The All Blacks have made it three out of three on their South African tour with a 50-19 victory over the Bulls in Pretoria this morning which unveiled a star in the making in loose forward Anton Segner.
The openside flanker, who made his Test debut last month, was outstanding and appears set to play a role for the All Blacks in their first Test against the Springboks in Johannesburg in seven days.
Rightly named man of the match at Loftus Versfeld, the 25-year-old was into everything and impressed with his pace, strength, defensive ability and workrate.
Luke Jacobson will almost certainly wear the No.7 jersey at Ellis Park but Segner may be pushing him close and appears set for a place on the reserves bench at least.
Centre Rieko Ioane was the other big winner for the All Blacks, who scored eight tries to three against a Bulls side who played with adventure and no small amount of skill, especially in the second half.
Ioane appears re-energised on his return to the team following his sabbatical and his form is timely given Billy Proctor’s return to New Zealand with a fractured shoulder blade.
Elsewhere, there were improvements across the board for the All Blacks, who had by far the better of the Bulls' scrum.
Props Xavier Numia and Tyrel Lomax made a big impression here, helped no doubt by the pressure exerted by locks Fabian Holland and Patrick Tuipulotu.
Holland had another lively match – an exquisite offload put hooker and captain Codie Taylor in for his second try – and he also made a huge impression at the breakdown, another area where the All Blacks put a lot of pressure on the home side.
The All Blacks’ maul defence was also vastly improved. They shut the Bulls down several times on their try line and in conceding only eight penalties their discipline was far better than during their victories over the Stormers and Sharks.
It was certainly better than the Bulls, who had prop Francois Klopper sinbinned for a cynical offside after 30 minutes.
The All Blacks were generally clinical in the Bulls’ 22m but some of the finishing when they attacked from deep left a bit to be desired and head coach Dave Rennie was not overly effusive with his praise afterwards.
“Mixed,” Rennie told Sky Sport afterwards of his reaction to the win. “I thought we did a lot of good stuff. Our line breaks were something like 11-1, there were a lot of defenders beaten, so a lot of those numbers looked good but we lacked a bit of finish.
“I thought our offloading in the wet was excellent the other day [against Sharks] and it was a bit sloppy tonight so we left a lot of points out there.”
Asked about the fitness of key backs Cam Roigard and Will Jordan – neither of whom have played on tour yet – Rennie said he was confident both would be available for the first Test but that Damian McKenzie, who sprained an ankle against the Sharks, was more of a worry.
He did say that he was confident the fullback would also come right, however.
Taylor’s 40-minute return from a calf injury will please Rennie, too.
The skipper scored two back-to-back tries after left wing Josh Moorby scored a double in succession, with Leroy Carter also scoring two.
Ioane also crossed the line, with replacement loose forward Wallace Sititi breaking through for the try which helped the All Blacks to a half century of points.
First-five Josh Jacomb was steady in his first start – he scrambled superbly on defence and a left-foot 50-22 kick in the first half was a highlight.
Veteran fullback Beauden Barrett was a calming presence at the back.
The visitors also defended well in making 91% of their tackles, but they were exposed on the blindside of a scrum in the lead up to Stravino Jacobs’ try, with flanker Simon Parker caught short, and the concession of 19 points in the second half, including three tries as they lost a bit of shape, will not have pleased Rennie.
All Blacks 50 (Josh Moorby 2, Codie Taylor 2, Leroy Carter 2, Rieko Ioane, Wallace Sititi tries Beauden Barrett con, Josh Jacomb 4 cons)
Bulls 19 (Ruan Vermaak, Stravino Jacobs, Marcel Coetzee tries; Curwin Bosch 2 cons)
Halftime: 24-0
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