Springbok Pressure Seals Victory Against All Blacks in Bloemfontein

The Springboks ran out deserved winners over the All Blacks 28-19 in Bloemfontein.

This was an important victory for the the Springboks in this years Tri Nations as points at home are crucial to staying in this competition. Whilst they dominated most aspects of play, and put enormous amounts of pressure on the All Blacks, the result was only sealed in the last couple of minutes.

Both sides started off with ferocious intensity that saw the All Blacks gain a couple of penalties at the breakdown. Stephen Donald nailed his first attempt to give the All Blacks a 3-0 lead. Francois Steyn hit back almost immediately with a long-range penalty goal after the All Blacks were caught offside.

From then on, the Springbok pack played superbly as a unit. They disrupted the All Black lineout, contested each breakdown, and simply forced the All Blacks into coughing up possession or giving away penalties due to immense pressure.

Ruan Pienaar hit the post twice with penalty attempts, and the All Blacks weren't made to pay for their indiscretions.

At this stage, the All Blacks were having to make plenty of tackles and the Springboks were enjoying a prolonged period of field position deep in All Blacks territory. From a scrum, a strong bullocking run from Superman Spies created great go-forward, and the ball was swung wide to the left with Ruan Pienaar doubling around after Jean de Villiers went to ground, and he rounded off a well deserved try for the Springboks. 

This opened up a 11-3 lead to the Springboks.

Almost immediately Heinrich Brussow created a vital turnover at a ruck in Springbok territory. The ball was passed out to Victor Matfield who had the ball in one hand trying to slip it around his tackler. Had he gotten it left towards Bryan Habana, it would've been a great try-scoring chance and could've blown the game wide open.

Instead it was a rare handling error from one of the Springbok greats, and he can be forgiven for that!

Francois Styen kicked another penalty to make it a 14-3 lead, and Ruan Pienaar should have slotted another chance but missed yet again. As the half was ending the All Blacks showed a great willingness to keep the ball alive and were looking extremely dangerous running at the Springboks.

At halftime the score was Springboks 14 - All Blacks 3

The second half saw Ruan Pienaar replaced by Morne Steyn due to injury which proved a godsend. An early penalty to Morne opened up a 17-3 lead to the Springboks, and built a mountain for the All Blacks to climb.

But one thing the All Blacks never do is give up, and it's a Springbok weakness that we simply don't put sides away when we have the chance. We should've been up by 20 points, but in the blink of an eye a a great run by Conrad Smith through a weak Morne Steyn tackle saw the lead reduced to 17-10.

The All Blacks started to apply the pressure now, running the ball strongly at Springbok, and making great yardage even though they couldn't break the line.

Juan Smith was penalized for holding on when he got isolated at a ruck, and Stephen Donald closed the gap to 17-13. With a commanding hold on the game now reduced to a four point lead, and the momentum with the All Blacks, this game looked to be slipping away for the Springboks as so many have over the years.

Thankfully the Springboks responded strongly. A series of phases in which the Boks went sideways, saw a penalty awarded to the Springboks. Morne Steyn eased the lead back out to seven, as the Springboks were ahead 20-13.

A poor scrum from the Springboks saw the All Blacks come through and charge into Springbok territory. A great attacking opportunity was met with fantastic defence and I thought the Boks were unlucky to be pinged when I felt the All Blacks were holding on. In any case Donald closed the gap to four.

Then Jean de Villiers went off injured, and that may have a dramatic effect on the state of the Tri Nations. He's the pillar in the Springbok midfield. Wynand Olivier is not in the same class, and playing Adi Jacobs could be a bad move especially as he'd not fully fit.

Then came a great piece of play from Superman Pierre Spies. A ball was spilt by Jason Eaton, and faster than a speeding bullet, Pierre had hacked it ahead. The pace of the big man created too much pressure for Richie McCaw to handle, and Juan Smith was on hand to get the ball to a flying Jacque Fourie who went in at the corner. Just brilliant!

Even though Morne Steyn missed the conversion, the game was almost sealed.

But in another twist, a penalty straight away for the All Blacks made it a six-point gap, and everything to play for. The Springboks then got their hands on the ball and showed their professionalism.

The rolling maul, which they used to great effect all game, was employed from a lineout just inside their half, and they milked a penalty from Jason Eaton superbly as his frustration saw him come in from offside.

Morne Steyn nailed the kicked to give the Springboks a 28-19 lead. Then we simply controlled possesssion and wound the clock down. I was extremely pleased we didn't allow them a bonus point as we so often do.

Full time: Springboks 28, All Blacks 19

The Springboks deservedly go back to No. 1 in the IRB ratings, and we get to do this all over again next week in Durban!

The Springboks played well and whilst the margin was only nine, we should've put them away by 20 had our kickers been on song. You can check out my Springbok player ratings for this test, although overall it was a great team effort, or watch my video review.

The All Blacks will be naturally disappointed, but probably targeted next weeks clash in Durban as their must-win game anyway. They'll be a lot better having gotten over the jet lag, playing at sea level, and knowing what they have to improve. 

It promises to be even bigger!