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Rugby

Heartbreak for the Boks at Loftus

───   MORGAN PIEK 19:20 Sat, 06 Oct 2018

Heartbreak for the Boks at Loftus | News Article
Richie Mo’unga - SA Rugby

A last-minute try by the replacement flank, Ardie Savea, handed the All Blacks a narrow 32-30 win at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday evening in the Rugby Championship to break South African hearts.


While the All Blacks won the tournament a week prior in Argentina, the Test in the capital city was anything but a dead-rubber.

The tightly contested affair saw the game deadlocked with 6-6 at half-time break following two penalties apiece by Handré Pollard and Beauden Barrett.

The encounter in Pretoria shifted into an extra gear during the second stanza after Jesse Kriel crossed the white-wash in front of his home crowd for the first try of the game. Eight minutes later Kriel’s centre partner, Damian de Allende, went over after being put into the gap by the captain, Siya Kolisi.

The All Blacks scrumhalf, Aaron Smith, struck back immediately with a try, however, the offload to the halfback certainly raised a few questions.

With just about 20 minutes to play, Cheslin Kolbe scored in the corner, however, it was a really brave call by the TMO, and in effect, it cancelled out the seemingly forward pass for Smith’s try earlier

With five minutes to play, the All Blacks shifted gears and sustained pressure led to Scott Barrett scoring to put the visitors within striking distance. Even more sustained pressure eventually led to Savea going over for the equaliser with a minute left on the clock, and the educated boot of Richie Mo’uanga made no mistake in adding the extra two for the win.

The defeat changed nothing in the context of the Rugby Championships standings for the Springboks, however, it was an opportunity to move back up to third in the world rankings ahead of the end-of-year tour to Europe.

The Boks' next Test will be on 3 November when they face Eddie Jones’ England at Twickenham in London.

Scorers: 

Springboks: Tries – Jesse Kriel, Damien de Allende, Cheslin Kolbe; Conv. – Handré Pollard 3; Pen. – Pollard 3.

All Blacks: Tries – Aaron Smith, Rieko Ioane, Scott Barrett, Ardie Savea; Conv. – Richie Mo’unga 3; Pen. – Beauden Barrett 2.


@MorganPiek OFM Sport

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