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Real tug-of-war ends with All Blacks securing title

26 Sep 2021

     

Compiled by Ranjika Perera

RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP WINNERS

For the past 25 years (1996-2021)*

# New Zealand (All Blacks): 1996, 1997, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021 - 18 times

# South Africa (Springboks): 1998, 2004, 2009, 2019 - 4 times

# Australia (Wallabies): 2000, 2001, 2011, 2015 - 4 times

# Argentina (Pumas): --- Nil

* From 1996 to 2011 and in 2020, the event was named Tri-Nations as Argentina did not take part

[caption id="attachment_163899" align="alignleft" width="452"] All Blacks beat Springboks 19-17 in the Centenary game between the two nations to secure the Rugby Championship 2021 on Saturday (25) at Townsville. Here is All Blacks with the Freedom Cup, played on the sidelines of the Rugby Championship, between New Zealand and South Africa. Incidentally this was the 14th Freedom Cup All Blacks won out of 16, since the initiation of the Freedom Cup in 2004[/caption]

 All Blacks beat Springboks 19-17 in the Centenary game between the two nations to secure the Rugby Championship 2021 on Saturday (25) at Townsville, Australia.

Will Jordan continued his flying form with the opening try in the third minute. Cordie Taylor made the initial break from their own half and offloaded to Jordan to run all the way.

Boks bounce back

Springboks responded immediately thanks to a mistake from George Bridge who failed to judge the high-ball. The ball bounced in favour of Sbu Nkosi who stepped away from Bridge and jumped over from close range.

Until the half-hour mark, the reigning world champions put immense pressure on All Blacks. Handre Pollard managed to slot in two penalties to get the lead.

However, All Blacks bounced back with two penalties with the latter coming after the try-scorer Nkosi was sent to sin-bin for a deliberate knock on.

After second half

The second half was a scrappy affair where both teams failed to keep the ball for a longer period of time. Springboks intentionally tried to slow down the game, which frustrated the All Blacks.

First points of the second half came through a penalty from Pollard and All Blacks responded immediately with a penalty from Barret to establish a two-point lead.

The game decider

All Blacks kept making handling errors and they were struggling with the set pieces too. The Springboks managed to get in the lead once more with a penalty from Pollard in the 70th minute.

The score-line remained the same despite few sparkling moments for both sides. However, the game was decided on the 78th minute with a stunning 40-metre penalty goal from Jordie Barrett.

Aussies keep alive winnings streak

The Wallabies produced a commanding 27-8 win over Argentina in Townsville, also on Saturday.

In front of a packed stadium, Dave Rennie’s men overcame a second-half fight-back as they secured their third win in a row; the first time they have achieved the feat in four years.

Barging run by Kerevi

With Tom Banks out with a broken arm, Reece Hodge was given the full-back position and he got the Wallabies off to a perfect start with some picture-perfect counter-attacking.

It set up a barging run by Samu Kerevi, with Hodge holding the ball up and going himself to open the scoring. Once again Quade Cooper showed his class as the Pumas failed to deal with their explosive attack.

Cooper found space behind the backline for a grubber, with Len Ikitau scooping it up, allowing Kerevi to barge over in the following phase.

Aus’ first half

Argentina looked to maintain pace with the Wallabies and immediately opened their account after the restart, via the boot of Emiliano Boffelli.

However, it was all Australia in the first half as the Pumas looked to repel waves of attack, with a late penalty by Cooper gifting the Wallabies the 17-3 half-time lead.

Clawing back

With their backs against the walls, Argentina worked their way back into the game as they crashed over from a five-metre maul.

They managed to frustrate the Australians but two back-to-back infringements from Marcos Kremer only saw him go to the bin for ten minutes.

Wallabies end up second

This allowed the returning James O’Connor to control the contest and kick a penalty to extend the margin as the fresh faces helped turn the momentum.

O’Connor would find Andrew Kellaway late to seal the result and the win for the Wallabies, continuing their recent winning streak.

The win puts the Wallabies into the second place behind All Blacks in the Rugby Championship this year.

 

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