Van Biljon makes it a black day for Boks

New Zealand 26 South Africa 15

New Zealand restored their battered pride with a convincing Tri-Nations victory over South Africa here. The All Blacks were under intense pressure after their poor performance in a 23-15 defeat by Australia a fortnight ago, but they responded in style at Eden Park by scoring two tries and dominating the Springboks throughout.

The win moved them to the top of the Tri-Nations table with eight points, one ahead of Australia. The title will be decided when the two meet in Sydney next Saturday. South Africa finish bottom for the third successive year.

But for some unusually wayward kicking from Andrew Mehrtens – who was successful with only four out of eight penalty attempts – the All Blacks' win would have been more convincing. Their line was rarely threatened on a night of intermittently torrential rain which ensured the fierce encounter was littered with mistakes.

It took the All Blacks just eight minutes to score only the second try the Springboks had conceded in the competition to date. A succession of drives sucked in defenders before centre Pita Alatini popped up to take scrum-half Byron Kelleher's inside pass and score from close range.

Mehrtens converted before the Springboks lifted the siege-like opening with Braam van Straaten slotting a 30-metre penalty from his side's first sight of the opposition's posts after 15 minutes.

But the All Blacks did not drop the pace and by the 10th minute of the second half they had stretched their lead to 19-9 as Mehrtens landed three more penalties to two from van Straaten.

The decisive score came after 57 minutes when Mehrtens slid through a yawning gap in a stretched defence. He floated a pass in the direction of Leon MacDonald, who would probably have scored but for an early tackle by Springbok hooker Lukas van Biljon, and New Zealand were awarded a penalty try.

Van Straaten kicked two more penalties – one glancing off the crossbar from the halfway line – to complete a perfect night for him with five out of five, while Mehrtens missed his two final chances.

New Zealand: L MacDonald; J Wilson, T Umaga, P Alatini, J Lomu; A Mehrtens, B Kelleher; C Hoeft, A Oliver (capt), G Somerville (C Hayman, 60), N Maxwell, C Jack (M Cooksley, 37-40, 77), T Flavell, R Cribb (M Holah, 50), T Randell.

South Africa: C Jantjes; B Paulse, A Snyman (D Kayser, 77), B van Straaten, D Hall; B James, J van der Westhuizen; R Kempson (O le Roux, 61), L van Biljon (J Smit, 61), C Visagie, V Matfield, M Andrews (A van den Berg, 61), A Vos (J van Niekerk, 65), R Skinstad (capt, J van Niekerk, 18-32), A Venter.