In typical Wellington conditions, the All Blacks put on a master class of high-impact, wet weather rugby in the eagerly-awaited Tri-Nations opener. With the new ELVs coming into play, it was New Zealand who dominated by more than the 19-8 scoreline would suggest. The perceived strengths of South Africa never came to the fore, and the New Zealand rugby public will be filled with confidence moving forward to the rest of the tournament.

South Africa will rightfully point to the loss of John Smit in the first half as a huge turning point in the match. Smit is an excellent scrummager, accurate in the lineouts and an inspiring captain. His replacement, Bismarck du Plessis, was perhaps too keen to impress, either isolating himself from his support too often or entering the backline and slowing down the movement of the ball wide in the midfield. 

More importantly, Victor Matfield failed to step up and lead the team.   In fact, he and Bakkies Botha were largely anonymous figures in the second half, and as the correctly-billed premier lock combination in world rugby, they failed to live up to their billing and were outplayed by their New Zealand counterparts. 

But South Africa fell down in other areas, too.  Their front row struggled for the majority of the game, and were lucky not to be punished in the scrums, instead benefiting from a somewhat bizarre interpretation of scrummaging by referee Dickinson. 

Schalk Burger had another excellent game in a green jersey, with his intensity and energy at levels unmatched by anyone else on the pitch.  Unfortunately for Burger, however, he didn’t get enough support from his back-row team mates.  Juan Smith and Joe van Niekerk struggled to impose themselves on the game, with van Niekerk in particular looking a selection gamble that didn’t pay off.

Ricky Januarie was brilliant for long parts of the game, and shaded his battle at No.9 with New Zealand’s Andy Ellis. He was able to constantly disrupt Ellis’s distribution from the back of scrums and rucks, and his probing kicking game was both clever and successful.  Outside him, however, Butch James looked more intent on trying to hit Dan Carter than dictating the game.  He shanked a handful of kicks from hand, and his conversion  attempt from Bryan Habana’s try, which would have given the Boks the lead just before half-time, was woeful. 

Perhaps it was too late, but Francois Steyn’s introduction in the second half seemed to reignite South Africa, with his direct running close to the gain-line at least giving the All Black defence something else to think about. 

De Villiers demonstrated his class by creating South Africa’s try, breaking Sitiveni Sivivatu’s tackle and offloading to Habana.  For most players in world rugby, there was still a huge amount to do.  For Habana, it was a walk-in. 

De Villiers failed to dominate the rest of the game though, and would be best served by a better player outside him.  Adrian Jacobs didn’t look anywhere near up to the task.  Save for his try, Habana had one of his poorest performances in  a South African jersey, with the New Zealand defence prepared for his sprints infield. 

Odwa Ndungane was nowhere to be seen for the majority of the game, but Conrad Jantjes was the standout performer in the Springbok backline. He was reliable under the high ball, and made some dangerous runs when given any room. The decision to replace him with Percy Montgomery made no sense at all, apart from getting Montgomery one cap closer to 100.

South Africa failed to score a point in the second half, and save for an unbelievably audacious drop-goal attempt from Steyn, they rarely looked like adding to their eight-point tally. 

Much of the talk before the game was about how New Zealand would cope without the inspirational leadership of Richie McCaw.  Rodney So’oialo had a strong introduction to international captaincy, and the contributions of Adam Thompson and particularly Jerome Kaino were invaluable.  In an area in which they were expected to be dominated, the All Blacks achieved parity in the loose in the first half, and stepped this up in the second.  The quick, recycled ball they won in the first 20 minutes put the South African defence under increasing pressure, creating Kaino’s first try and his disallowed second. 

The back-row was helped hugely by the performances of the whole front five. Andrew Hore’s lineout throwing was much improved from his struggles against England, and his strong running provided constant go forward ball, aided by both Greg Somerville and Tony Woodcock. Ali Williams and Brad Thorn were equally excellent, and save for one ropey kick in the first half, Williams was superb.  Thorn’s big hitting consistently put South Africa on the back-foot, disrupting much of the Springboks’ first and second phase ball. 

The centre partnership of Ma’a Nonu and Conrad Smith is clearly blossoming with every minute they play together in black shirts.  Solid in defence, their clever running lines and ability to offload in the tackle is proving invaluable.  Rudi Wulf struggled in the first half to impose himself on the game, but became a lot more involved in the second, and Mils Muliaina was as reliable as ever.  Sivivatu’s missed tackle allowed South Africa to score in the first half, but he made up for his error with strong defence for the rest of the game. 

And then there was Carter.  Missing a regulation kick early in the game didn’t seem to affect him, his successful conversion epitomising the accuracy of his place kicking. It was the way he assumed some of the leadership responsibilities that was particularly impressive, however. 

Carter is now a senior member of the All Blacks, and his ability to dictate the pace and direction of the game was the major difference between the two sides.  The manner in which his delayed pass created the New Zealand try was Carter at his very best, and there is not a defence in the world that can deal with him when he is on form.

What was evident throughout the match was the intensity the game was played at. Both teams threw everything at each other, and there is no doubt that the best two teams in world rugby were playing.  There is currently a big gap between these two and everyone else, though Australia will have the opportunity in the coming weeks to disprove this. 

What is clear from this game is that the All Blacks are still the team to beat.  With one point between the sides at half time, this game was too close to call. New Zealand were then able to find another couple of gears in the second half, and South Africa could not. 

If South Africa are going to claim that elusive away win in Dunedin next week, they are going to have to step up their game - or the margin could prove to be even wider.