All Blacks survive Stormers scare to open tour with win

By Liam Napier in Cape Town

One down, seven to go.

The All Blacks survived a torrid test from the Stormers to open their gruelling eight-match South African tour with a 38-21 victory that appears comfortable yet was anything but in Cape Town.

The final margin does not reflect the close nature of this contest and the pressure a Stormers side missing nine Springboks imposed on the All Blacks throughout.

If there were any doubts about just how tough this tour will be, the Stormers served an immediate reminder of the depth South African rugby boasts and where the Springboks will come for the All Blacks.

After trailing 14-7 following a scratchy first half, the Stormers drew level at the 56th-minute mark.

From there, though, the All Blacks summoned the necessary response as their bench added much-needed impact.

Four late tries from Rieko Ioane, Leroy Carter, Josh Moorby and Asafo Aumua pushed the All Blacks clear to ensure Dave Rennie’s men start the greatest rivalry tour on a successful note in front of a boisterous 47,130 crowd.

Poor discipline and a back-pedalling scrum are, however, among the major issues the All Blacks must immediately address after conceding three yellow cards.

Vast improvements across the board are needed from this starting point if the All Blacks are to challenge the world champions in their backyard.

Hurricanes prop Siale Lauaki and Taranaki playmaker Josh Jacomb debuted off the bench for the All Blacks and Anton Lienert-Brown was named player of the match but Peter Lakai was among their best.

Billy Proctor left the field with an injury but, otherwise, the All Blacks appear to emerge largely unscathed from a typically physical battle.

The All Blacks started strongly by imposing their desire to play at speed and chase the width but they soon deteriorated as poor discipline allowed the Stormers to seize control.

Samisoni Taukei’aho collected the opening try five minutes in off the back of a maul but the All Blacks were forced to wait until just before the break for their second strike.

Frustration levels rose in the All Blacks coaching box as Dave Rennie watched his men piggyback the Stormers back into the contest by giving away six straight penalties.

Despite fielding one of their heaviest forward packs in history, the All Blacks were bullied at times and battled to gain set-piece parity.

Stormers loosehead prop Vernon Matongo dominated Pasilio Tosi at scrum time to earn three penalties there – and the locals’ forward pack put the squeeze on elsewhere through their maul and breakdown work.

In a concerning sight, the All Blacks scrum was consistently dismantled.

Rieko Ioane in action against the Stormers in Cape Town. Photo / Photosport

Lienert-Brown (high tackle) and Simon Parker (repeat team infringements) copped yellow cards to leave the All Blacks scrambling to survive with 13 men. Moorby also received the third yellow late in the second spell.

After taking strides to improve this problematic area the All Blacks also struggled to defuse the Stormers’ intent to pepper them with high balls.

Fabian Holland, in his return from a shoulder surgery that ruled him out of the entire Super Rugby season, was a shining light by snaffling two crucial lineout steals for the All Blacks. One relieved huge pressure while defending for a prolonged period inside their 22. The second directly led to Parker claiming the All Blacks second try.

With a number of players making their first appearances of the test season, including Beauden Barrett, Ioane and Parker, the All Blacks committed far too many catch pass errors to blow multiple chances to strike as new combinations struggled to gel.

In the battle of the contrasting playmakers, 20-year-old Yaqeen Ahmed delivered an assured and influential debut for the Stormers after guiding the junior Springboks to world championship success to largely upstage Barrett, who left the second half restart short and gave away a penalty for interfering with an opposition player in the air.

After rolling out a second-string side, the All Blacks are expected to select a shadow test team for their second tour match against the Sharks in Durban on Wednesday morning (NZT), with All Blacks centurion Ma’a Nonu set to debut for the South African franchise off the bench.

Scorers:

All Blacks 38: Samisoni Taukei’aho, Simon Parker, Rieko Ioane, Leroy Carter, Josh Moorby, Asafo Aumua tries, Beauden Barrett con 3, Josh Jacomb con.

Stormers 21: Deon Fourie, Seabelo Senatla tries. Penalty try, Yaqeen Ahmed con 2

HT: 14-7