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Poll

Jul 23, 2006
By Daryl Fenemor

The All Blacks have extended their home winning streak to 20 tests with a 35-17 win over South Africa at Westpac Stadium on Saturday night but there is still plenty to work on. tvnz.co.nz look at the individual All Black performances.

The All Blacks again conceded two tries, though the visitors rarely threatened too much outside of that time as they kicked away possession and then pressured with their rush defence looking for mistakes.

The All Blacks were frustrated by the Springboks slowing the game when they could and their close to offside, if not offside, defensive line made for an uglier game to watch.

The forward foundation was again solid from the All Blacks with the only real question marks still hovering over the lineout with New Zealand's ball a struggle while South Africa didn't lose one lineout.

Here are tvnz.co.nz's player ratings:

15. Leon MacDonald - 7

Not his best All Blacks performance but still very solid with some strong carries. Got caught out by a good South African cross kick for Breyton Paulse to score and had some poor kicks, which seems to be almost a tactic for the All Blacks with aimless punts from a lot of players at times.

14. Doug Howlett - 6

Another reliable but unspectacular performance from Howlett. Cut down Bryan Habana in a good tackle in the first spell, sliced a kick into touch and dropped an easy kick in the second.

13. Mils Muliaina - 8

Good support play, run and offload in lead up to Piri Weepu's try. Great ability to beat the first tackle. A forward pass under little pressure cost the All Blacks a try early in the second half.

12. Sam Tuitupou - 7

Some big hits and created space for his outside on occasions. Got beaten once in the first half but was otherwise very assured and didn't let anyone down.

11. Scott Hamilton - 7

Good kick chasing and always seems to be in the right place to stop the opposition or support his own team's attacks. Missed out on a try due to the play being called back for an earlier forward pass.

10. Dan Carter - 9

Game didn't start well with a charged down kick giving South Africa a try after just 20 seconds but was brilliant for the remaining 79 minutes. A perfect nine from nine kicking display gave him 25 points and he also played a key hand in the two All Black tries.

9. Piri Weepu - 8

Was in the wars for a lot of the match but seemed to flourish in those conditions. Looked like he would be forced off after 10 minutes with a shoulder injury but battled on and eventually had to come off with a knee problem. Showed good strength around the ruck and finished off a good try on halftime after stopping one with a good tackle minutes before.

8. Rodney So'oialo - 6

A high work-rate but not as productive or destructive as usual.

7. Richie McCaw - 8

A solid match for the captain and his usual top work-rate. Was the top tackler for the All Blacks with 10 and took a lot of the kick offs. Bit of a tussle with Percy Montgomery after the fullback couldn't run round McCaw and then wouldn't release it when McCaw wanted the ball quickly for the lineout. Scored the try to make the win safe and could have scored the first one too but over ran Hamilton's high pass.

6. Reuben Thorne - 8

A strong return to the black jersey for Thorne as he delivered the solid all round game you would expect. Was a good lineout option with three takes and was only behind McCaw in the tackle count with nine. Even made some good ball carries.

5. Ali Williams - 7

Some bad moments but a lot of good in a busy performance. Three lineout takes but wasn't able to pressure the opposition ball much. Made a good linebreak with a pretty reverse-flick offload and nearly had a try after diving at the ball near the line but just knocked on.

4. Chris Jack - 7

Better kick off reception this week and strong work in the tight. Secured a crucial turnover to end South Africa's best period of pressure late in the first half.

3. Carl Hayman - 8

A classic, quality front row performance - hardly seen in open play but powerful in the set pieces and in the tight.

2. Anton Oliver - 6

Another player not seen too much but does show leadership in the tight, especially in forward drives and mauls. The statistics say there were three lost lineouts but there were also a lot of the 15 won that were very messy and some were clearly due to throws that were too short or too long.

1. Neemia Tialata - 7

Clearly won his scrum battle over his opponent CJ van der Linde, who was penalised for several infringements under pressure in the scrum.

Res:

17. Greg Somerville - 7

Came on for Tialata after 55 minutes Scrum maintained its strength on Yoda's arrival.

20. Jimmy Cowan - 7

Came on for Weepu after 57 minutes and had a good, aggressive first touch running into a gap.

16. Andrew Hore

Came on for Anton Oliver after 77 minutes.

19. Chris Masoe

Came on for McCaw after 77 minutes.

21. Luke McAlister

Came on for Tuitupou after 77 minutes.