New Zealand overpower South Africa

New Zealand put off-field controversies behind them to cruise to a 41-20 win over South Africa in the Tri-Nations clash.

Andrew Mehrtens' boot put the first points on the board but it was the Boks who landed the first significant blow when loosehead prop Lawrence Sephaka turned over a good ball and sent it wide for Werner Greef.

The full-back beat four tackles before dancing in for the try.

Mehrtens kicked a penalty and Greef added a drop goal before the All Blacks finally got into gear. Winger Doug Howlett went over in the corner after a move which started with an excellent line-out take by lock Chris Jack to equal the scores.

Then hooker Mark Hammett threw a short ball around the front of the line-out to scrum-half Justin Marshall, who returned the favour to send Hammett over in the corner.

Mehrtens added another penalty on the stroke of half-time to give the All Blacks an eight-point lead.

After the break, Aaron Mauger hacked on his own chip-ahead after Greef had misjudged the ball. Tana Umaga, a replacement for the injured Mark Robinson, won the ball on the ground before feeding Marshall. He wrong-footed the Boks by shaping right then sending the ball to skipper Rueben Thorne who crossed for the try.

The South Africans, on the verge of collapse 18 points down five minutes into the second half, bounced back through Marius Joubert's try.

But they were forced to accept their fate when Joubert turned from hero to villain, sin-binned for a high tackle on Doug Howlett.

The All Blacks made their extra man count when Marshall touched down and the South African misery was complete when Scott Robertson got the last of five tries after a well-worked line-out move.