The All Blacks opened Rugby's Greatest Rivalry tour with a 38-21 win over the Stormers at DHL Stadium on Friday night, but the scoreline flattered a side that spent an hour struggling to hold its shape, its scrum or its discipline.
For 68 minutes, a Stormers team missing nine Springboks dared to dream. The scores were locked at 14-14 with a quarter of the match to play. Then, in the space of eight minutes, New Zealand scored three times and the contest was gone.
It was the first meeting between the two sides, and the first time New Zealand had faced a South African club team since the 1996 tour. A crowd of 47,130 turned out in Cape Town, 50 years after Western Province beat the All Blacks 12-11 at Newlands.
Captain Patrick Tuipulotu was candid about how badly his side handled the opening exchanges.
"We came into this game knowing full well that the Stormers would be very physical and throw everything at us and be set piece-dominant," he told Sky Sport. "That's what they did. They put a lot of pressure on us and we made a lot of mistakes tonight."
New Zealand conceded 16 penalties and had three players sin-binned — Anton Lienert-Brown, Simon Parker and Josh Moorby. The Lienert-Brown and Parker cards came within minutes of each other in the first quarter, leaving the tourists down to 13 men while the Stormers hammered away at a rolling maul. Deon Fourie, playing through a shoulder knock, eventually emerged from the pile to score.
"A lot of the messaging was around trying to keep our discipline as well as trying to play, keep the ball in hand," Tuipulotu said. "They tested our discipline, played in our half and made us defend quite a bit."
Stormers coach John Dobson had set the terms before kick-off, and his side delivered on them almost exactly.
"We've got to engage them physically," Dobson said in the build-up. He had been realistic about the gap: "The way the All Blacks are playing now, they're making hundreds of passes per game. But to do that against a really good line speed, against hopefully a pretty fired-up Stormers team in Cape Town in winter after sunset, your skills are going to have to be good. So I don't think that we are going to outplay these chaps but blood, thunder and a bit of pressure on them, I think the team's good enough to do."
The Stormers scrum dominated for most of the night, with tighthead Vernon Matongo prominent, and debutant fly-half Yaqeen Ahmed's kicking game repeatedly put the tourists on the back foot.
What eventually undid the hosts was attrition rather than the scoreboard. Scrum-half Imad Khan went off inside the first five minutes clutching his knee. Veteran Dewaldt Duvenage, playing what is set to be his final professional match, replaced him and lasted an hour before leaving with his arm in a sling. Captain Ruhan Nel did not return after half-time. By the closing stages, wing Seabelo Senatla was playing scrum-half and flanker Hacjivah Dayimani was on the wing.
Writing in Daily Maverick, Craig Ray was blunt about what the performance means with a four-Test Springboks series looming: the All Blacks were "woefully ill-disciplined", and their set piece was second-best against a pack that, as he noted, is not at the level of the Boks.
Samisoni Taukei'aho and Parker scored the first-half tries for New Zealand, with Rieko Ioane, Leroy Carter, Moorby and Asafo Aumua adding four more after the break. Beauden Barrett kicked three conversions, Josh Jacomb one. Senatla and a late penalty try completed the Stormers' account.
There were positives. Lock Fabian Holland, back after missing the entire Super Rugby Pacific season with a shoulder injury, stole two lineouts in the first half and looked immediately at home. No.8 Peter Lakai was arguably New Zealand's best, breaking the line early and producing a turnover late as his side built momentum. Prop Siale Lauaki and first five-eighth Jacomb debuted off the bench.
Dave Rennie's more immediate concern is Billy Proctor, who was substituted early in the second half with an arm injury, forcing Ioane in from the wing to centre.
Tuipulotu, at least, was willing to take the examination as useful.
"In the end we managed to hold the ball, not give away as many penalties and try to tire them out. There's a lot to learn there in terms of resilience and trying to stay in the game. I think we've got to be happy with how the Stormers tested us and we'll take that as the start of our tour."
The All Blacks travel to Durban next to face the Sharks, who have named 43-year-old former All Blacks midfielder Ma'a Nonu on the bench. The Stormers do not play again until their URC opener against Connacht on 25 September.
