Brave All Blacks end losing sequence

Two tries in the last five minutes enabled the All Blacks to overcome a strong comeback by the Springboks as they ended their three-match losing sequence with a deserved 35-23 Castle Lager Rugby championship win at Emirates Airlines Park on Saturday.It looked as though the Boks had recovered from a poor start and a 15-0 deficit when Handre Pollard kicked the penalty that put them in the lead for the first time in the game in the 68th minute.However, the effort of fighting back might have sucked in the Bok energy while the All Blacks are renowned for winning late on the highveld, and there should have been a sense of déjà vu for those who remember some of the other games played in Gauteng over the past 12 years.The All Blacks did something similar at Loftus in 2018; however, let it be said that they were nowhere near as good in that game as they were in this one.Although the Boks dominated the forward battle in the second half, the Kiwis resisted the pressure, at times perhaps with the help of English referee Luke Pearce, who did make some perplexing calls against the Boks.One of them came in the 49th minute, just as the Boks had clawed their way back to within two points through Pollard’s second penalty of the match.Bok replacement number eight Jasper Wiese was adjudged to have piled into All Black scrumhalf Aaron Smith after the whistle had been blown, but it was marginal and who could hear the whistle in the din created by 61 000 passionate Bok fans?CostlyThen came an effective 10-point swing in favour of New Zealand as Makazole Mapimpi jetted over for a try that was disallowed on the basis that Steven Kitshoff had obstructed an All Black tackler as the Boks started the counter attack from deep in their own half.Had the replay got that far, it may have been found that Lukhanyo Am’s long pass to Mapimpi was marginally forward. But the Boks were celebrating what they thought was the score that would have brought them level with the conversion to come.Instead, the penalty was awarded to the All Blacks back in the Bok half and Richie Mo’unga kicked the goal that stretched the Kiwis back to an eight point advantage. As it turned out, Mapimpi then scored an almost identical try to the one disallowed within a few minutes to draw the deficit back to one point (21-20), but the points conceded to New Zealand there were costly in such a close game.ClinicalIt was that sort of game for the Boks, who were over the line several times during the match and had opportunities that they couldn’t take advantage of.The All Blacks by contrast were quite clinical with their finishing, and did not produce the handling error rate that they did previously. Indeed, their forwards were much better in comparison to Mbombela Stadium last week at holding onto possession.Nonetheless, the Bok maul was dominant in the last 50 minutes of the game, and started to get penalties for that superiority, so they should really have got over the line for the win once they got in front with 12 minutes to go.

Brave All Blacks end losing sequence

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Namibian Sun 2022-09-25

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Brave All Blacks end losing sequence

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Namibian Sun 2022-09-25

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