Rugby: All Blacks expunge nightmare of 1998

By Wynne Gray

Progress for the All Blacks, but the Springboks are marking time and struggling in the early Tri-Nations stage of their buildups towards the rugby World Cup.

The all-too-familiar and raw images for New Zealand rugby from last season were further expunged by the All Blacks' record 28-0 winning margin against their oldest and greatest foes on Saturday at Carisbrook.

After probing, battling and coping with the attrition gameplan of the visitors, the All Blacks sprang clear with three late tries to ice a point-a-minute surge until the final whistle.

It came after a flat, torrid but not very pretty first half, where the Boks rode the offside line relentlessly and based their rare attacks on an aerial kicking assault.

Several times the All Blacks looked to have broken clear, usually down the right flank with Christian Cullen and Jeff Wilson, but a final pass, handling error, turnover or defiant tackle denied them.

The momentum built slowly, but the only profit was two Andrew Mehrtens penalties.

The scrum had its shaky moments but the defence was strong, the lineout usually accurate and the workrate high. There was variety in attack, but Mehrtens used his boot regularly to peg the Boks back in their territory.

By contrast, the Boks' experimental pairing of Dave von Hoesslin and Gaffie du Toit were way off-key in the crucial halfback and first five-eighths areas.

Their flaky kicking tactics, including a rash of hashed drop goals, drew criticism from coach Nick Mallett.

Seeing the backline struggle, the pack returned to the style they knew best, driving support play, but that was stymied by strong All Black tackling and a lack of cohesion.

Determination kept the Boks in the game. They were struggling, and only some All Black impatience kept them from conceding a larger lead at the break.

The All Blacks were sluggish after the restart.

They looked to have conceded a try to Naka Drotske, but skipper Gary Teichmann was ruled to have thrown the ball forward to his hooker.

Then Percy Montgomery got away on the flank and chipped the ball rather than passing to Breyton Paulse inside him and 20m from the New Zealand line.

Paulse was later held up over the line by the combined tackle of Justin Marshall, Cullen and Wilson, while the Boks, with the advantage of an attacking 5m scrum, were penalised for pushing over the mark.

Mallett bristled about that scrum and Drotske's non-try rulings, but agreed the final score was a fair reflection of the sides' merits.

Round those scares the All Blacks pushed forward.

As the Boks pushed up flat once more, Mehrtens turned a swift ruck clearing pass from prop Carl Hoeft into a delicate pop-kick for Cullen to regather and run 20m to score.

Jonah Lomu came on and one massive charge, where he batted off about seven tacklers, proved an inspiration. A Bok kick was charged down by the dynamic Josh Kronfeld, the ball swung right where Cullen was caught but laid the ball back for Wilson to score his 33rd test try, just his third on his home ground.

Then Marshall sealed his fine all-round game with a dash from a maul past an exhausted defence and replacement Tony Brown goaled for the final points.

"It is pleasing, but it is just a step," was coach John Hart's realistic appraisal.

He knows his side were fortunate to strike an under-strength and erratic Springbok side, but the All Blacks played to their strengths and brought a last-spell composure and vision needed to win tight games.

They had control from their halves, the mastery of Kronfeld, a high team workrate and the bench of Royce Willis, Lomu and Co added to that platform when they came on.

The Wallabies will be a different story, but three straight wins builds confidence, while the itinerary favours the All Blacks with a fortnight between games, giving them vital rest, recuperation, planning and practice times.