Boks battered by All Blacks
New Zealand began the defence of their Tri-Nations title with a crushing 40-7 victory over South Africa in Wellington.
By Alex Williams
Last Updated: 30/07/11 12:14pm
New Zealand began the defence of their Tri-Nations title with a crushing 40-7 victory over South Africa in Wellington.
The injury-hit Springboks looked outmatched from the start as Cory Jane and Zac Guildford each scored a brace of tries, with Wyatt Crockett and Colin Slade also touching down.
Dan Carter also regained his place at the top of the all-time Test scoring charts despite his kicking being below par for most of the contest, but that did not matter to the dominant All Blacks.
South Africa slumped to a second defeat in two matches in the 2011 competition as a try from skipper John Smit provided their only highlight of a miserable night at the Westpac Stadium.
Carter wasted no time in regaining his scoring record from Jonny Wilkinson as he slotted over a simple penalty in the third minute after South Africa were penalised for offside.
Morne Steyn then squandered a chance to level the scores, missing his first attempt on goal in the Tri-Nations for two years, and the hosts were quickly applying the pressure again.
The All Blacks moved the ball out to the left, where centre Conrad Smith played prop Crockett in at the corner for the first Test try of his career.
Misses
Carter missed a tough conversion but helped extend the lead straight from the restart as he offloaded to Guildford, who raced away to touch down and make it 13-0, with the extras off-target again.
The Springboks eventually weathered the storm and hit back just before the half-hour mark as under-fire captain Smit powered his way over the line under the posts after the visitors had gone for the corner with a kickable penalty.
But the comeback was stopped in its tracks soon after as All Blacks wing Jane collected a looping pass and burst through the line before rounding Steyn and sprinting clear to score a fine solo effort.
With Carter missing his third conversion, New Zealand went into the half-time break 18-7 up and continued to surge forward after the restart, with Ma'a Nonu being held up over the line after some great work from Carter.
The pressure eventually told as Jane took a bouncing pass from Jimmy Cowan to cross for his second try and Carter finally nailed the conversion.
Carter then slotted over another penalty to increase the advantage to 21 points as the defending champions took a stranglehold on the contest.
The Springboks showed promising glimpses but it was clear they did not have the cutting edge of the hosts and the match was well and truly killed off when Guildford rounded off a potent move to grab a brace of his own.
There was not let up from New Zealand as brilliant hands throughout the back division allowed Slade to grab their sixth try of the night, with Carter's conversion bringing up the 40-point mark.
