Gold inspires glittering All Blacks

Sportal.co.nz - 17/08/2008

All Blacks coach Graham Henry believes the gold medals won by rowers Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell at the Beijing Olympics inspired his side to a clinical 19-0 victory over world champion South Africa at Newlands on Saturday.

According to Henry, the unexpected glory for New Zealand's twin sisters formed the basis for the All Blacks' motivation ahead of a victory that sees them take one step closer to retaining their Philips Tri Nations title with three games left in the competition.

"The medals were an inspiration and showed a lot of courage and it was precisely that which won the game for us, that togetherness as a team," Henry said.

"We stuck to the task at hand and showed our skills and it paid off in the end."

The All Blacks were forced to defend for large periods of time, and had fewer chances than their opponents, but managed to defend their line and use the opportunities they got for a three try to nil victory.

All Black captain Richie McCaw said it was an 'epic battle up front.'

"It was a hell of a physical match and the defensive attitude of the guys really paid off in the end. They way we gang tackled the Boks and forced the turnovers, we worked hard for them and that set the standard for the game. We really targeted the start."

McCaw said that the defensive effort was the key to the win.

"They were at our line a couple of times and we also missed a few shots at goal. But some days it is like that. We really scrambled hard on defence and we knew we had to stop them. Defence sets the attitude for the game and those gang tackles slowed down their ball. It was all about attitude."

Henry had special praise for Dan Carter, who missed five kicks at goal, yet bounced back to score a try in the second half that ultimately turned the game in the All Blacks' favour.

"Dan played superbly in the last 20 and he has learnt to handle pressure situations like this. He is one of those players that has the guys to hang in there and do the business and finish."

Springbok coach Peter de Villiers said he was 'disappointed' but promised that the Boks would stand up again. The world champions face two more outings against Australia in Durban and Johannesburg in the next fortnight.

"We are very disappointed at the way we played, but there was so much emotion surrounding Percy [Montgomery] this week and his 100th cap that perhaps it got to us in the first 20 minutes and it took us that long to get back into the game.

"We made simple mistakes," De Villiers added, "We didn't do a lot of things wrong but we made simple mistakes at crucial times, and we allowed the All Blacks to come into the game again.

"It's no use crying over spilt milk, but we will be back again. These guys are professionals and they will pick themselves up again. We will have our fights behind the scenes to pick the guys up. If you look at the dressing room, you look at the faces and the guys know they can do better."

Bok captain Victor Matfield admitted the chances of the Boks winning the Tri Nations were now slim.

"It's very small at the moment, but we'll stay positive and we know we can make our country proud again," he said. "We can only control what happens in the next two weeks, and that's what we want to do."