分类： sports

JOHANNESBURG – Just hours after securing a standout 33-16 victory over two-time world champion South Africa at Johannesburg’s iconic Ellis Park Stadium on Saturday, New Zealand All Blacks head coach Dave Rennie is already bracing for a fierce counterattack from the Springboks in next week’s second test.

This result marks a defining early win for Rennie, who took over the All Blacks’ head coaching role earlier this year following a leadership shakeup that removed predecessor Scott Robertson over concerns about a dysfunctional team environment and misaligned preparation for next year’s Rugby World Cup. Entering Saturday’s opening test of the four-test series, the All Blacks had dropped five of their previous six encounters against South Africa, making the lopsided five-tries-to-one victory all the more impactful for the rebuilding side.

The All Blacks faced a brutal first-half challenge, particularly at the scrum, where South Africa dominated the line of engagement. Star New Zealand loosehead prop Ethan de Groot struggled heavily against Springbok opposite Wilco Louw, a disadvantage compounded by the prop falling ill Friday that forced him to exit the team’s final captain’s run early to rest. De Groot was pulled from the match in the 38th minute, alongside lock Josh Lord, after the two forwards suffered a collision of heads. Rennie confirmed Friday that concussion protocols are unlikely to clear either player to compete in next Saturday’s second test scheduled for Cape Town.

De Groot’s replacement, George Bower, whose selection over fan-favorite Xavier Numia had drawn debate among supporters, turned in a game-changing performance. Alongside fellow front-row replacements Fletcher Newell and backup hooker Asafo Aumua, Bower stabilized the New Zealand scrum and neutralized what had been South Africa’s biggest early weapon, turning the tide of the match. A critical penalty won against South Africa on a Springbok scrum feed inside the All Blacks’ 22-meter line around the 60-minute mark marked the turning point of the game.

All Blacks captain Ardie Savea praised his team’s composure through the early pressure, saying, “You talk about being composed in tight moments, and you could just see the boys were really present in the moment. All you can ask for as a leader is for everyone to do their job, and everyone did that.” The side also navigated a late pre-match disruption, when reserve flanker Anton Segner was ruled out with ankle inflammation and replaced by Simon Parker. Parker is in line to feature in the mid-tour tour match against the Lions at Ellis Park on Tuesday, one of a handful of test squad members set to get additional game time in the fixture.

Trailing by a single point at halftime, the All Blacks weathered South Africa’s early pressure to pull away for a comfortable final score, snapping the Springboks’ 12-test winning streak in the process. Rennie credited his squad’s relentless defense and clinical finishing when given opportunities, noting, “We were under the pump and the boys barred up. We defended and defended, and then we were clinical when we got our opportunities. So, yeah, I’m proud, a massive effort. It’s a great result for us, but we’re wary of the response we’ll get next week.”

While Rennie and his coaching staff have already been credited with bringing clearer direction and improved team morale to the All Blacks since taking the reins in June, the head coach declined to accept praise following Saturday’s win, emphasizing the rebuilding project remains in early days. “We’re still in our infancy,” he said, “still getting our heads around how we want to play.” Taking a 1-0 series lead does not guarantee anything moving forward, Rennie added, saying “Next week is going to be just as tough. We’ll enjoy the moment.”

JOHANNESBURG – A historic opening test match between two of rugby union’s most dominant global powers has left the four-year world champion South African Springboks facing an uphill battle for series victory, after New Zealand’s All Blacks delivered a stunning 33-16 win at Ellis Park over the weekend.

The result marked the All Blacks’ largest ever victory on the iconic Ellis Park pitch, snapping South Africa’s 12-match unbeaten test streak – the longest winning run for the Springboks under head coach Rassie Erasmus – and stripping the double world champions of their coveted number one world test ranking.

With the first full bilateral test series between the two sides in three decades still in play, three matches remain on the schedule, with the second test set to kick off next Saturday in Cape Town. Speaking to reporters after the defeat, Erasmus struck a confident tone, reminding supporters that the Springboks have rallied from opening match losses to claim major titles twice in recent years.

“We have been in many difficult, high-stakes situations before,” Erasmus said, pointing to the 2021 test series against the British and Irish Lions, where South Africa dropped the opening match but rallied to win the three-match series. He also cited the 2019 Rugby World Cup, where an opening pool stage loss to New Zealand did not prevent the Springboks from lifting the world trophy.

