South Africa 31 All Blacks 19
His right boot is the toast of South African rugby but Morne Steyn's ice-cool demeanour barely fluctuated after slaying the All Blacks yesterday.
The 25-year-old, who hails from the outskirts of Cape Town, kicked his way into the record books by scoring all the Springboks' points in their 31-19 win, the most by any player against New Zealand in a test.
Earning just his fifth cap, first five-eighth Steyn's deadly radar rammed home his team's domination.
He did not let the tourists off the hook in the way the man he replaced - injured playmaker Ruan Pienaar - had done in last week's 28-19 win at Bloemfontein.
Eight penalties was the outcome, along with the conversion of his own try in a fairytale display.
The final tally could have been closer to 40 had a couple of dropped goal attempts not narrowly missed, along with a penalty shot that drifted wide in the final act of the game.
"I was a bit disappointed to miss that last kick but happy with the rest of them," a deadpan Steyn told a clamouring posse of journalists.
"A lot of credit has to go to the forwards, though. Any No10 would love to be in a side like this."
The cliches continued from a man whose level head marked a Super 14 campaign for the champion Bulls that was dominated by his points gathering performances.
Captain John Smit compared Steyn's composure to that of retired fullback Percy Montgomery at the end of his 102-test career.
"He's a wonderful asset to have, when you've got a guy who's that young, still very inexperienced at international level and seems as composed as a Monty," Smit said.
"I think I've been asked about Morne at every single press conference we've had this year so far.
"It's probably because he keeps on doing so well. It's one thing for a team to create pressure, it's another to convert that into points."
The previous record haul by a player against New Zealand was Christophe Lamaison's 29 for France in their World Cup semifinal win at Twickenham in 1999.
Steyn also set a new points scoring record for a Tri-Nations test, moving past the 29 of former All Blacks first five-eighth Andrew Mehrtens, against Australia at Auckland in 1999.
The scary thing for South Africa's Tri-Nations opponents is that Steyn may not even start against Australia in Cape Town in a week if the more attack-minded Pienaar is cleared to play after missing today's test because of an ankle injury.
"I see Ruan and myself as two pretty similar players," Steyn said.
"He's a good tactical goalkicker, so nothing should change if he came into the side.
"I know he struggled in Bloemfontein [with his goalkicking], but we've all had off days. We know how good he is and the beauty of this side is that it doesn't depend on one player like me to win matches."
* Top scorers against the All Blacks (by nation).
31 Morne Steyn (South Africa) 2009
29 Christophe Lamaison (France) 1999
24 Matt Burke (Australia) 1998
21 Jonny Wilkinson (England) 2002
21 Hugo Porta (Argentina) 1985
18 Gavin Hastings (Lions) 1993
17 Stephen Jones (Wales) 2003
16 Rowen Shepherd (Scotland) 1996
14 David Humphreys (Ireland) 2001
13 Diego Dominguez (Italy) 1991
- NZPA
