South Africa lose to the All Blacks at rugby in Pretoria

August 26, 2006

The Springboks (South Africa) lost the fifth Test in a row, whilst the New Zealand All Blacks continued their streak of wins, in the first of the remaining three fixtures of the 2006 Tri Nations in rugby union played at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria, South Africa on Saturday August 26. The final score was 45 to 26. It marked the first win in South Africa for the All Blacks, who have already clinched the series, since 2003.

Richie McCaw knocked on the kick off from Butch James, offside All Blacks then lead to an early penalty kick to Percy Montgomery, giving South Africa a three-nil lead. James kicked another penalty two minutes later giving them a six to nil lead. Daniel Carter then gave the All Blacks their first points with a penalty kick of his own. Fourie du Preez scored the first try of the match in the 10th minute for South Africa. Montgomery missed the conversion and South Africa lead 11 to three. After a period of no scoring, Carter kicked another penalty goal in the 18th minute to reduce the gap to 11 to six. Neemia Tialata scored the All Blacks first try off a Carter kick. Carter converted, and the All Blacks moved ahead to 13 to 11. On halftime the All Blacks are given a penalty, 60m away from the South African line. An ambitious Carter went for the kick, and was successful, and the All Blacks went into the break 16 to 11.

Carter got the first points of the second half with another penalty goal in the 43rd minute. Luke McAlister extended the All Blacks lead a few minutes later with a try of his own, and with Carter's conversion, the All Blacks lead 26 to 11. A subsequent penalty goal to South Africa by Montgomery reduced this to 26 to 14. The All Blacks start to move further away with the game when Sitiveni Sivivatu scored in the 55th minute, although Carter missed the conversion, the All Blacks moved to a 31 to 14 lead. A try to Mils Muliaina and a subsequent Carter conversion made the score 38 to 14. South Africa started to make a comeback when Jaque Fourie scored a try. André Pretorius missed the conversion, and the score was at 38 to 19 to the All Blacks. Fourie scored again in the 70th minute, and with the Pretorius conversion, the score read 38 to 26 with 10 minutes remaining in the match. However Rico Gear sealed the victory in the 75th minute with a try. Carter converted and the All Blacks won 45 to 26.