SOUTH AFRICA broke their 10-year drought on New Zealand soil, and recorded their first-ever Test win in Dunedin, thanks to a brilliant opportunist try by Ricky Januarie four minutes from time to remind the All Blacks that they are world champions not just in name, but also in deed.

The Springbok scrum-half’s try clinched the second TriNa-tions encounter between these arch-rivals in seven days, to level the account after a Test that was as bitterly contested off the field as it was on it. This was due to a slanging match following last week’s controversial opener in Wellington, that included Springbok accusations of All Black cheating at the scrum and rank favouritism by referees as well as claims of racism after Peter de Villiers, South Africa’s head coach, was described as a “puppet” by Craig Dowd, the former All Black prop.

If the South African plan was to create a siege mentality going into the match, it worked a treat, because the Springboks scrapped their way to victory in a fractured encounter that appeared to be going New Zealand’s way due to the superior generalship of Dan Carter until, with the All Blacks leading 28-23, Januarie’s inspired intervention clinched it. He broke sharply on the blind side of a ruck 40m out, racing between Neemia Tialata and Sione Lauaki before chip-kicking over Leon MacDonald and collecting on the bounce to level the score at 28-28. All that remained was for Francois Steyn to kick the conversion – and the youngster kept his nerve.

Although New Zealand counter-attacked ferociously in the closing minutes, the two drop-goal opportunities they set up for Carter came to naught. The All Black fly-half pushed the first one wide, while the second was charged down in the last play of the match.

South Africa also had to recover from the blow of losing stand-in captain, Victor Matfield, when he was yellow-carded eight minutes from time for a high tackle on Lauaki with Carter – whose goal-kicking was immaculate – punishing the indiscretion to set up the final drama.

Neither side were helped by the pedantic Australian referee, Matt Goddard, and the idea that the ELVs make for greater movement and fluidity was exploded in a stop-start encounter with 27 penalties or free kicks in just over an hour – a stoppage nearly every two minutes.

South Africa will kick themselves for not winning more conclusively, especially after New Zealand lost lock Ali Williams before the half-hour after a collision with Schalk Burger. At that stage New Zealand were leading 12-9, with Carter kicking four penalties to Percy Montgomery’s three. However, South Africa, much improved on their scrum performance in Wellington, created the first opportunity of the match soon after Williams departed when Januarie, Juan Smith and Butch James gave Jean de Villiers and Adrian Jacobs room to threaten on the outside. Jacobs was bundled into touch in the New Zealand 22, but with Kevin O’Neill missing the throw, Adam Thomson was forced to touch down in goal, conceding a 5m scrum.

South Africa took full advantage of the new scrum ELV, which requires the defensive line to be 5m back, and No 8 Joe van Niekerk put JP Pietersen over in the corner for the opening try, and a Springbok lead of 14-12.

After Carter was wide with a drop-goal attempt, James’s response was a 30m drop-goal four minutes from the interval to put South Africa 17-12 ahead. Then after a strong run by Mils Muliaina, Carter kicked his fifth penalty to leave the All Blacks 17-15 behind at half-time.

By the second half New Zealand had twigged that their best chance was to keep it fast and loose, and they piled on the pressure. They were nearly caught cold when a multiphase attack saw Carter clattered and the ball break to Bryan Habana – but Montgomery squandered the chance. Carter nearly unstitched the Springbok defence with a cross-kick for Ru-di Wulf, and then got a helping hand with the introduction of Lauaki. The No 8 had only been on a minute when he scored the try that put the All Blacks back in control, after Conrad Smith slipped under James’s tackle, allowing Andrew Ellis to put Lauaki clear, Carter converting for a 22-17 lead.

James narrowed the gap to 22-20 before Carter nudged New Zealand out again to 25-20 with a drop-kick on the swivel, and nip-and-tuck continued when James put the Springboks within striking distance with his second penalty in the 67th minute, whittling the gap to 25-23.

It took desperate defence to bundle Tony Woodcock out in the corner before the late firework display that saw Januarie emerge as the Springbok hero, and having ended the all blacks record 30-match unbeaten home run, they move onto Perth to play Australia next weekend with their confidence sky high.