Steyn stars in Bok victory

The Springboks beat the All Blacks 31 - 19 today in a convincing victory. Young flyhalf Morné Steyn had a fantastic day allround and deserved his Man of the Match award for kicking the All Blacks into oblivion. He scored all 31 points for the Springboks which is a new Tri-Nations individual record as well the highest score by a Springbok player against New Zealand (previous record was held by Jannie De Beer with 22 points).

The South African forwards laid the foundation which made it easier for Steyn and they forced the All Blacks into mistakes, capitalising with Morné's boot every time. It was not the best performance by the All Blacks with several knock-ons at key moments which kept South Africa on the front-foot.

Special moments

It was also a special moment for Bok captain John Smit, who played in his 60th Test as captain, a new world record. Winger Bryan Habana and centre Jean De Villiers also played in their 50th Tests for South Africa today. It was therefore a great occasion from the outset and the Springboks absolutely oozed confidence before and during the match. I thought scrumhalf Fourie Du Preez and hooker Bismarck Du Plessis had great games with lock Bakkies Botha putting in another industrious performance. Fetcher Heinrich Brüssow again outperformed All Blacks captain, Rithie McCaw, at the breakdown.

New Zealand's Isaac Ross scored a try but the team's handling let them down, as well as their tactical nous because even when it started to rain, they insisted on running the ball on the counter-attack with every ball, almost in desperation. They failed to score a bonus point during their two matches against South Africa.

Scorers:
South Africa - Try: Morne Steyn. Conversion: Steyn. Penalties: Steyn (8).
New Zealand - Try: Isaac Ross. Conversion: Stephen Donald. Penalties: Donald (4).
Halftime: 22 - 13

South Africa's achievements

South Africa are the current rugby world cup champions, Tri-Nations champs, won the 7's world cup, Super 14 champions, beat the Lions, rated no.1 rugby team in the world by the IRB (after beating the All Blacks last week) and they're currently top of the log in Tri-Nations 2009. South African rugby is pretttttty healthy!

The Springboks take on Australia in a Tri-Nations test next week at Newlands stadium in Cape Town. Kick-off: 17h00 (GMT+2) on 8 August.