Did you know that Ellis park is All Blacks’ worst venue anywhere in the world. In the last 13 occasions when AB met Springboks at this venue – New Zealand lost 8, including the 1995 World Cup final when an extra minute drop goal of Joel Stransky lifted South Africa to an historic win.
South Africa needed to beat the All Blacks on Saturday by more than 7 points and score 4 tries to win the Rugby Championship. This match is also the first Ellis Park test between the two sides in 9 years and the All Black captain Richie McCaw had never played a test match at this ground.
The superstitious factor
No doubt the Boks are counting on history and superstitions to overcome their fear of the Blacks !
A jet plane flew right on top of the stadium before the game to wish boks good luck just like what they did in 1995 at the rwc final at the same venue with the same opponents.
Laurie Kay was a South African Airways pilot who flew twice over Ellis Park in a big jet at the start of the June 24, 1995 RWC final in which South Africa defeated New Zealand 15-12 after extra-time. There was a sticker underside of the plane which read “GOOD LUCK BOKKE”.
The jumbo jet flying over Ellis Park prior to the 1995 RWC final
Their sole idea was to release and bring in maximum vibrations, noise and power into the stadium with a view to energizing the crowd and most importantly the players. Sadly Laurie Kay died at the age of 67 due to a suspected heart attack in April this year.
I’m sure if the great Nelson Mandela was well and fit…they would have bought him too to the grounds just to bring Boks the so called “luck”. That would have been the storyline for the 2nd part of the famous the Hollywood movie “Invictus”.
The game
It was an electrifying and a better match than the rwc 1995 final where over 62,000 rugby crazy spectators from NZ n SA attending too see the battle.
The game was a ding dong battle where the lead changed hands 8 times. However the world champions proved that they are best in business and secured victory through late tries by the replaced Fly half Beauden Barrett and man of the match No.8 Kieran Read after trailing 27-24 before the final quarter.
Bokka fly half Morne Steyn opened the score board with a penalty. But the South African celebrations at the park were silenced by the Ben Smith’s try after he side stepped several defenders to give the All Blacks the lead.
Habana’s 2 tries back to back after an overlap created by an extra man in the same line & channel shocked Steve Hansen and his AB men and the Boks thought this is it !
The Zimbabwean born South African Prop – Tendai Nihal Mtawarira who is also known as the “BEAST” was lucky to get away without a yellow card for targeting All Black captain Richie McCaw while he was defenseless in a ruck….but the Blacks replacement prop Ben Franks was caught right opposite the TJ with his swinging arm.
The Rugby Championship was almost secured by the All Blacks when Nonu was held up inches short of the line Siya Kolisi at the beginning of the second half. But the Boks full back – Zane Kirchner’s aimless kick to touch on the full after the play taken in to the 22 cost them the try to lose the game.
Jean De Villiers proved that he is a real captain leading his troops and scoring that 4th try in the 58th minute. Not forgetting his sportsmanship for agreeing and allowing the All black player to stay on the field after there was a typing error with the replaced No 16’s name / no in the team card. The referee too allowed the game to go on and wanted to deal with it after the game. I am sure Jean De Villiers thought that it will not change the end result of the game as AB were have already scored their 4th try at the time and it was a genuine error by the NZ manager.
The Black magic factor was that they played 20 minutes of the 2nd half game with 14 players after flanker Liam Messam (46th minute) and prop Ben Franks (62nd) was thrown to sin bin. No doubt that they are the no 1 side and defending world champions and still remain “unbeaten” with a 100% track record of wins this year. The final score of that evening was 38 – 27.
Well done All Blacks ! God defends NZ.
