Revived All Blacks are still capable of winning ugly

With one bound New Zealand rugby appears to be free. The All Blacks have now won five Tests in succession and they have every chance of winning the Tri-Nations title for the fourth time in its five-year history.

After they lived and almost died by the sword in the swashbuckling 39-35 victory over Australia, they proved to themselves on a chill winter's afternoon at draughty old Lancaster Park that they can also win ugly.

Should Australia beat South Africa on Saturday it will set up a potentially decisive match against the All Blacks in Wellington a week later. They will know, as they found out last weekend, that New Zealand are rejuvenated and hungry for success.

Order has been restored. Todd Blackadder has proved a popular captain and his old Crusaders mentor Wayne Smith now grasps the coaching tiller in the finest traditions of All Black understatement.

But the All Blacks will know they will not get off so lightly against Australia as they did on Saturday.

They allowed the Springboks to take 60 per cent of possession and a side as fluent as the Wallabies would have made much more of it. Nick Mallett's - the Springbok's coach - new gameplan is clearly visible on the field: his side retained possession through multiple phases and varied the point of attack. But South Africa do not possess a player of the calibre of Andrew Mehrtens and Stephen Larkham to call the shots at outhalf.

What they did do well was bottle up the All Blacks' dangerous backs. The only two tries of the match came in the first 15 minutes when the Springboks disastrously failed to deal with kicks ahead. The full back, Christian Cullen, glided in to pick up the pieces and extend his record number of tries against the Springboks to eight.

But otherwise the All Blacks' cutting edge was blunted on the green wall in much the same way that the black shirts absorbed every earnest Springbok thrust whether it was wide or narrow.

The rest of the points came from kicks at goal - including a drop goal apiece for Percy Montgomery and Mehrtens - in a match which would have warmed the cockles of the heart of those who cling to the romantic notion that rugby is still a game for beating the living daylights out of your opponent before a knees-up in the pub.

Beaten-up were Springbok loose forward Rassie Erasmus (fractured rib) and prop Willie Meyer (concussion), who returned to South Africa yesterday along with the longterm walking wounded Selborne Boome (heel). It won't get any easier for them against the Wallabies in Sydney.

The Springboks have now lost five players to injury on the tour. Centre Japie Mulder (strained bicep) and lock Krynauw Otto (brain contusion) were forced out following the Mandela Challenge Trophy match against Australia two weeks ago.

Commenting on Erasmus' injury, Mallett said: "Rassie complained at halftime about a rib injury. I asked him to carry on because he is such a great player. But five minutes after half-time he got a message to me saying the pain was just too much and he couldn't continue."

But the under-fire coach did see grounds for optimism. "I was very proud of the way our guys defended. We forced New Zealand to score through kicks ahead as opposed to constructing phases and breaking us down. Against a very good defence we didn't get the reward, but if we played like that against England, I believe we would have beaten them."