The Stats Don't Lie: All Blacks v Springboks

Richie McCaw was the top ball carrier for the All Blacks with eight. Photo / Getty Images

Stats guru Tracey Nelson crunches the numbers from Saturday's clash between the All Blacks and South Africa.

THE NUMBERS

Set piece was good on the night with the All Blacks winning 100 per cent of their lineouts and taking one tight head off the Springboks' scrum.

Ali Williams was top lineout jumper with four takes of the 11 wins, while Adam Thomson was the next main jumper taking three.

Relief all round as Richie McCaw appears to be getting back to his best, topping the All Blacks stats for arrivals to the breakdown (37), tackles and tackle assists (13 and four), and ball carries (eight for a total of 58 metres gained).

Top ball carriers for the All Blacks were McCaw (eight), Messam and Thomson (seven each), and Kaino, Hore and Ali Williams (five each).

Dan Carter's love affair with the Cake Tin continued with seven runs, including two linebreaks, for a total of 105m gained. He also made 11 tackles to be second best behind McCaw on defence, and managed to make two offloads while being tackled.

Cory Jane made the most of his chances scoring two tries and making 153 running metres, the most of any All Black. His first try was a 60 metre solo effort, beating three tacklers on the way.

The All Blacks made 99 tackles (plus 18 assists) and missed only six, giving them a 94 per cent success rate. Only four players missed tackles, with Andrew Hore and Dan Carter both missing two while Jerome Kaino and Conrad Smith missed one each.

THE GOOD

Standout player on the night was Andrew Hore, securing three tackle turnovers as part of a high work rate that saw him second only to McCaw in breakdown arrivals with a total of 33. Hore also made five ball carries for a total of 28 metres gained.

In the opening two minutes of the second half the All Blacks had to make 18 tackles as the Springboks launched into 14 phases, and they didn't miss a single one. It was Hore who secured the turnover and won the All Blacks a penalty to end the Springbok attack.

THE BAD

The All Blacks managed to run into their own players twice in this game, and also kicked the ball out on the full twice.

The Springboks only had one set piece in the All Blacks' 22 with a five metre lineout, but made it count with captain John Smit scoring under the posts as the All Black forwards failed to re-set their defence quickly enough.

The All Blacks still struggle at times with restarts, with two botched receipts from Springbok kicks.

FOR THE RECORD

Dan Carter took back the world record for test points from Johnny Wilkinson with his first penalty kick of the night and surpassed 1200 test points with his second penalty of the game, despite only kicking at 50 per cent on the night.

Morne Steyn's first kicking attempt of the night missed, ending his streak of 39 consecutive goals kicked in Tri Nations tests. He had not missed a kick at goal since the game against Australia in Perth, in 2009.

Wyatt Crockett and Zac Guildford (with two on the night) both scored their first All Black tries in this test match.

- For more statistics go to haka.co.nz