Rugby World Cup Blog

Jade Stadium, Christchurch was the setting for the final match for South Africa’s Australasian tour. The Springboks had Johan Muller leading them out on the field against the All Blacks. While Richie MacCaw and the rest of the team wanted to put the loss to the Wallabies behind them and have a performance that would shut their critics up.

The dubbed “B team” Springbok team started well and seemed set not to kick away the possession and ran at the All Blacks with all they had. The All Blacks were able to contain the running Springboks and started to dominate the game. However the All blacks were plagued by handling errors and the Springboks were on fire when it came to their defense. The home team enjoyed a small lead at half time. 6-3 was the score.

Second half saw the All Blacks come out really strong. But the were still plagued by the small unforced errors. The Springboks managed to pull back the 3 points after half time when Hougaard slotted a penalty making it 6-6. The Springboks went down to 14 players after Wannenburg was sent off for slowing the ball down. This was to be the turning point of this game. The time that Wannenburg was off the field the Springboks defended well and seemed to be solid however the extra work that they put in showed towards the end of the match.

The Springboks were awarded a penalty right on their own line when Albert van den Berg decided stand on a All Black player and the penalty was reversed giving Carter a very easy 3 pointer. New Zealand substitutes Leonard and Evans scored 2 tries. The 3rd and final came in injury time when Richie MacCaw decided to keep the Ball alive. The Boks made a mess of their defense and Dan Carter run away and scored under the posts. Giving the All Blacks a victory with 33-6 as the final score. I believe that the score line was not a true reflection of the game, however New Zealand was the the better team and well done All blacks.