Canan Moodie breaks away before dotting down, but what would have been the Springboks' fourth try was disallowed after a TMO review. Photo / Getty Images
Canan Moodie breaks away before dotting down, but what would have been the Springboks' fourth try was disallowed after a TMO review. Photo / Getty Images
It was a horror show as nothing went right for Ian Foster’s side in London. Two yellow cards, an early injury and then a second yellow to Scott Barrett – resulting in a red – meant they played more than half the match with 14 players or fewer. Not great as the Springboks outpowered them up front, helped by their seven forwards off the bench.
Dominant Springboks make massive World Cup statement
South Africa, who were dominant from the start, scored a 35-7 (halftime 14-0) win in an inspiring performance before they take on Scotland, Romania, Ireland and Tonga in the pool stages of France 2023.
Springbok captain Siya Kolisi promised on Thursday they would go all out, and boy did they turn the screws on the All Blacks from the kickoff. They delivered on their promise, and a powerful 80-minute performance by the forwards and backline kept New Zealand under severe pressure throughout.
There wasn’t a facet that the Boks did not dominate for the entire game, and this performance will stand them in good stead in terms of momentum heading into the World Cup.
Talk about Test-match pedigree. Talk about statements. New Zealand’s record defeat was an echoing endorsement of South Africa, Scott Barrett’s red card and possible ban a cause for concern.
It was an awful day for Ian Foster’s All Blacks, who face France in their opening World Cup match, but a cracking day for English neutrals. France will feel a lot better than Ireland and Scotland, who take on South Africa in pool B next month.
As for Twickenham, it had the privilege of hosting the world’s two great rugby superpowers. It was good to be at the stadium. I haven’t been able to write that for a while.
An early South African scrum penalty against a reputable Kiwi scrum was a strong start. The pack were powerful at close range, the back three fizzed at pace and the All Blacks were hanging on, but hang on they did, against the early odds. There was more sizzle and bite in the opening six minutes than England have generated in 240 minutes of warm-up rugby. This was red-hot stuff.
When the two sides met in the Rugby Championship, the All Blacks blitzed the Boks in the opening half-hour. South Africa seemed to have learnt their lesson. The drizzle didn’t slow the Springboks as much as a New Zealand side conceding penalty after penalty in the shadow of their posts.
The final score at Twickenham. Photo / Getty Images
The Springboks confirmed the rude health they are in heading into the Rugby World Cup by ending the warmup phase with a smashing record 35-7 win over their old rivals New Zealand in front of a packed Twickenham in London on Friday night.
Smashing is the apt expression as the All Blacks were smashed into submission in a first half in which, as 1995 World Cup winner and Supersport television analyst Joel Stransky put it, could have been 35-0 to the reigning world champions rather than the 14-0 that it was.
From the off the All Blacks were smashed in the tackle, smashed in the collisions and smashed at forward, with the Bok pack taking complete control of every aspect of the up-front battle as Siya Kolisi’s men set up camp for eight of the first 10 minutes in the All Black 22-metre area and enjoyed a vice-like grip on the territory and possession battle throughout the half.
No two tests are ever the same in international rugby. The All Blacks dominated the Boks in Auckland last month, but it was a very different story at Twickenham on Friday night.
Tries to Siya Kolisi and Kurt Lee-Arendse saw the Boks taking a commanding lead into the break, and this continued throughout the second term as they ran away with a 35-7 win.
The All Blacks’ impressive unbeaten run comes to an end at the hands of their rivals, while the Springboks can take plenty of confidence into the upcoming Rugby World Cup.
Walking into the legendary venue before the test, it was clear who the majority of fans were here to see. There was plenty of green around the streets of Twickenham, and even a mix of braai and drinks.
If you closed your eyes, even for a moment, you were practically transported to the streets of Johannesburg before a test at Ellis Park. This was a Springboks home test, even if it wasn’t.
At last some full-throttle rugby to raise the pulse in south-west London. It may have been a frustrating August for English supporters but here was the thunderous real deal, disguised as a so-called friendly. If this was a warm-up, those about to encounter a rampant South Africa at next month’s World Cup should brace themselves for something massively impactful.
