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Battling Boks Back In Business

Sat 12 Jul, 12:09 PM


South Africa claimed their first win on New Zealand soil in a decade with a gutsy 30-28 victory over the All Blacks.

The match went down to the wire with a piece of individual brilliance by scrum-half Ricky Januarie and the cool head of substitute Francois Steyn, who slotted the winning conversion, sealing the win for the world champions.

A first-half try by JP Pietersen, three penalties to Percy Montgomery and a Butch James drop goal gave them a narrow 17-15 lead at the break.

And they were then forced to withstand a ferocious fightback by New Zealand, whose lone try came from replacement Sione Lauaki, before taking the spoils in the closing minutes.

Stung by last weekend's 19-8 loss in Wellington, the visitors bounced back with a gritty performance in another brutal encounter to kick-start their Tri-Nations campaign ahead of next week's match against Australia in Perth.

South Africa centre Jean de Villiers told Sky Sports 2: "When we scored the try I got the guys together and said three years ago we were in the same position with four minutes to go and let it slip and the All Blacks came back.

"We stuck to our guns so we're ecstatic. It took 100 years to win here and hopefully it won't take another 100 years to win the next one."

New Zealand captain Rodney So'oialo said: "It was about territory. We played at the wrong side of the field and got punished."

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  1. Just shows what having an unbiased ref can do!!! Great game kept clean and honest by great ref!

    From elamental1@y..., on Sat 12 Jul 11:22AM
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