All Blacks: Nonu sorry for hogging points

Ma'a Nonu. Photo / Janna Dixon

Ma'a Nonu has apologised to his All Blacks outside backs after he and midfield partner Conrad Smith continued their merry test tryscoring ways in Auckland last weekend.

The long-time Hurricanes comrades shared the first two tries in the 32-12 defeat of the Springboks, taking them further clear of their team-mates as the chief scorers for New Zealand in recent years.

Since the 2007 World Cup, Nonu leads the way with 12 tries, followed by Smith's 10. The pair have been bettered on the world stage over that period only by Wales winger Shane Williams.

Wingers traditionally top tryscoring lists, and that was certainly the case in the previous gap between World Cups, when All Blacks wide men Joe Rokocoko, Doug Howlett and Sitiveni Sivivatu ran amok.

Nonu was sheepish when confronted with the numbers this week. "It's a hard one because you'll find that most critics usually judge the midfielders on how many tries the wingers are scoring," he said.

"We've always tried to spread the ball wide ... so I apologise to the wingers."

Howlett and Rokocoko used to wage a light-hearted battle to rack up the most tries but Nonu said there was no such competition between himself and Smith.

Tries came about through different means to yesteryear. "Maybe 15 years ago there would be moves off the scrum or the lineout that would finish on the wing. But these days that's hard because defences are getting better ... there are more opportunities from a turnover or a linebreak.

"It's more or less a race to the gain line, you just have to be in support.

"Conrad scores try after try because he's such a fit guy and he's elusive. He's always in the right place."

Tonight's second Tri-Nations test here again pits Nonu and Smith against the no-nonsense Springboks pair of centre Jaque Fourie and Wynand Olivier, who base their reputations more on fierce defence than light feet on attack.

Nonu said there was no more difficult challenge for midfielders in world rugby than unlocking a South African backline.

"It's hard to find a gap and try to step through. And they're so massive and so tough that you just have to meet them head on," he said.

"Just pounding, pounding through, trying to find a weakness where maybe someone's tired, or just by playing quick rugby."

TOP SCORERS
Leading test tryscorers since the 2007 World Cup:

* 18 - Shane Williams (Wales)

* 12 - Ma'a Nonu (NZ), Tommy Bowe (Ireland/Lions)

* 10 - Conrad Smith (NZ)

* 9 - Mils Muliaina (NZ), Brian O'Driscoll (Ireland/Lions)

Also:

* 6 - Daniel Carter (NZ), Sitiveni Sivivatu (NZ)

* 5 - Jimmy Cowan (NZ), Richard Kahui (NZ)

- NZPA