Muliaina all class as coolness and speed see off the Boks

PRETORIA - It is hard to recall Mils Muliaina having even a moderate game for the All Blacks.

Fullback, centre or wing, it does not seem to matter to the 26-year-old, who was outstanding yesterday at Loftus Versfeld.

Picked at centre, he hardly touched the ball before he was switched to fullback when Leon MacDonald damaged a hip muscle.

It was a move which was to have damaging repercussions for the Springboks, who could not contain his searching counter-attacks, positional clarity and composure in defence.

"Complete footballer" is a term which is as over-used as great in the modern game but Muliaina has very few flaws in his play.

Speed and evasion are traits he brought from his time with the national sevens side, vision is a characteristic he is blessed with, his defence is reliable and there is some neat variety in his kicking game.

He has stacked 42 tests into his four-year career with the All Blacks, none more impressive than the performance he showed in the trouncing of the Springboks.

How Springbok coach Jake White must be ruing what he thought was a throwaway line midweek, when he thought the All Blacks would be looking to slow the test down in the thin air on the high veld.

Just the opposite transpired, though it took the All Blacks until the second half to get enough momentum to develop their adventurous strategies.

"We thought they were tiring then and we had plenty in the tank," Muliaina said.

The All Blacks made another slow start, conceding a couple of penalties and a soft try but there was no panic as they gathered under their posts.

They kept telling themselves "next job" and to hurry their defensive line and play some field position. The Boks had kicked a lot and were looking to force mistakes rather than create openings.

Even when captain Richie McCaw dropped several early restarts, there were no tremors.

"We have come a long way and two or three years ago we would have dropped our bundle," Muliaina said.

"We don't gather under the posts and dwell on what has happened. We have learned a lot from that and there was never a time when I felt we were going to be in the crap when Richie dropped those few balls.

"It was a physical start but we just wanted to play, talk it up, be confident," Muliaina explained. "The main thing for us was not to go into our shell because you tend to do that when you are down and the guys showed a lot of composure and willingness to attack.

"We felt good after the break, we thought we could expose them, as long as we worked hard."

Coach Graham Henry had spoken about showing courage and composure in his halftime sermon. He had not been pleased with the first half effort but he was happier than he had been at the same juncture last week at Eden Park.

The massive 60m penalty from Daniel Carter after the halftime siren had been a massive impetus for the visitors and a psychological blow for the Springboks.

"I think that hurt them and 15 minutes into the second half we felt we had the wood on them," Muliaina said.

Several quick tries kicked the resistance from the Springboks although they replied with a couple of Jacque Fourie tries when the All Blacks became sluggish in their defence.

They were a little overconfident with a huge lead but quickly regrouped to draw away again when Rico Gear completed the fifth and final try for the All Blacks after another piece of quick thinking from Jerry Collins.

Mils Muliaina

* 26 years old
* 42 tests played
* 75 test points
* 15 tries scored