All Blacks beat SA for Tri-Nations title

New Zealand 19, South Africa 11

New Zealand were crowned Tri-Nations champions for a fifth time in eight years on Saturday after a hard-fought victory over South Africa in Dunedin.

In difficult conditions and placed under consistent pressure from a resurgent Springboks outfit, New Zealand had to rely on the boot of Carlos Spencer – and it held firm.

The Auckland fly-half did not miss a kick, landing 14 points from four penalties and a conversion to Joe Rokocoko’s fifth-minute try.

The Springboks remained in touch throughout, from the moment Richard Bands scored one of the great prop-forward tries a quarter of an hour in.

Bursting onto a popped pass, Bands rampaged 40 metres, through the tackle of Spencer before carrying Mauger with him across the line for his first Test try.

Louis Koen missed the conversion but landed two penalties for the Springboks, whose reputation, despite the defeat, was given a much-needed boost after they arrived in New Zealand under a disciplinary cloud.

The last time New Zealand were so reliant on Spencer’s boot was in the June Test against England when he came a distance second to Jonny Wilkinson.

Since then, he has had the luxury of marshalling a sizzling All Black back-line which has been in devastating form, carving through the Springbok and Australian defences to run in a half-century of points in each of their first two games.

But after Rokocoko had chased down Aaron Mauger’s grubber kick to score his 11th try in just six Tests, South Africa kept the home side under pressure, shutting down the centres quickly and restricting the All Blacks’ opportunity to get the ball wide.

The All Blacks lead the table by nine points and cannot be caught by Australia, but next weekend’s final Test holds great significance as a victory over the Wallabies would regain the Bledisloe Cup.