Awesome All Blacks in an eightsome reel
NEW ZEALAND were at their outstanding best as they routed the Springboks in Auckland but coach Steve Hansen believes there is still room for improvement.
Hansen’s men ran in eight tries and produced a physical defensive effort to win the collisions and slow down the Springboks’ ball at North Harbour Stadium to hand the visitors their worst Test defeat.
Despite the emphatic nature of the scoreline, Hansen and captain Kieran Read both said the visitors had been hugely competitive for large parts of the game, with the All Blacks taking their time to get into the match.
‘At the start we were a bit jittery,’ said Hansen. ‘Once we got into the rhythm of the game we played probably as good as we have played in a long time.
‘We have seen a pretty good performance and that’s because the South Africans forced that out of us. The scoreboard didn’t really reflect the difference between the two sides.”
It was only the fifth time in the 94 Tests the two sides have played since 1921 that South Africa were kept scoreless. One of those ended in a 0-0 draw.
Meanwhile, Australia saw off Argentina 45-20 in the other Rugby Championship fixture in Canberra yesterday morning.