“The path forward is clear: we have to win three consecutive matches to take the series,” Erasmus said. “There’s no question this result puts New Zealand in a fantastic position, and they fully deserve that standing. They outplayed us completely, and they are the new number one team in the world – honestly, it will be nice to go into the next game as the underdogs.”

Erasmus refused to soften the blunt assessment of his side’s performance, rejecting the common cliché that a heavy defeat acts as a necessary wake-up call for improvement. The Springboks held a narrow 13-12 halftime lead after a physically dominant opening 40 minutes in the scrum, but failed to convert a string of clear scoring chances, allowing the All Blacks to seize control after the break. New Zealand finished the match with five tries to South Africa’s one, pulling away comfortably in the final minutes.

The defining turning point came with just over an hour played, when the Springboks held a 19-16 deficit and won a scrum just in front of the All Blacks’ goal line. Instead of capitalizing on the prime attacking opportunity, South Africa conceded a penalty from their own scrum feed, ceding momentum to the visitors.

“I’m not going to sugarcoat this with generic lines about learning from defeat and getting better,” Erasmus said. “We didn’t need this loss to know what we had to do today – we knew exactly what we needed to do, we just failed to execute it. Even if we had scraped a one-point win out of this match, there would still be dozens of adjustments we need to make. We didn’t play well, we missed too many chances, and New Zealand forced those mistakes by playing with incredible intensity and sharpness.”

Beyond on-field performance, Erasmus flagged injury concerns for two starting wingers heading into the second test: Cheslin Kolbe and Kurt-Lee Arendse. Arendse failed a mandatory head injury assessment in the first half after his mouthguard triggered a concussion alert, and under league protocol, the mandatory concussion stand-down rules put his availability for Cape Town in serious doubt. Kolbe, who stepped into the starting side as the team’s primary goalkicker ahead of Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu for his proven accuracy, left the pitch in the second half with suspected cramping. Kolbe delivered a perfect performance from the tee, converting all four of his attempt on goal.

As the series shifts to Cape Town, all eyes will be on whether Erasmus can refit his side and pull off another historic comeback against the sport’s new top-ranked team.

The opening clash of a historic four-test rugby series between two of the sport’s most dominant global powers delivered a shocking result on Saturday, as New Zealand’s All Blacks pulled off a 33-16 upset over the world champion Springboks at Johannesburg’s iconic Ellis Park Stadium, claiming the first critical win of the first full bilateral test series between the sides in three decades. What began as a tightly contested, physically brutal first half ended with South Africa holding a narrow 13-12 lead, but a second-half tactical and physical turnaround from Dave Rennie’s revitalized All Blacks turned a tense matchup into a decisive rout, with the visitors crossing for five tries to South Africa’s one.

South Africa entered the match riding a 12-test winning streak that began 11 months prior in Wellington, where the Springboks handed New Zealand their most lopsided defeat in modern history, 43-10. That momentum appeared to hold early on: the Springbok scrum, their traditional set-piece strength, outperformed pre-match expectations in the opening 40 minutes, pushing the All Blacks pack around the field. Overconfidence in that dominance ultimately proved fatal for the hosts, however. Rather than taking easy kickable penalty points at the high-altitude Ellis Park venue, South Africa opted repeatedly to kick for touch and chase tries to put the All Blacks away early. The plan backfired spectacularly: South Africa’s backline struggled to string together consistent attacking sequences, and was quickly shut down by New Zealand’s defensive line, forcing the bulk of the creative workload onto forward players including Jasper Wiese, Malcolm Marx and Paul de Villiers.

The match’s turning point came just before the 60-minute mark. After Cheslin Kolbe converted a scrum penalty to extend South Africa’s lead to 16-12, New Zealand responded immediately off the restart. All Blacks lock Fabian Holland charged down a box kick from Springbok scrumhalf Grant Williams to score a converted try, putting New Zealand ahead 19-16 for the first time all afternoon.

A key shift came when South Africa substituted starting props Ox Nché and Wilco Louw off the pitch. New Zealand’s replacement front row, consisting of George Bower, Asafo Aumua and Fletcher Newell, stabilized an All Blacks scrum that had been dominated in the first half, turning the set-piece into a platform for late attacking success. Not long after the substitution, South Africa was awarded a five-meter attacking scrum, but for the first time all match, the Springboks were penalized for wheeling, handing momentum straight back to the visitors.

