Bok Houdini act makes it three in a row against Kiwis

For a long time, it looked like the Springbok mistakes were going to cost them but then came another of those now-customary Houdini acts to clinch Siya Kolisi’s men a 31-27 over the All Blacks in a high-quality and pulsating Castle Lager Rugby Championship match at Emirates Airlines Park.

As was the case in Paris in last year’s World Cup semifinal against England, it looked like the Boks were destined for defeat when the 66th minute arrived with the South Africans trailing by more than a score, this time by 10 points. Just like then though, the Boks never gave up and showed their culture of chasing lost causes as they turned the game on its head.

The All Blacks had been clinical and classy and scored four tries. They used their skill and running ability to test the Boks out wide and feed off errors, with an intercept try from Jordie Barrett straight after halftime looking like it might be the match-killer for the Boks.

The Boks had trailed by one point at the break, 12-11, so the converted try made it 19-11 and would have given the All Blacks an extra leg after the momentum had appeared to be swinging the South African way at the end of the first half. The Boks struck back with a penalty, but the All Blacks kicked one of their own to restore the eight-point margin.

Another Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu penalty brought the Boks back again, but it was a day where the New Zealanders were dealing in multiples of seven. They got a lucky bounce off a poor lineout and they spread the ball out to create the space out wide that allowed left wing Caleb Clarke to score his second try of the match.

That was also the bonus-point score and with 28 minutes to go and the visitors up 27-17, it was an uphill challenge for the Boks. However, the Boks, after being dominated by the anticipated fast All Black start in the first 20 minutes, did appear to have the physical and gainline ascendancy by that point.

HINDERED BY ERRORS

The problem was that while they battered away at the All Black defence, with the forwards, in particular, carrying the ball metres at a time, there were errors that let them down, such as knock-ons and poor lineout work that cost them momentum. So for 14 minutes, they hammered away without reward.

Then came a moment where almost every one of the 62 000 mostly passionate Bok supporters in the crowd would probably have agreed was the last chance if their team was to win. Off a penalty, an attacking lineout, and off the drive for the line, the All Blacks conceded a penalty once too often.

Reserve prop Ofa Tu’ungafasi was banished to the bin with the clock showing 12 minutes to go and a minute later it was Kwagga Smith who crashed over near the post off a series of Bok drives from the lineout. Feinberg-Mngomezulu converted and the Boks were suddenly just three behind, pushed forward by the alive and boisterous crowd.

The All Blacks had been effective in their plan to quieten the crowd in the first quarter but now the cacophonous din drove the Boks on and they had momentum. In the 74th minute, with six to go, they were awarded a penalty that the excellent Feinberg-Mngomezulu again kicked into the corner. The Boks got their drive right, the play edged across the field, and replacement scrumhalf Grant Williams dived over for what was to prove the winning try.

THREE IN A ROW AGAINST ALL BLACKS

Feinberg-Mngomezulu had a chance to turn the four-point lead into seven a few minutes later and missed, but the miss didn’t matter - the Boks had the physical and territorial advantage in those final minutes and they played down the clock on the touchline to make sure of the third win in succession against their most respected and feared opponents.

They will get a chance to make it four in a row next week, and while the All Blacks did pick up two bonus points in defeat, which just about keeps them alive in the Championship, the Boks have two hands on the trophy and can effectively make sure of it barring something unexpected happening against Argentina at the end of the tournament.

Improvements will be necessary though, and their error rate will have to be cut down, with the expected headline earlier on in the game reading “Clinical All Blacks exploit Bok errors”.

It was certainly a good start from the Kiwis, with the Boks not getting hands on the ball in the first five or six minutes of the game as New Zealand stretched them this way and that. Only some desperate cover tackling, and here Damian de Allende can stand tall, prevented a score before the fifth-minute mark.

However, in the scramble, an almost inevitable error materialised, with fullback Aphelele Fassi, who like Feinberg-Mngomezulu was brilliant in this game, being penalised and yellow carded for slapping the ball out of an All Black hand. All Black hooker Codie Taylor dotted down as his pack powered over the line from the lineout.

The Boks won their first penalty after 11 minutes and started to have more of the game after that, and it was while Fassi was still off the field that a series of drives near the corner off penalties eventually resulted in the first Bok try of the game to Bongi Mbonambi.

Feinberg-Mngomezulu missed the conversion but was on target with a monster Frans Steyn-style kick from his own 10-metre line to put the Boks into an 8-7 lead after 29 minutes. That lead was shortlived though as two Bok players came out of line on defence and Clarke was put in for a typically impressive All Black try in the corner.

The kick was missed so when Feinberg-Mngomezulu raised the flags again, it made it a one-point game at the break.

NEWBIES IMPRESSED

There were several standouts for the Boks, none more so than the relative newbies Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Fassi, who both announced themselves as proper international class at the highest of levels in this game, while Jasper Wiese was impressive with his carrying in his comeback game after more than two months sidelined because of suspension.

Then of course, there were the usual suspects, such as Pieter-Steph du Toit, who later moved from No 4 lock to blindside flank and then to the No 5 lock position, and won another man of the match award. There was another influential performance from Eben Etzebeth, who came in off the bench, initially as a blood replacement for Ruan Nortje in the 25th minute, and then Ben-Jason Dixon, who did nothing wrong in his first game against the All Blacks and was impressive in playing the ball off the top in the lineouts, before going off for Du Toit to move to the blindside flank.

Nortje was good too but he emptied his tank and that facilitated the return of Du Toit to the second row. For the All Blacks, their were several standouts but the Boks did well to keep the dangerous Beauden Barrett in check and will feel they shaded the all-important kicking game.

It was a game of fine margins, as it always appears to be between these two fine teams. Roll on next week in Cape Town. Outside of the first half of the Kings Park test in the Ireland series, this was hands down the game of the international year so far, anywhere on the planet.

SCORES

South Africa 31 - Tries: Bongi Mnbonambi, Kwagga Smith and Grant Williams; Conversions: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu 2; Penalties: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu 4.

New Zealand 27 - Tries: Codie Taylor, Caleb Clarke 2 and Jordie Barrett; Conversions: Damian McKenzie 2; Penalty: Damian McKenzie.