Pacy New Zealand brush aside feeble South Africa in Tri-Nations

New Zealand are rugby's equivalent of football's World Cup winners, Spain. They completed a second comfortable victory over South Africa in successive weeks, winning 31-17 through quick passing and spatial awareness complemented with pressing and squeezing when they were not in possession. The Springboks did not meekly succumb in wet and windy Wellington as they had at Eden Park the previous Saturday, getting on top in the set pieces, but they were again one-dimensional. Unable to control the pace of the game, they were hanging on at times but the fact they were battling for a losing bonus point at the end having been outplayed showed the indomitability of their spirit. As in Auckland, South Africa lost a player to the sin bin in the opening quarter and conceded 10 points while down to 14 men. Danie Rossouw, the replacement for the previous week's miscreant, Bakkies Botha, saw yellow for kicking Richie McCaw on the ground three minutes in after the Springboks had been awarded a kickable penalty. If the yellow card appeared excessive, Rossouw's action, which prompted a punch-up, was symptomatic of the indiscipline his side showed under pressure. New Zealand, undeterred by the conditions, ran the ball from deep while South Africa put the ball in the air. With the No8 Kieran Read making dents in the defence and the scrum-half Piri Weepu wasting no time in moving the ball away from the breakdown, New Zealand were rampant. The first try, on six minutes, came after Dan Carter had missed a penalty: Read ran back the misdirected drop-out, Richie McCaw continued the move and swift passing created the space for Mils Muliaina to drive to the line for the supporting Ma'a Nonu to pick up and score. Rossouw was still cooling off when Morne Steyn, ineffective again, lost the ball near the New Zealand 22. Weepu picked up and ran into the Springbok half before floating a pass to Muliaina who finished off from 40 metres. Carter again missed the conversion on a night when he landed only three kicks out of eight but he made it 13-0 on 30 minutes after Francois Louw had killed the ball at a ruck. South Africa rallied in the closing minutes of the opening half. They kicked a penalty, harshly awarded against Rene Ranger for an adjudged dangerous tackle, to touch and Ricky Januarie combined with Schalk Burger for Rossouw to finish off. The Springboks made two changes at the break and two more 13 minutes into the second period. They tried to play more expansively, but they lacked New Zealand's eye for a chance. Opportunist tries by Ranger and his replacement, Israel Dagg, gave the home side a bonus point while Burger's late reply was merely reward for not giving up. South Africa are in Brisbane on Saturday and need to come to terms with the change in the way the breakdown in being refereed with the game's emphasis now on using the ball rather than kicking and chasing. New Zealand: Muliaina; Jane, Smith, Nonu (Cruden 73), Ranger (Dagg 63); Carter, Weepu (Cowan 63); Woodcock, Mealamu (Flynn 75), O Franks (B Franks 68), Thorn, Donnelly (Whitelock 63), Kaino, McCaw (capt; Messam 75), Read. Tries: Nonu, Muliaina, Ranger, Dagg. Con: Carter. Pens: Carter 2, Weepu. South Africa: Kirchner; De Villiers (Aplon h-t), Fourie, Olivier, Habana; Steyn, Januarie (Pienaar 53); Steenkamp, Smit (capt; Ralepelle 75), Van Der Linde (BJ Botha h-t), Rossouw (Bekker 53), Matfield, Louw, Burger, Spies (Kankowski 69). Tries: Rossouw, Burger. Cons: Steyn 2. Pen: Steyn. Referee: A Rolland (Ireland)