Jaden Hendrikse and Willie le Roux celebrate the winning try against New Zealand. Photo: AP
New Zealand, who had just suffered two straight home losses to Ireland, scored a third consecutive setback by dropping 26 to 10 during their visit to South Africa this Saturday in Nelspruit for the first day of the championship. of rugby 2022.
The Springboks, reigning world champions, scored a try in each half of the match, signed by Kurt-Lee Arendse (minute 8) and Willie Le Roux (80). Half-flying Handré Pollard got all the other points from the locals with his foot.
The fully dominated All Blacks were only able to retaliate with a Jordie Barrett penalty just before half-time and a late-game try by Shannon Frizell, with South Africa reduced to fourteen players from Arendse’s exclusion.
In duels between the two powers, South Africa continues to dominate at home when playing against New Zealand, now with 26 wins to 24.
In the rugby championship, completed by Argentina and Australia, the New Zealanders are the reigning champions and have won eight of the last ten editions, but their current form does not seem the best to aspire to a new title.
The two recent home defeats against Ireland (23-12 and 33-22) have raised alarm bells and put manager Ian Foster in a very difficult situation. Two of his deputies, John Plumtree and Brad Mooar, were fired.
After Nelspruit’s setback, the All Blacks have lost five of their last six games, including defeats to Ireland (29-20) and France (40-25) in the 2021 Finals test-match tour.
In the world rankings, New Zealand dropped to number four and all the alarms went off a year before the World Cup in France.
Without much time to digest this defeat, Foster and his students will have to analyze how to correct the course on the second day, Saturday of next week, where they will visit South Africa again, in this case in Johannesburg.
Source: AFP
Source: Clarin
