All Blacks gain revenge over Springboks with epic fightback
Scott Barrett and Ardie Savea scored late tries as Rugby Championship winners New Zealand gained sweet revenge over South Africa by pulling off a rousing fightback to snatch a 32-30 victory in Pretoria.
The Springboks pulled off a shock first win over the All Blacks in New Zealand for nine years last month, edging a classic in Wellington 36-34.
Rassie Erasmus’ side looked set to pull off a famous double in the final match of the tournament, but the All Blacks rallied from 30-13 down with 20 minutes to play to finish on a high note at Loftus Versfeld Stadium.
South Africa, roared on by a raucous crowd, dominated the first half but two Beauden Barrett pegged them back at 6-6 at the break after Handre Pollard was on target twice from the tee.
Tries from Jesse Kriel and Damian de Allende early in the second half put the hosts in command and Cheslin Kolbe added a third after Aaron Smith had touched down at the other end, Pollard taking his tally with the boot to 15 points.
The world champions had been outplayed for much of an absorbing contest, but they left South Africa breathless at altitude when Rieko Ioane’s score was followed by Scott Barrett going over four minutes from time and Savea driving over in the final minute, Richie Mo’unga duly landing his third conversion to win the match.
New Zealand had not lost a Rugby Championship game since 2015 before their loss to the Springboks on home soil and a late rally ensured they did not go down twice in the space of three weeks.
WHAT A FINISH! The #AllBlacks come back to take a 32 – 30 win over the @Springboks with a last minute try#RSAvNZL pic.twitter.com/QasmbXMaM7
— All Blacks (@AllBlacks) October 6, 2018
The All Blacks got off to a flying start when the two sides met in Wellington, but it was all South Africa in the opening stages this time around and Pollard booted them in front with a mammoth penalty four minutes in.
Referee Angus Gardner warned New Zealand, who named Ryan Crotty as a late replacement in the side with Jack Goodhue unwell, about their persistent indiscipline as they came under increasing pressure and Pollard doubled the Springboks’ lead from in front of the posts after desperate defending denied them an opening try.
The world champions were being starved of the ball, but Beauden Barrett showed he was not short of confidence after such a poor showing with the boot at the Westpac Stadium when he nailed a tricky penalty.
New Zealand lost Sam Cane to what appeared to be a neck injury just before Barrett levelled from the tee late in a first half South Africa had much the better of.
Erasmus’ men were deservedly back in front only four minutes after the break, Kriel bursting through a gap with a sharp turn of foot to round off a fluent move as Faf de Klerk continued to pull the strings.
Seems like Faf left it all out there again tonight. #Springbokgameday @MTNza @ASICS_ZA @FNBSA @CastleLagerSA @fafdeklerk Great cheer as he leaves the field pic.twitter.com/teJXKWvyHB
— Springboks (@Springboks) October 6, 2018
Pollard added the extras and was on target with another brilliantly struck penalty from long range to put the hosts 16-6 up.
South Africa were relentless and they had a second try 12 minutes into the second half, Franco Mostert powering his way through the middle and feeding De Allende, who darted away to touch down.
New Zealand hit back with their first try only two minutes later, Cody Taylor making an incisive break and laying on a score for the supporting Smith, with Mo’unga converting.
The All Blacks were rocked again when Kolbe rolled over to dot down, but the prolific Ioane dived over in the left corner after he was picked out in space to make it 30-18 with 18 minutes to go.
South Africa were under the pump and Scott Barrett had the nerves jangling when he crashed over following phase after phase of All Blacks attack, then Savea finished from close range in a dramatic finale.
Mo’unga made no mistake with the conversion as the Springboks were given a taste of their own medicine in a thriller.
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments