Coach Dave Rennie Said the Scrum Penalty in the Second Half Was the Moment the Match Turned

However, a scrum penalty around the 55th minute wrenched back momentum from the Boks and from then on the All Blacks were the dominant side, pulling away to win by 17 points and take a 1-0 lead in the four match series. "Look, there was nothing in that game, I know the score might sound convincing, but it was an absolute arm wrestle at 19-16 we were under the pump and boys barred up, we defended and defended, and then we were clinical when we got our opportunities. So, yeah, I'm really proud.

"Massive effort. A great result for us, but we're wary of the response that we'll get next week. Damian McKenzie said the win was extremely satisfying.

The first half was largely one way traffic with the Springboks dominating possession and territory and smashing the All Blacks scrum, but the visitors hung in there, scoring a couple of tries and scrambling on defence to stay in the fight. Rennie said that scrum penalty about 15 minutes into the second half was the moment the match turned. "It was the scrum, I think the 55th minute, we'd been under the pump for so long.

They kicked a penalty, we got down and we charged down (a Springboks kick) and Fabian (Holland) scored. It was a bit of a soft one and then we're under the pump for a number of minutes, maybe the next five or six. "To come out of that and then get a little bit of territory and then I think somewhere in there we got a 50-22 and were able to camp down there and we got rewarded.

He said a period near the end of the first half was also vital for the All Blacks. "I think the 10 minutes before halftime was massive. We were under the pump in that time and scrambled really well, Rennie said.

"Unfortunately, we gave it back to them a couple of times to give them another lick there. But I thought we barred up hugely defensively that last 10 minutes of the first half. All Blacks wing Will Jordan scored two tries at Ellis Park.

All Blacks captain Ardie Savea shared his coach's sentiments and said he was pleased with the side's resilience. "Yeah, I'm very proud. We talked about being composed under tight moments and you can just see the boys are really present in the moment.

All you can ask for as a leader is just everyone do their job and everyone did that. "We stayed composed and we came away with points. So, you know, just very proud.

Prop Ethan de Groot and lock Josh Lord were both forced from the field after clashing heads trying to make a tackle and Rennie said that could cause them a selection headache with a match against the Lions on Wednesday morning (NZT) ahead of next weekend's second test in Cape Town. The All Blacks have called in Ofa Tu'ungafasi and Jamie Hannah as injury replacements while de Groot and and Lord work through concussion protocols. Obviously a head clash which is problematic long term.

Neither of those guys can play on Tuesday (Wednesday NZT) and probably can't play on Saturday (Sunday NZT) depending on protocols and what happened on the sideline, so I'll need to confirm that, Rennie said. Ethan de Groot in action for the All Blacks. Rennie revealed de Groot had been battling illness ahead of the game.