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All Blacks win instant classic to open Rugby's Greatest Rivalry Test series
at Ellis Park, Johannesburg
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Even by Ellis Park standards, Saturday evening’s Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Test series opener was a raw and vicious encounter. Were it not for the feverish crowd, the sounds of bodies colliding would have been heard from the farthest reaches of the Eastern Cape.
The series opener lived up to the billing of ‘Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry’, delivering action on all fronts. The All Blacks were ahead by 10 points with 12 minutes remaining when South Africa sealed their fate with two yellow cards. One more try from the Kiwis was the cherry on top for Dave Rennie.
The collision area and breakdown were war zones from the first moment, and two early breakdown penalties won by South Africa made up for the first penalty of the game and a poorly thrown lineout. Cheslin Kolbe stepped up to the tee to knock over the first points of the game in the fourth minute.
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South Africa’s discipline continued to miss the mark and allow New Zealand to move upfield. A lineout from 10 metres out was followed by a maul that got five metres closer, and in just a few tight phases the All Blacks had shrunk the South African defensive line enough to deliver a cut-out ball to Will Jordan, who pounced over the line.
The Springboks’ ball-runners were damaging New Zealand’s defence, with Kolbe beating two defenders to generate attacking momentum for his side. Shortly after, Andre Esterhuizen, who had entered the game when Jesse Kriel left for a head injury assessment, broke through the line to score what would be the Springboks’ only try of the evening.
In such a ferocious game, accuracy proved hard to uphold, and there were plenty of early lineouts as a result.
New Zealand moved away from the wing only to target the blindside with a long ball once again, and Tupou Vaa’i waded through contact to deliver an offload to Josh Moorby, who escaped the grasp of the defence to run in his side’s second try.
A scrum penalty went against the All Blacks on their own put-in in the 25th minute, giving Kolbe the chance to take the lead with a shot at goal from a comfortable position.
Next time New Zealand went to the blindside, South Africa had learned their lesson and sent Will Jordan over the sideline. The Springboks’ scrum overwhelmed New Zealand with every attempt, leading to chants of “Scrum! Scrum! Scrum!” from the JoBurg faithful. The set piece dominance made up for numerous moments of subpar cohesion when the Boks put the ball through the hands.
Ethan de Groot and Josh Lord collided just shy of halftime, and New Zealand were dealt a double blow with both leaving the field.
The Boks got their chance to make the final play of the half when a contestable kick resulted in the ball going loose and Ruben Love was shown the sideline after chasing it down. Jasper Wiese, who had enjoyed a destructive opening 39 minutes with the ball in hand, had the ball stripped and New Zealand brought the half to a close. The hosts held a narrow, 13-12 lead at the break.
The second half began with more of the skill vs strength showdown, and while Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu was able to diffuse the Kiwis’ half-break by collecting his own high ball, New Zealand were unable to diffuse the Springbok scrum, and conceded another three points as a result.
Fabian Holland struck back in a flash though, charging down Grant Williams’ box kick, snatching the ball and striding to the try line.
After that, the Springboks decided to ram home their advantage at scrum time, but it was New Zealand that won the penalty. Will Jordan then collected a high ball while retreating, and proceeded to break tackles before delivering a drop-off pass to Damian McKenzie. The fullback broke free and made it within 10 metres of the line before his attempted offload was slapped back by Damian Willemse, and the try literally slipped through New Zealand’s fingers. Play resumed with a New Zealand scrum, and Luke Jacobson quickly crashed over.
New Zealand’s scrum sured up when the reserves entered the game, and Quinn Tupaea executed a superb 50/22 to give his team the chance to add to their 10-point advantage. The All Blacks put a grubber through and won the ball back right on the Springboks’ line, with Marco van Staden shown a yellow card for taking out the halfback. Moments later, the Boks were reduced to 13 when Cobus Reinach was found guilty of a knock-on.
New Zealand wasted no time exploiting their advantage, with Savea delivering the bridge pass to Jordan, who went over in the corner untouched. With their team down 16-33, fans keen to beat the traffic started to leave the arena five minutes early. That scoreline remained when the final whistle was blown, with the All Blacks scoring five tries to the Springboks’ one.
