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Dynamic All Blacks blank Boks
From James Whitmore in Cape Town, South Africa
August 17, 2008 NEW Zealand scored an emphatic 19-0 win against South Africa in a Tri-Nations rugby match.
The victory took the All Blacks to the top of the Tri-Nations competition points table and revived their chances of winning this year's competition.
While South Africa dominated much of the encounter it was the visitors who made the most of the chances that came their way. They also upped the ante in the second period, dominating possession and territory.
While New Zealand scored only one try in the opening 40 minutes, they added two more after the interval, and at the same time denied the Boks a point. But it could have been so different had the home side taken a few of the chances they created in the first half especially.
Scrum-half Fourie du Preez, centres Adrian Jacobs and Jean de Villiers and wing Bryan Habana all caused havoc in the New Zealand backline with some clever running lines, but there was just no way through a brilliantly organised defence.
The Boks though were also their own worst enemy as they regularly gave up ball at the breakdowns where Richie McCaw ruled. They also spilled passes while some of the players at times got themselves isolated which resulted in New Zealand winning a good number of penalties.
And had fly-half Dan Carter had his kicking boots on the score would certainly have been a whole lot worse for the Boks. In total he missed three penalties and a conversion.
But he made up for his kicking woes with an otherwise excellent display, including a try in the second half. New Zealand scored as early as the seventh minute when centre Conrad Smith dived on to a ball kicked into the Boks' in-goal area by McCaw, but the score would stay that way until the 66th minute.
Carter would then silence the partisan home crowd - who'd heckled him all afternoon - by stepping past three Bok defenders to score next to the uprights.
Then, with six minutes to go, the visitors wrapped up the match when replacement Keven Mealamu intercepted a poor pass by Jean de Villiers to crash over for his team's third try.
Agence France-Presse
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,...-23217,00.html