A full house of almost 81,000, some 30,000 more than are set to attend England’s game with Fiji this weekend, were also given a reminder of the importance of discipline in the modern game. Scott Barrett’s 38th-minute red card for a shoulder to the head of the outstanding Springbok hooker, Malcolm Marx, significantly shaped the outcome here and could have sizeable implications for his team going forward.
Not as sizeable as this record margin, though. By the end it was about as grisly a dress rehearsal as New Zealand could possibly have experienced. South Africa’s triumph was their most convincing in the 102-year history of this fixture and a depleted All Black pack were left in pieces on the floor. Even before Barrett’s early bath his side’s second-row resources were already stretched and tight-head prop Tyrel Lomax looked to be another serious casualty on a heavy-duty evening.
On this evidence the Boks will make mincemeat of one or two packs at the World Cup, though they will be relieved that Pieter-Steph Du Toit was shown only a yellow card for a stiff arm challenge on New Zealand’s captain, Sam Cane. It was the only minor hiccup of an otherwise glorious night for South Africa, with Marx and replacements Bongi Mbonambi and Kwagga Smith helping themselves to further scores.
All Blacks defeat a story of injuries, cards and deflation
The All Blacks wanted a full-blown test in their final outing before the World Cup. They got that and much, much more.
Two weeks out from the global showpiece the All Blacks suffered a humbling loss to the world champion Springboks. While the result carries minimal World Cup implications, it is another healthy dose of force-fed adversity for Ian Foster’s men.
With the feel-good factor surrounding the All Blacks sucked into the London air, how they bottle this experience and respond will be telling.
For a team that compiled compelling confidence and momentum through their first three commanding victories of the year, the one-sided nature of this loss will ensure the All Blacks are firmly grounded when they arrive in France.
A five-tries-to-one defeat that snaps the All Blacks’ 11-test unbeaten run dating back to last September allows absolutely no room for any heads in the clouds.
It ended up with a giant hole being ripped in the hull, as not only were various parts of the All Blacks’ game exposed as having a previously unrealised fragility, but they may have also lost another two key forwards for the opening game of the World Cup.
Tyrel Lomax hobbled off and Scott Barrett was sent off, and with Sam Cane also picking up a yellow, it was a night that coach Ian Foster will feel pushed close to his worst-case scenario.
The defeat wasn’t such a bad thing by itself and an argument could even be made to see it as a positive – giving the All Blacks a profound hunger to bounce back in Paris – but the nature of it was a concern.
A big concern. The margin of defeat was massive and reflective of the fact South Africa’s domination was total.
They were more physical. Way more physical. They were hungrier, sharper and their backline, never one that anyone talks about with much respect, were slicker and more decisive.
The All Blacks weren’t so keen to refer to this game as a World Cup warm-up, but they might now want to reclassify it as exactly that to try to downplay the significance.
The basic issue at the heart of the All Blacks’ problems was that there was not enough ballast to hold up to what was a relentless South African physical onslaught that came at the All Blacks from all angles.
The big green machine crunched through the gears and the All Blacks couldn’t do much to stop it.
Malcolm Marx reached a try-scoring landmark as the Springboks claimed a record win over the All Blacks in their final World Cup warm-up at Twickenham on Friday night.
The Springboks used the dominance of their pack to put four tries past a 14-player New Zealand and earn a 35-7 victory at a sold-out Twickenham. The 28-point margin is South Africa’s largest ever win against their old rivals.
It was a surprisingly one-sided test match, given how the All Blacks had fielded close to their strongest starting lineup, while the Boks chose to shake their backline up, with Canan Moodie starting his first test at outside centre.
Steamrolling New Zealand will be a massive confidence-booster for the Springboks in their final scrimmage before facing Scotland to kick off their World Cup title defence. Conversely, the All Blacks will have cause for concern, as they offered little resistance to the seemingly endless wave of carries they faced and looked rudderless.
