New Zealand made sure that their old enemy, South Africa, suffered their first international defeat as world champions in a frenetic TriNations opener that showcased the ELVs (Experimental Law Variations) in full for the first time at international level. This was a typically fierce, fast contest which, although it ended one try apiece in wet conditions, was deservedly won by New Zealand. The All Blacks showed a keener tactical edge, a greater appreciation of the new laws, better teamwork, and once again had a match-winner in Dan Carter.

The Springboks were typically abrasive, with Schalk Burger outstanding in the loose, but they were understandably ring-rusty given that a number of their key players — captain John Smit, Victor Matfield and Butch James — had been playing under the old laws in Europe.

The lineout, where South Africa hoped to gain a clear advantage through Matfield, Bakkies Botha and their towering back row, highlighted just how street-smart New Zealand are. They denied South Africa a throw-in for the first half-hour, mainly by putting up the high ball, and then put more numbers into the lineout than the Springboks — with the new “no numbers” ELV introduced for the first time — to swamp their catchers when they came back down, as well as using a tailgunner off the back of the lineout to pressure James.

However, on this evidence, northern hemisphere concerns about the ELVs are justified, particularly the glut of free kicks. We now have a game that may be faster, but also more scruffy and unstructured, with less variety, and is moving ever closer to rugby league, with free

kicks resembling a play-the-ball, and barely a driving maul worthy of the name now that all you need is one or two men to collapse it legally. There is also no denying that whatever laws rugby is currently played under, old or ELV, New Zealand are once again world rugby’s pacesetters — and that is some achievement given the number of All Blacks who have left for Europe’s richer pastures since the World Cup.

Having brushed aside England and Ireland, they extended their unbeaten home run to 30 with this win, and it started at the set-piece, where the New Zealand scrum had South Africa under the cosh, with CJ van der Linde struggling to hold their loose-head, Tony Woodcock. This allowed Rodney So’oialo, their stand-in openside flanker and captain in Richie McCaw’s absence, and No 8 Jerome Kaino a foothold against the bigger Springbok back row, and with Carter pulling the strings they gradually won the all- important battles for territory and possession.

Carter missed an early penalty from in front of the posts when the ball bounced off the upright, but it was virtually his only mistake of the match. He put New Zealand ahead in the fourth minute, but they were fortunate not to have Brad Thorn yellow-carded after a ruck flare-up that followed a high tackle on Conrad Jantjes by Adam Thomson. After Smit pushed down on Thorn, the All Black lock picked him up and dumped him on his back, James levelling it at 3-3 from the penalty.

The arm-wrestle continued until Carter edged New Zealand ahead with a second penalty midway through the half after Smit came in on the wrong side of a lineout, and the New Zealand fly-half stretched the lead to 9-3 just before the half-hour with his third penalty after Joe van Niekerk tried to make up for giving a hospital pass to Adrian Jacobs by piling in offside.

New Zealand came close to scoring immediately afterwards when Carter’s chip down the middle saw Ma’a Nonu, Conrad Smith and Rudi Wulf combine, the winger only foiled by a crucial Bryan Habana cover tackle. The Springboks not only stemmed the flow but released Habana in attack brilliantly. Van Niekerk retained the ball under pressure at a ruck, and as the South Africans attacked the blind side from just inside their own half, Jacobs slipped a clever pass to Jean de Villiers. The centre beat Sitiveni Sivivatu before freeing Habana and the speedster burned off Carter and held off Wulf to score in the corner. Although James was unable to convert, South Africa were now only one point adrift, leaving New Zealand with a 9-8 half-time lead.

The All Blacks raised the intensity at the start of the second half and an Andy Ellis break sparked a 10-phase attack that eventually saw the Springboks crack. Four minutes after the interval Carter prised their defence open by doubling around Woodcock before timing a perfect pass to Thorn, who worked the overlap to put Kaino over for his first international try, Carter’s conversion stretching the lead to 16-8.

New Zealand applied the stranglehold and were unfortunate not to go further ahead after Nonu had carried them deep into the South African half after breaking past De Villiers. Kaino was unlucky to be denied a second try when, just before the hour, he was judged by the referee to have been in front of the ball after Carter had threaded through another wicked grubber.

Springbok coach Peter de Villiers introduced Francois Steyn and Percy Montgomery off the bench in an attempt to kickstart his side from the back-line, and Steyn very nearly succeeded with a huge drop-goal attempt that just fell under the bar, but that was the closest the world champions came to adding to their tally.

Carter was not done with tormenting the Springboks, and nine minutes from time he kicked his fourth penalty to give the All Blacks their winning margin and leave South Africa to contemplate 10 years without a win on New Zealand soil ahead of next week’s second encounter in Dunedin.