South Africa produced the perfect conclusion to their World Cup preparations as they claimed their biggest-ever victory over 14-player New Zealand, winning 35-7 at a sold-out Twickenham Friday in the final game before heading to France.
The All Blacks lost lock Scott Barrett in the first half as he was dismissed for two yellow cards as the world champions entered the break with a 14-0 lead thanks to tries from skipper Siya Kolisi and Kurt-Lee Arendse.
Malcolm Marx, Bongi Mbonambi and Kwagga Smith also went over for tries in the second half to extend South Africa’s advantage, with Cam Roigard scoring a late consolation for New Zealand.
“We were not going to come to Twickenham in front of 82,000 people and hold anything back,” Kolisi said. “We knew it had to start up front with the forwards, but we also know the hard work starts now. We have to defend the World Cup in France.”
South Africa hammered Wales 52-16 in Cardiff last weekend and started in the same vain, with relentless early pressure leading to a 13th-minute sin-binning for Barrett – who paid the price for repeated New Zealand infringements.
Prop Tyrel Lomax was then forced off with what appeared to be a serious knee injury before skipper Sam Kane was also shown a yellow card in a disastrous first 15 minutes for the All Blacks.
New Zealand, who were imperious in securing the 2023 Rugby Championship title last month, defended resolutely but Kolisi forced his way over for the opening try after 18 minutes.
Richie Mo’unga hit the post with a simple penalty and Arendse ran in South Africa’s second try from an interception to make it 14-0.
Things went from bad to worse for the All Blacks as Barrett was shown a second yellow and sent off just before half-time for dangerously flying into a clearout – meaning he is likely to miss their World Cup opener against France on September 8.
The Springboks hit the ground running again after half-time as Marx scored following a line-out.
Pieter-Steph Du Toit was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle but a fresh forward pack, after seven substitutions, powered over for a fourth Springboks try as Mbonambi touched down.
New Zealand had no answer to South Africa as Smith added a fifth, with Manie Libbok flawless with the boot, before Roigard’s first Test try offered New Zealand’s only moment of joy –SkySports.