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All Blacks go top with bruising Boks victory
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Stand-in captain Kieran Read scored two tries as New Zealand earned a grueling 29-15 Rugby Championship win in Auckland yesterday over a South African team reduced to 14 men by the sending off of hooker Bismarck du Plessis.
Du Plessis received a yellow card in the 16th minute when, from an offside position, he made a jarring high tackle on flyhalf Dan Carter which forced the world-record points scorer from the field with a dislocated shoulder.
The 29-year-old hooker, in his 51st test, was then sent from the field in the 42nd minute when he received a second yellow card for elbowing flanker Liam Messam in the throat. New Zealand exploited his absence, scoring four tries to two to remain unbeaten after four rounds of the four-nation tournament.
“It’s always hard when you play New Zealand. I guess when you play 50 minutes with 14 men it doesn’t make it any easier,” Springboks captain Jean de Villiers said. “What a way to disappoint yourself, dishing up a performance like that. But I think we’ve seen tonight how far we are still behind the All Blacks.”
New Zealand also ended the match short-handed, reduced to 13 men after French referee Romain Poite, bizarrely officious, showed yellow cards to Read, for a professional foul, and to center Ma’a Nonu, for a late shoulder charge on Springboks captain Jean de Villiers.
New Zealand scored a try to lock Brodie Retallick during Du Plessis’ first absence to take control of a brutally physical match.
Du Plessis returned from the sin-bin to score a try of his own but his second and final dismissal left New Zealand with a numerical advantage which they exploited with Read’s second try and another to flanker Sam Cane.
The win left New Zealand in a strong position to carry off the Championship crown, though it will have to beat South Africa again in Johannesburg.
In Perth, Australia, fullback Israel Folau scored a first-half try and Australia held on for a less-than-impressive 14-13 win over Argentina yesterday to give Ewen McKenzie his first victory as coach of the Wallabies.
The win, which ended a four-match losing streak, came in windy and rainy conditions at Subiaco Oval as the Wallabies held on after leading 14-3 at halftime. Juan Manuel Leguizamon’s second-half try pulled the visitors close.
Australia had lost three Rugby Championship matches in a row after being defeated in the deciding British and Irish Lions test. The loss left the South American Pumas in last place.
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