Yes, those All Blacks are beatable England

SOUTH AFRICA yesterday sent a message of hope to England and their other World Cup rivals – the All Blacks aren’t invincible.

With a performance that makes England’s victory in the third Test of their South African tour look even more respectable, the Boks shocked the double world champions with a 36-34 win in Wellington.

The SANZAAR organisers had the Rugby Championship trophy on the touchline all ready to present to perennial tournament winners New Zealand with two rounds still to go but South Africa tore up the script with their best win in nearly a decade.

The New Zealand media cried foul insisting referee Nigel Owens had failed to hear a call from his assistant ref for a Springbok offside under the posts in the final minute, but All Blacks coach Steve Hansen was having none of it.

“That’s not why we lost the game,” said Hansen. “We lost because we allowed South Africa to score 36 points.”

Hansen also defended his fly-half Beauden Barrett who had a poor game with the boot, managing just two conversions out of six.

“It’s a team game and in this case I know Beauden is feeling it. He’ll be disappointed, but he’ll come out next week and maybe kick

100 per cent. That’s the way goalkicking is. You can’t carry that bag of coal on your back all the time because it will kill you.

“Goalkicking is a really difficult job…Tiger Woods hits a good golf ball but now and then hits a bad one. We could sit here and say, ‘yeah, kick a couple of goals and we win the game’, but that’s not why we lost.”

South Africa coach Rassie Erasmus – under pressure after defeats to Argentina and Australia – believes this win is a truer reflection of his side’s ability

“The way to come back and show we are contenders for the World Cup is to beat New Zealand in New Zealand and the win gives us a lot of belief. No-one beats New Zealand here, so we’re privileged.

“We will enjoy the win but we are not where we want to be yet, there is a lot of hard work to do.”

New Zealand now face two games on the road staring with Argentina in Buenos Aires. The Pumas picked up their second win of the tournament this season, beating Australia 23-19 on the Gold Coast yesterday.