{"id":570429,"date":"2026-08-16T04:22:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T04:22:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/570429\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T04:22:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T04:22:13","slug":"anton-segner-shines-as-all-blacks-run-over-the-bulls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/570429\/","title":{"rendered":"Anton Segner shines as All Blacks run over the Bulls"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  [&amp;_p]:tit-sub-xl tit-sub-xl md:[&amp;_p]:d-tit-sub-xl md:d-tit-sub-xl mb-[1.3rem]\">The All Blacks have made it three out of three on their South African tour with a 50-19 victory over the Bulls in Pretoria this morning which unveiled a star in the making in loose forward Anton Segner.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">The openside flanker, who made his Test debut last month, was outstanding and appears set to play a role for the All Blacks in their first Test against the Springboks in Johannesburg in seven days.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Rightly named man of the match at Loftus Versfeld, the 25-year-old was into everything and impressed with his pace, strength, defensive ability and workrate. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Luke Jacobson will almost certainly wear the No.7 jersey at Ellis Park but Segner may be pushing him close and appears set for a place on the reserves bench at least.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Centre Rieko Ioane was the other big winner for the All Blacks, who scored eight tries to three against a Bulls side who played with adventure and no small amount of skill, especially in the second half.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Ioane appears re-energised on his return to the team following his sabbatical and his form is timely given Billy Proctor\u2019s return to New Zealand with a fractured shoulder blade.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Elsewhere, there were improvements across the board for the All Blacks, who had by far the better of the Bulls&#8217; scrum. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Props Xavier Numia and Tyrel Lomax made a big impression here, helped no doubt by the pressure exerted by locks Fabian Holland and Patrick Tuipulotu. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Holland had another lively match \u2013 an exquisite offload put hooker and captain Codie Taylor in for his second try \u2013 and he also made a huge impression at the breakdown, another area where the All Blacks put a lot of pressure on the home side.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/codie-taylor-scores-his-second-try-for-the-all-blacks-agains-YMQ5OAOV3JGLRL42GD3W7CMX24.jpg\" alt=\"Codie Taylor scores his second try for the All Blacks against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld.\" width=\"800\" height=\"467\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"ImageMetadata__MetadataParagraph-sc-hi5x8q-0 cWTYyG image-metadata\">Codie Taylor scores his second try for the All Blacks against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld. (Source: Photosport)<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">The All Blacks\u2019 maul defence was also vastly improved. They shut the Bulls down several times on their try line and in conceding only eight penalties their discipline was far better than during their victories over the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.1news.co.nz\/2026\/08\/08\/reality-bites-as-all-blacks-struggle-to-subdue-stormers\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Stormers <\/a>and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.1news.co.nz\/2026\/08\/12\/all-blacks-blitz-sharks-with-eight-try-romp-in-the-wet\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sharks<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">It was certainly better than the Bulls, who had prop Francois Klopper sinbinned for a cynical offside after 30 minutes. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">The All Blacks were generally clinical in the Bulls\u2019 22m but some of the finishing when they attacked from deep left a bit to be desired and head coach Dave Rennie was not overly effusive with his praise afterwards.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">\u201cMixed,\u201d Rennie told Sky Sport afterwards of his reaction to the win. \u201cI thought we did a lot of good stuff. Our line breaks were something like 11-1, there were a lot of defenders beaten, so a lot of those numbers looked good but we lacked a bit of finish. <\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">\u201cI thought our offloading in the wet was excellent the other day [against Sharks] and it was a bit sloppy tonight so we left a lot of points out there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Asked about the fitness of key backs Cam Roigard and Will Jordan \u2013 neither of whom have played on tour yet \u2013 Rennie said he was confident both would be available for the first Test but that Damian McKenzie, who sprained an ankle against the Sharks, was more of a worry.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">He did say that he was confident the fullback would also come right, however.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/wallace-sititi-scores-for-the-all-blacks-against-the-bulls-a-ZCPVPCU7GRE4JETCHZ2D3OC6G4.jpg\" alt=\"Wallace Sititi scores for the All Blacks against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld.\" width=\"800\" height=\"441\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"ImageMetadata__MetadataParagraph-sc-hi5x8q-0 cWTYyG image-metadata\">Wallace Sititi scores for the All Blacks against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld. (Source: Photosport)<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Taylor\u2019s 40-minute return from a calf injury will please Rennie, too.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">The skipper scored two back-to-back tries after left wing Josh Moorby scored a double in succession, with Leroy Carter also scoring two.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Ioane also crossed the line, with replacement loose forward Wallace Sititi breaking through for the try which helped the All Blacks to a half century of points.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">First-five Josh Jacomb was steady in his first start \u2013 he scrambled superbly on defence and a left-foot 50-22 kick in the first half was a highlight.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Veteran fullback Beauden Barrett was a calming presence at the back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">The visitors also defended well in making 91% of their tackles, but they were exposed on the blindside of a scrum in the lead up to Stravino Jacobs\u2019 try, with flanker Simon Parker caught short, and the concession of 19 points in the second half, including three tries as they lost a bit of shape, will not have pleased Rennie.<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">All Blacks 50 (Josh Moorby 2, Codie Taylor 2, Leroy Carter 2, Rieko Ioane, Wallace Sititi tries Beauden Barrett con, Josh Jacomb 4 cons)<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Bulls 19 (Ruan Vermaak, Stravino Jacobs, Marcel Coetzee tries; Curwin Bosch 2 cons)<\/p>\n<p class=\"body-paragraph articleLinkText  lg mb-4\">Halftime: 24-0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The All Blacks have made it three out of three on their South African tour with a 50-19&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":570430,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[789,111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-570429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-all-blacks","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=570429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/570429\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/570430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=570429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=570429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=570429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}