McCaw magic sinks Springboks; Rugby 365

A 75th minute try in his final International match on South African soil by Richie McCaw helped the All Blacks secure a tense 27-20 victory over the Springboks in Johannesburg.

The All Blacks were made to work hard for the victory and came from behind to score 10 points in the final five minutes to stun the home side.

The Springboks looked set to claim another famous victory over the World Number One side after displaying some sublime rugby for most of the match that saw them grab three tries through Willie le Roux, Jesse Kriel and

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Man of the Match: The loose trio of captain Schalk Burger, Francois Louw and Heinrich Brüssow were simply all over the place and worked well off each other. Brüssow was particularly menacing at the breakdowns and showed Heyneke Meyer what he is really capable of. Lodewyk de Jager was demonic and quite simply put his body on the line in all facets of play. Once again, the centre combination of Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel were a massive threat. For the All Blacks, Kieran Read was his reliable self while Lima Sopoaga certainly never looked out of his depth. Charles Piutau looked dangerous with ball-in-hand and took the battle to the Springboks. However, for his late try and excellent work rate throughout the match, our nod goes to Richie McCaw.

Moment of the Match: It would be unfair to single out a specific moment of the encounter, however, the entire 80 minutes was something to behold. A highly intense match of running rugby with brutal tackles and ferocious work at the breakdowns. If ever there was an advert for the game, this match was it.

Villain of the Match: Absolutely no-one, not even Jannie du Plessis.

The scorers:

For South Africa:
Tries: le Roux, Kriel
Cons: Pollard 2
Pens: Pollard 2

For New Zealand:
Tries: B Smith, Coles, McCaw
Cons: Sopoaga 3
Pens: Sopoaga 2

Yellow card: Samuel Whitelock (New Zealand, 59 - professional foul; slowing down the ball)

Teams:

South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cornal Hendricks, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Schalk Burger (captain), 7 Francois Louw, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Lodewyk de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Flip van der Merwe, 20 Warren Whiteley, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 Lionel Mapoe.

New Zealand: 15 Israel Dagg, 14 Ben Smith, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Charles Piutau, 10 Lima Sopoaga, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (captain), 6 Liam Messam, 5 James Broadhurst, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements: 16 Codie Taylor, 17 Wyatt Crockett, 18 Ben Franks, 19 Samuel Whitelock, 20 Victor Vito, 21 TJ Perenara, 22 Beauden Barrett, 23 Malakai Fekitoa.

Referee: Jérôme Garcès (France)
Assistant referees: Romain Poite (France), Leighton Hodges (Wales)
TMO: Graham Hughes (England)

 There you go Cloudy, Richie get's man of the match according to Ruby 365

 Well the Springboks played their hearts out but once again it was not good enough.
Hats off to the All Blacks.
Pleased to see Matfield and du Preez in the stands. That is without a doubt their best position for Springbok rugby.
Meyer must have overdosed on some meds as he was not his normal hysterical self.