Dustin Wetdewich, Nova News<\/p>\n
\u201cEllis Park was supposed to be the fortress. The altitude was meant to be the advantage. The passionate home crowd should have been the difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cInstead, New Zealand delivered a performance that announced their intentions for this series loud and clear: they\u2019re here to win, they\u2019re here to dominate, and they won\u2019t be intimidated by history, altitude or occasion.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Springboks have seven days to find answers. Because if this performance repeats in Cape Town, the series could be over before it really begins.<\/p>\n
\u201cRugby\u2019s Greatest Rivalry delivered a statement opener. Unfortunately for South African fans, New Zealand wrote it in All Black ink.\u201d<\/p>\n
Damian de Allende, Will Jordan, Fabian Holland and Jasper Wiese. Photos \/ SmartFrame<\/p>\n
\u2018Guts and character\u2019<\/p>\n
Craig Ray, Daily Maverick<\/p>\n
\u201cThis was a win of guts and character from the All Blacks, who at one stage looked ready to implode under pressure. But they held firm through a combination of Bok errors and their own deep well of resolve.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis might easily have been the worst performance in the Rassie Erasmus era, ending a 12-match winning streak and putting the Boks on the back foot in the four-match series. The All Blacks \u201cwon\u201d the second half 21-3.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Springboks turned the ball over 23 times \u2013 mostly through knock-ons \u2013 and the All Blacks thrived on the steady feed of possession from the fumble-fingered Boks.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018This must go down as a disintegration\u2019<\/p>\n
Gerard Meagher, The Guardian<\/p>\n
\u201cAs first courses go, this was a delicious appetiser to a series that looks set to live up to its billing. First blood goes to New Zealand, who withstood a barrage of South Africa scrum pressure and demonstrated a slickness the double world champions could not live with, clinching a first win at Ellis Park since 2022.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt wasn\u2019t a classic, but a statement victory by the All Blacks to which South Africa must respond in the coming weeks. By the end, South Africa had two men in the sinbin and, given their status as the world\u2019s leading side, this must go down as a disintegration. <\/p>\n
There will be a backlash \u2013 it is hard to remember a time when South Africa were so inaccurate with the ball in hand \u2013 but credit New Zealand for producing a masterclass at weathering the storm and taking their chances. It is 30 years since Sean Fitzpatrick led the All Blacks to a first series victory in South Africa, but the class of 2026 are off to a flying start.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018The spy dramas of the Cold War\u2019<\/p>\n
Mike Greenaway, The National<\/p>\n
\u201cThe All Blacks were outgunned at scrum time and under pressure, yet they hung on and struck ruthlessly on the counterattack, scoring five tries to the Springboks\u2019 one.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe build-up to the match had been a throwback to the spy dramas of the Cold War, with media \u201cspies\u201d planted at Springbok and All Black press conferences to ask questions designed to give their respective coaches intelligence \u2014 much of it apparently aimed at referee MatthewCarley.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Springboks were accused of slowing the ball down; the All Blacks were warned about illegally hitting rucks with tucked shoulders.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut once the talking stopped, both teams delivered a cold statement of intent.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Men against boys\u2019<\/p>\n
Jared Wright, Planet Rugby<\/p>\n
\u201cJust about every facet of this game was a contest except for one: the scrum. Frankly, it was men against boys as Ox Nche, Malcolm Marx and Wilco Louw shunted Ethan de Groot, Codie Taylor and Tyrel Lomax backwards at an astonishing rate. It was a brutal obliteration for 54 minutes, during which time New Zealand boasted an atrocious 57% success rate. In the 55th minute, they finally got a penalty of their own \u2013 fortunately so \u2013 in their 22, but for the 54 minutes before then, it was a brutal demolition job not quite seen since the Boks battered Ireland\u2019s set-piece.<\/p>\n
\u201cLosing De Groot before halftime didn\u2019t help New Zealand\u2019s cause in the scrums, nor did introducing George Bower, who replaced Lomax, who was completely out scrummaged by Nche. When the Boks made changes up front, there was somewhat of a levelling of the scrum battle, but the havoc Nche and Louw wreaked cannot be ignored.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne thing is crystal clear: the All Blacks have to find some resemblance of scrum parity in Cape Town next week. They managed to escape a heap of trouble in the scrums, but they simply cannot afford to cough up possession and penalties in that manner for the rest of the series.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Numerous errors\u2019<\/p>\n
Jacques van der Westhuyzen, The Citizen<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Boks made numerous errors over the course of the match and failed to make the most of a number of 22m entries, especially in the first half. They enjoyed more territory and possession than the All Blacks, but it was the New Zealanders who took their chances and scored the tries.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Boks edged the set-pieces, and won the aerial battle, but coach Rassie Erasmus will be concerned with the lack of rhythm in the Boks\u2019 game and their general error-rate and lack of composure.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe victory by the All Blacks ensured they remain unbeaten in 2026, while the Boks\u2019 12-match unbeaten run has now come to an end.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dustin Wetdewich, Nova News \u201cEllis Park was supposed to be the fortress. The altitude was meant to be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":577462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[5263,806,1975,8136,9861,5981,9635,56136,1073,3605,111,139,69,8143,19762,183683,24365,213,8137,130150,6027],"class_list":["post-577461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-all","tag-as","tag-at","tag-blacks","tag-charles","tag-daily","tag-dave","tag-ellis","tag-media","tag-men","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-park","tag-reacts","tag-rennies","tag-richardson","tag-sports","tag-springboks","tag-telegraph","tag-win"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577461","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=577461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/577461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/577462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=577461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=577461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=577461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}