read (lineout infringement) and Ma'a Nonu (late shoulder charge) to yellow cards, and suddenly the Boks pounced with a 75th-minute try to Pat Lambie off Steyn's nicely weighted cross-kick.

At 29-15, the visitors had a sniff of a bonus point, but the match finished with the All Blacks making the tackles they needed to and the visitors denied a crumb of consolation.

The All Blacks continue their 19-year, now 32-test unbeaten run on Eden Park, and the Boks must wait for another tilt at ending their own 76-year hoodoo on the ground. But one thing is for sure - the rematch, and championship decider, at Ellis Park in will be something special.

UPSIDE

The days of the All Blacks needing Richie McCaw and/or Dan Carter to operate near their best may be over. With the skip absent and Carter lasting just 15 minutes, the New Zealand machine ticked along nicely. But, of course, that red card leaves us unable to make any definitive judgments.

DOWNSIDE

Bismarck du Plessis' dreadfully unlucky sending off for two so-called yellow card offences was a stain on what was shaping as a wonderful test. Rugby's ridiculous red card rules ruin another big occasion and leave us thirsting for the rematch in Jo'burg.

STAR MAN

The All Blacks have themselves a new Captain Fantastic. Kieran Read was magnificent, with a try in each half, as he muscled up big time to show the Boks they're not the only tough guys running round in international rugby. Quality leadership too.

New Zealand 29 (Kieran Read 2, Brodie Retallick, Sam Cane tries; Dan Carter con; Beauden Barrett pen, 2 cons)South Africa 15 (Bismarck du Plessis, Patrick Lambie tries; Morne Steyn pen, con). Ht: 17-10