NELSPRUIT, South Africa :Wing Kurt-Lee Arendse scored his first international try and was then red carded as South Africa piled more misery on struggling New Zealand with a comfortable 26-10 victory in their Rugby Championship opener at the Mbombela Stadium on Saturday.The Springboks were more dominant than the scoreline suggests as they bossed the set-piece and breakdown, with hooker Malcolm Marx particularly devastating in the latter in his 50th test.Replacement back Willie le Roux also crossed for a try and flyhalf Handre Pollard kicked 17 points for the home side, who recorded their biggest win over the All Blacks since 1928 despite finishing the game with 14 players after Arendse was sent-off for a dangerous tackle in the air on 75 minutes.
New Zealand managed a late try through flanker Shannon Frizell, but it is a fifth defeat in their last six tests that will pile more pressure on head coach Ian Foster, especially with the manner of a loss in a game they never looked like winning."The Springboks threw a hell of a lot at us, we did quite well to absorb it but it took a lot out of us.
They kept applying pressure, especially at the breakdown and that disrupted a lot of our flow," All Blacks captain Sam Cane said. "We’re bitterly disappointed, it really hurts.
We must get better at the breakdown and the contestables (in the air). I can’t ask any more of the team in terms of the belief and the effort.