Showing posts with label Beauden Barrett. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Beauden Barrett. 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.

Tuesday, 19 November 2013

All Blacks 54 - 6 Japan

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Richie McCaw and Dan Carter both came through their returns from injury unscathed as world champions New Zealand warmed up for their tour of Europe with a 54-6 win away to Japan.

New Zealand took the lead via Charles Piatau but Japan cut the gap to 7-6 through two Ayumu Goromaru penalties.

Sam Cane, Ben Smith and Richie McCaw all crossed to make it 28-6 to the All Blacks at the break.

And Jeremy Thrush, Frank Halai, Beauden Barrett and Piatau added further tries.

Fly-half Carter, playing his first game since mid-September after missing the All Blacks' last three Tests, kicked five conversions out of five before being replaced.

Japan almost scored a last-minute try through Kenki Fukuoka but McCaw, playing at number eight on his return to the fray after missing the recent Bledisloe Cup win over Australia with a calf injury, just managed to put him into touch.

"That was payback," smiled McCaw. "He got me good in the first half. I was pretty desperate to stop Japan scoring at the end. Perhaps they deserved to score a try but I got there and I didn't want to be the one that missed."

The All Blacks, who extended their winning run to 11 Tests out of 11 in 2013, play France next Saturday before games against England and Ireland over the following two weekends.

"It felt good from a personal point of view to get through 80 minutes and get the feeling of the game," said McCaw.

"I don't think it's going to take too much to change the mindset for Paris. Next week is going to be a hell of a match so it won't take much to turn the screws."

Despite the big winning margin coach Steve Hansen said he was "disappointed with some of the players". He added: "There were some lessons to be learned, but we scored eight tries so we can't grumble too much."


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Saturday, 7 September 2013

All Blacks Beat Pumas

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New Zealand extended their 100% start to the Rugby Championship with a hard-fought victory over a stubborn Argentina in rain-lashed Hamilton.

The Pumas took an early 7-0 lead with a converted Juan Manuel Leguizamon try.

But a Dan Carter penalty and two quick-fire tries from scrum-half Aaron Smith saw the All Blacks take a 15-10 half-time lead at Waikato Stadium.

Another Carter penalty and Julian Savea's try put the hosts 25-13 clear before Beauden Barrett's late penalty.

But the All Blacks, who equalled their own Tri-Nations/Rugby Championship record with a ninth straight victory in the annual southern hemisphere tournament, saw skipper Richie McCaw limp off with a knee injury on the hour.

Argentina also suffered a blow when Leicester-bound wing Gonzalo Camacho departed early in the second half with a dislocated shoulder.

The visitors had opened the scoring when debutant All Blacks centre Francis Saili knocked the ball on inside his own half and quick hands from the Pumas saw number eight Leguizamon cross, fly-half Nicolas Sanchez converting.

Carter's penalty in response saw Test rugby's record points-scorer become the first man to pass 1400.

He missed with two other shots in the atrocious conditions but when Pumas hooker Eusebio Guinazu was sent to the sin-bin after a series of penalties, the All Blacks pounced with a man advantage.

Smith grabbed his first try after the outstanding Kieran Read's offload out of a double tackle, then three minutes later fell on a kick ahead by Ben Smith after Carter had sparked a counter-attack.

A Sanchez penalty kept the Pumas in it at the interval.

But after the fly-half's exchange of penalties with Carter on the resumption, Read's charge-down of a Sanchez kick in the 54th minute allowed Carter, Saili and Conrad Smith to create the decisive try for Savea, his 14th in 14 Tests.

Carter converted with his last act of the game before his replacement, Barrett, put the outcome beyond doubt with five minutes left.

Saturday's second game sees Australia, who lost their opening two games home and away to New Zealand, host South Africa - who have beaten Argentina twice so far - in Brisbane.

New Zealand: Dagg, B Smith, C Smith, Saili, Savea, Carter, A Smith; Woodcock, Hore, Faumuina, Retallick, Whitelock, Luatua, McCaw, Read.

Replacements: Coles, Crockett, B Franks, Thrush, Cane, Kerr-Barlow, Barrett, Piutau.

Argentina: Hernandez, Camacho, Bosch, Fernandez, Agulla, Sanchez, Landajo, Ayerza, Guinazu, Figallo, Carizza, Farias Cabello, Fernandez Lobbe, Matera, Leguizamon.

Replacements: Creevy, Lobo, Orlandi, Galarza, Macome, Cubelli, Contepomi, Gonzalez Amorosino.

The Rugby Championship 2013

Saturday 18 August
Australia 29-47 New Zealand
South Africa 73-13 Argentina

Saturday 24 August
New Zealand 27-16 Australia
Argentina 17-22 South Africa

Saturday 7 September
New Zealand 28-13 Argentina
Australia v South Africa 

Saturday 14 September
New Zealand v South Africa
Australia v Argentina

Saturday 28 September
South Africa v Australia
Argentina v New Zealand

Saturday 5 October
South Africa v New Zealand
Argentina v Australia


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