“The reserve front row that came on, I think we probably owe them a beer,” All Blacks scrumhalf Cam Roigard told reporters after the match. “We got a lot of energy from that.”

A devastating break from fullback Damian McKenzie from his own half put more pressure on South Africa, resulting in an injury to Kolbe that forced the Springboks to reshuffle their backline, exposing gaps created by their 6-2 bench split that left them short of backline cover. New Zealand capitalized on the disorganization: awarded a five-meter attacking scrum of their own, flanker Luke Jacobson powered through Springbok captain Pieter-Steph du Toit to score, extending the All Blacks lead to 28-16 with 15 minutes left to play.

Controversy around referee decisions followed as the match neared its close. English referee Matthew Carley, who had overseen three South African wins in previous All Blacks-Springboks matchups, overruled Television Match Official Mike Adamson on multiple key calls. One of the most impactful was a yellow card for Springbok forward Marco van Staden for cynical play on the try line, overturning an initial ruling that did not sanction the South African side. Just 60 seconds later, Cobus Reinach was also sent to the sin bin for a deliberate knock-on, leaving South Africa down to 13 men for the final minutes.

With a numerical advantage, New Zealand extended their lead. Playing from the advantage, an unmarked Will Jordan latched onto a miss-out pass from Ardie Savea to score his second try of the match, putting the result beyond doubt. As the final 10 minutes ticked down, the energy of the packed Ellis Park crowd deflated, as supporters realized a comeback was out of reach.

After the final whistle, du Toit acknowledged that unforced errors had sunk the Springboks’ chances. “We shot ourselves in the foot,” the captain said. “Unfortunately, in a game like this, small errors count.”

The series will shift to sea-level Cape Town next Saturday for the second test, with New Zealand holding a surprising 1-0 series lead as both sides compete for the first full bilateral series win between the two nations in 30 years.

MACKAY, Australia – On a sun-drenched Saturday at Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef Arena, the second men’s cricket Test between Australia and Bangladesh got off to a dramatic start, with Australian captain Pat Cummins winning the pre-match coin toss and electing to send the visiting side in to open batting first.

The high-stakes encounter comes one week after Bangladesh pulled off a historic upset in the first Test of the two-match series in Darwin, marking Bangladesh’s first ever Test victory on Australian soil. That shock defeat left Australia facing an urgent need to secure victory in Mackay to level the series, as the hosts kick off a grueling 12-month calendar packed with 20 Test matches, including upcoming away tours to South Africa, India, and England.

Cummins addressed conditions at the Mackay ground ahead of play, noting that the pitch appeared in excellent shape but suggested early-morning moisture could impact play in the first session. “The wicket looks pretty good but if there is any moisture in it it might be this morning,” Cummins told reporters ahead of the opening over.

Following their underperformance in Darwin, Australian selectors made just one adjustment to their 13-man squad announced earlier this week, dropping opening batsman Jake Weatherald to recall experienced left-hander Matt Renshaw, who will step straight into the opening batting position for the second Test. The decision to retain the majority of Australia’s aging core squad came despite growing calls from fans and analysts for a major overhaul of the national team following the Darwin upset.

For Bangladesh, the visitors also made a single change to their matchday lineup, with pace bowler Shoriful Islam replacing injured seamer Ebadot Hossain. Bangladesh will lean heavily on the stand-out performers from their historic Darwin win, all-rounder Mehidy Hasan Miraz and opening batsman Tanzid Hasan, who both adapted expertly to the tropical northern Australian conditions to drive their side’s victory last week.

Located on Queensland’s central coast roughly 800 kilometers (500 miles) north of the state capital Brisbane, Mackay’s Great Barrier Reef Arena welcomed players and fans under clear, sunny skies for the opening day of the must-win match. Full lineups for the two sides are listed below:

Australia: Travis Head, Matt Renshaw, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Cameron Green, Alex Carey, Beau Webster, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins (captain), Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood
Bangladesh: Tanzid Hasan, Shadman Islam, Mominul Haque, Najmul Hossain Shanto (captain), Mushfiqur Rahim, Litton Das, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Hasan Mahmud, Taskin Ahmed, Taijul Islam, Shoriful Islam