Showing posts with label All Black. Show all posts
Showing posts with label All Black. Show all posts

Saturday, 4 October 2014

South Africa End All Blacks Streak

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Pat Lambie kicked a penalty from deep inside his own half with two minutes remaining to give South Africa a 27-25 victory over New Zealand at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.

New Zealand had already wrapped up the Rugby Championship title but this was their first defeat in this year's competition and brings to an end the All Blacks' 22-match unbeaten run.

The result also sees the Springboks break a three-year losing streak against the world champions and their first win against the All Blacks at Ellis Park in ten years.

The Springboks led 21-13 at half-time thanks to tries from half-backs Francois Hougaard and two for Handrè Pollard.

Deprived of territory and possession, New Zealand typically converted every chance presented to them and Malakai Fekitoa's try on the half-hour meant they were still in the contest at the interval.

The second half became a much tighter affair as Richie McCaw'a team concentrated on keeping ball in hand and their patience paid off as Ben Smith and Dane Coles both crossed in the final fifteen minutes to take a one-point lead into the dying minutes, before Lambie's late winner.

Kieran Read conceded the first kickable penalty for not rolling away but Pollard missed the target from long range. Beauden Barrett had no such trouble to open the score after eight minutes.

The Boks were first to cross the whitewash, however, with a sensational length-of-the-field try finished off by Hougaard.

The hosts were rewarded for their enterprise as they spread it wide from deep inside their 22. Cornal Hendricks collected Jean De Villiers' chip ahead before offloading to Jan Serfontein, who provided the link for his scrum-half to race home and score under the sticks. Pollard added the easy extras.

The All Blacks had hardly seen the ball as the first quarter drew to a close but Barrett closed the gap to a single point after Marcell Coetzee was penalised for not allowing the ball out of a ruck.

South Africa's second try was as good as the first. Again it started in the hosts' half with Bryan Habana making good ground.

The finish was out of the top drawer as Pollard slalomed his way past three defenders to score and the fly-half's conversion from in front took the scores to 14-6.

In typical fashion, New Zealand struck back as Julian Savea, chasing his own chip ahead, charged down the blindside touchline to open up the Bok defence. Barrett found Fekitoa on a great line and he jinked his way over for a superb try. Barrett's conversion was a formality.

Pollard had the last laugh though, beating his opposite number and twisting through McCaw's tackle to get the ball down on the line. The young fly-half's conversion gave the Boks an eight-point lead at the break.

Conrad Smith's finger tips denied De Villiers a try in a footrace soon after the restart but Pollard extended the hosts' lead from the kicking tee after a deliberate knock-down from Jerome Kaino.

The Boks were running out of gas though and when Conrad Smith split De Villiers and Serfontein to put Ben Smith over in the corner, the Ellis Park faithful were silenced.

Barrett held his nerve to slot the conversion from the touchline to set up a grandstand finish with the scores at 24-20 and twelve minutes on the clock.

Three minutes latter, with the Springboks looking dead on their feet, Coles crossed in the corner to give the world champions a one-point lead.

Lambie tried a drop goal with four minutes remaining, but unlike at Newlands a week ago, he could not snatch the lead back for his team.

He was on target from his own half with the match-winning penalty though as the All Blacks paid a heavy price for Liam Messam's high tackle on Schalk Burger.

Saturday, 16 November 2013

All Blacks Maintain Record

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New Zealand avenged last year's defeat at Twickenham but were given a mighty fright by England before emerging from a titanic struggle with a 30-22 victory, their 13th in an unbeaten 2013.

England trailed 17-3 early in the game, battled back to lead 22-20 after a hour but succumbed to a ferocious finish from the All Blacks.

New Zealand went ahead early through tries from the outstanding Kieran Read and Julian Savea, but England kept in touch through a scrappy try from Joe Launchbury and the relentlessly accurate boot of Owen Farrell.

It was Farrell's sixth kick from six which edged England ahead briefly but Savea's second try and a conversion and penalty from Aaron Cruden - on as a replacement for the injured Dan Carter - kept New Zealand's unbeaten year intact.

Carter joined the ranks of rugby's Test centurions, but his afternoon lasted just 26 minutes until injury ended his involvement.

The fifth All Black to reach 100 caps contributed a penalty and two conversions before making way for Cruden.

England started brightly but the home fans were stunned into silence when their line was breached after just 105 seconds.

New Zealand broke down the left wing through Read and some naive defending saw the number eight suck in Chris Ashton, Tom Wood and Billy Vunipola.

Somehow Read slipped a pass out to the lurking Savea and the wing had the simplest of run-ins, with Carter converting.

A penalty from Farrell got England on the board and Ben Foden thought he had scored a try after intercepting and running two thirds of the pitch, but referee Craig Joubert had spotted offside. To rub salt into Foden's wound, Carter kicked the penalty.

By the 18th minute New Zealand had surged 17-3 ahead with their second try started when lock Brodie Retallick sent prop Owen Franks racing through a gap.

The ball was recycled quickly and fed right where Foden was outnumbered and Read easily loped over. Carter added the conversion.

Finally England exerted some pressure, declining a shot at goal and kicking for touch to enable their forwards to pound away at the All Blacks' line.

They appeared to have mauled their way over, but video referee Gareth Simmonds controversially refused to award the try.

The score arrived moments later, however, when the ball squirted out of a five-metre scrum, touched the boots of Chris Robshaw and Wood before falling to Launchbury who gathered it up and fell over the line.

Farrell converted and then exchanged penalties with Cruden, reducing the deficit to 20-13 and with the added benefit of Read being sent to the sin-bin for entering a breakdown from the side.

The pendulum had swung in the final 10 minutes of the first half, England's resurgence founded on their dominant pack and Joubert's willingness to penalise the All Blacks at the breakdown.

And the shift in power continued after the interval as England produced their best passage of play with their backs also involved, only for Ashton to kick the ball away.

The action was captivating as New Zealand counter-attacked, missed a penalty and then allowed increasingly influential Billy Twelvetrees to burst through their ranks.

When Ashton was illegally blocked by Wyatt Crockett as he chased his own kick, England won a penalty landed by Farrell.

Rattled New Zealand continued to be penalised at the breakdown when they conceded again, they slipped behind for the first time in the match as Farrell hit the target.

The lead lasted just four minutes, however, as the All Blacks produced a stunning response in the face of some tiring home defence.

Desperate scrambling defence kept New Zealand out in the left corner, but a brilliant offload from Ma'a Nonu gave Savea a sniff of the line and he pounced, with Cruden converting.

A penalty from Cruden put the All Blacks eight points ahead and finally England's resistance had been broken.


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