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South Africa’s number eight Jasper Wiese runs at New Zealand’s Jordie Barrett at Ellis Park. Photograph: Phill Magakoe\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n1st Test: South Africa 16 New Zealand 33<\/p>\n
As first courses go, this was a delicious appetiser to a series that looks set to live up to its billing. First blood goes to New Zealand, who withstood a barrage of Springbok scrum pressure and demonstrated a slickness that the double world champions could not live with, clinching a first win at Ellis Park since 2022.<\/p>\n
By the end, South Africa had two men in the sinbin and given their status as the world\u2019s leading side, this goes down as a disintegration. There will be a backlash \u2013 it is hard to remember a time when South Africa were so inaccurate with the ball in hand \u2013 but credit New Zealand for producing a masterclass at weathering the storm and taking their chances.<\/p>\n
The All Blacks chalked up five tries to South Africa\u2019s one and they were even calling for scrums late in the second half, having found parity to nullify the Springboks\u2019 only threat on the day. The last meeting between these sides in Wellington ended 43-10 in South Africa\u2019s favour. This was some revenge mission.<\/p>\n
The prematch verbals had all centred around speed. New Zealand wanted a fast-paced game, South Africa supposedly wanted to slow it down. It matters little what tempo you play at if you cannot catch the ball and that is the harsh lesson the Springboks must learn before the second Test in Cape Town.<\/p>\n
Three of New Zealand\u2019s five tries came in the right-hand corner \u2013 targeting the scrumhalf Grant Williams\u2019s position was clearly a pre-planned strategy \u2013 but ultimately this was a victory founded on defensive courage. South Africa\u2019s handling might have been woeful but their powerful runners, led by the number eight Jasper Wiese, and their ruthless scrum gave them a platform in the middle 40 minutes of the game that would have been enough to brush aside most teams. That New Zealand survived before ruthlessly taking their chances is some feather in the cap for Dave Rennie\u2019s side.<\/p>\n
Truth be told it was a stop-start first half \u2013 injuries and ill discipline ensuring the whistle was rarely far from the referee Matt Carley\u2019s lips. New Zealand were the first to cross the try line \u2013 Will Jordan continuing his stunning scoring rate by finishing in the right corner past Williams. Cheslin Kolbe had kicked South Africa into a 3-0 lead and the Boks were in front again when Andr\u00e9 Esterhuizen \u2013 on after 10 minutes for the injured Kurt-Lee Arendse \u2013 powered through Josh Moorby all too easily to score.<\/p>\n
South Africa’s number eight Jasper Wiese runs at New Zealand’s Jordie Barrett at Ellis Park. Photograph: Phill Magakoe\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n
Moorby atoned with a sharp finish, gathering a delightful offload from Tupou Vaa\u2019i at the second attempt for the All Blacks\u2019 second try but another Kolbe penalty edged the Springboks back in front on 26 minutes. South Africa turned the screw thereafter but wasted three visits to the All Blacks\u2019 22 \u2013 Malcolm Marx the most culpable when knocking on just short of the line, though credit to Jordie Barrett, who did remarkably well to force the error.<\/p>\n
The second half began in a similar vein and Kolbe further extended South Africa\u2019s lead with another penalty, awarded for further scrum dominance, but the Springboks scrumhalf was charged down by Fabian Holland at the restart and the Dutch-born New Zealand lock had the simplest of scores.<\/p>\n
South Africa responded with another scrum barrage but their inaccuracy in the New Zealand 22 again let them down and when Luke Jacobson went over from close range \u2013 territory brought about after a scything run down the middle from Damian McKenzie \u2013 Ruben Love converted for a 10-point lead.<\/p>\n
The Springboks were desperate by this stage, unable to get on the right side of Carley, and the humiliation was complete when the replacements Marco van Staden and Cobus Reinach were sent to the sinbin for infringing near their own line in quick succession.<\/p>\n
Jordan\u2019s second, again out on the right, put the exclamation mark on a thoroughly deserved victory, only New Zealand\u2019s second against South Africa in seven attempts. The Springboks must now win the remaining three Tests to clinch the series outright but vast improvements have to be made if they are to stand any chance. \u2013 Guardian<\/p>\n
SOUTH AFRICA: <\/b>Damian Willemse; Cheslin Kolbe, Jesse Kriel, \u200cDamian de Allende, Kurt-Lee Arendse; Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Grant Williams; Ox \u200bNche, Malcolm Marx, Wilco Louw; Eben Etzebeth, Ruan Nortje; Paul de \u200bVilliers, Pieter-Steph du Toit (capt), Jasper Wiese.<\/p>\n
Replacements:<\/b> Andre Esterhuizen for Arendse (9 mins); Gerhard Steenekamp for Nche (45); Cobus Reinach for Kolbe (57); Zachary Porthen for Louw (60); Marco van Staden for De Villiers (61); Manie Libbok for Esterhuizen (62); Jan-Hendrik Wessels for Steenekamp (66); Cobus Wiese for Etzebeth (73).<\/p>\n
Yellow Cards: <\/b>Van Staden (68 mins); Reinach (70).<\/p>\n
NEW ZEALAND: <\/b>Damian McKenzie; Will Jordan, Quinn Tupaea, Jordie Barrett, Josh Moorby; Ruben Love, Cam Roigard; Ethan de Groot, Codie Taylor, Tyrel Lomax; Josh Lord, Fabian Holland; Tupou Vaa\u2019i, Luke Jacobson, Ardie \u200cSavea (capt).<\/p>\n
Replacements:<\/b> Simon Parker for Lord, Bower for De Groot (both 37 mins); Fletcher Newell for Lomax (50); Asafo Aumua for Taylor (54); Leroy Carter for Moorby (63); Anton Lienert-Brown for Tupaea, Peter Lakai for Jacobson, Kyle Preston for Roigard (all 75).<\/p>\n
Referee:<\/b> M Carley (Eng).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"1st Test: South Africa 16 New Zealand 33 As first courses go, this was a delicious appetiser to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":651612,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[34133,9,10,18,13,14,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,5,4389,7,8],"class_list":["post-651611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-all-blacks","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-springboks","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117142444210664288","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=651611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}