New Zealand sweeps South Africa
The New Zealand All Blacks completed their series sweep of the South African Springboks and locked-up the Tri Nations Cup over the weekend.
The Boks held the lead for nearly the entire game before the All Blacks were finally able to mount successful attacks late in the second half to claim victory. The Boks started out strong taking a small two point lead into the break. Playing in Soweto, the home side was able to push their advantage further at the beginning of the second half. However, strong play late from a determined All Blacks side saw the Kiwis take the game in the end, winning 29-22.
Recap
Dan Carter continued what has been a fantastic tournament, opening the game with a penalty to give the visitors a 3-0 lead.
However, the Boks catalyst on offence, Morne Steyn was able to put two quick penalties on the board in the 10th and 12th minutes respectively in order to give the home side the 6-3 lead.
Carter answered back with his boot, knocking through the games fourth penalty in less than 20 minutes to tie the two sides back up at six.
The Boks were the first to cross the try-line as Schalk Burger dashed over the whitewash in the 24th minute to record the South Africans only try of the day. Steyn added the conversion to give the Boks a 13-6 advantage.
Carter and Steyn then swapped penalties to raise the score to 16-9 by the 31st minute.
The All Blacks were able to register their first try before the half came to an end courtesy of Tony Woodcock, who closed the gap to 16-14.
After the break Steyn continued another superb day from the tee knocking down his fourth penalty of the day in the 43rd minute to give the Springboks a 19-14 advantage.
The game fell quiet for twenty minutes only to be broken by a Steyn penalty and a Carter response to shift the score to 22-17.
Captain Richie McCaw was able to get New Zealand back level with a try in the 77th minute, and it only took another two minutes for young-sensation Israel Dagg to cross the whitewash, for the All Blacks third try of the day. Carter knocked through his only conversion in the match to give the All Blacks a final of 29-22.
The win cemented New Zealand’s Tri Nations cup victory, still with three games to go in the competition. The All Blacks have been lights out in the 2010 tournament winning all five matches thus far, and earning the bonus point in all but two.
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