COACH GRAHAM Henry said two of New Zealand's Beijing Olympic gold medallists inspired his All Blacks to their 19-0 victory over South Africa in the Tri-Nations on Saturday.
Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell won the women's double sculls title earlier in the day and Henry began his post-match news conference by congratulating the Kiwi rowing twins.
"It was quite motivational to see the twins winning," he said after Tri-Nations leaders New Zealand took their points tally to 14 from five games.
"The boys all watched it this morning and it gave them a lift. It was a tremendous win by us, the courage and togetherness the players showed. The way the boys finished the last 20 minutes was extraordinary. The guys all stood up today and that led to something special."
New Zealand scored three tries without reply, all of them coming after the Springboks had conceded possession with wild passes.
It was the first time South Africa were kept scoreless on home soil since a 0-0 draw with the Lions in 1903, followed by a 0-0 draw in Wellington in 1921 and 0-13 and 0-28 defeats in Dunedin in 1965 and 1999.
"I thought we played better than the score showed but there are one or two decisions you make in a game that will decide whether you win or lose. We made the wrong decisions at the wrong time," said Springbok captain Victor Matfield.
South Africa are now bottom of the table on five points, four behind Australia.
All Blacks skipper Richie McCaw said the platform for victory was laid by his team's defensive effort.
"The defence set the attitude and when you've got guys putting in gang-tackles it makes it a lot easier to get momentum," he said.
"We wanted to target the start of the game and the first 20 minutes set the standard. We scrambled hard and forced them into mistakes.
"We never really felt safe but with 15 minutes to go we could see the game was swinging our way and we were getting on top. We had field position and they were under pressure to play from their own half," added McCaw.
A composed New Zealand weathered a strong start from the world champions but struggled to separate themselves from the home team as outhalf Daniel Carter missed five of seven kicks at goal.
Although the South Africans mounted a series of attacking moves midway through the first half, they were unable to get past an heroic All Blacks defence, with McCaw leading by example.
Both teams had opportunities to score from a number of turnovers but it was the All Blacks who took their chances as outside centre Conrad Smith and replacement hooker Keven Mealamu added two scores to Carter's try and two conversions.
The Springboks' frenetic start only succeeded in putting themselves under pressure, which led to the All Blacks winning a spell of possession inside South Africa's 22. The visitors pounced on the opportunity by scoring the only points of the first half seven minutes into play. The ball was spun wide to McCaw, who toed it towards the corner post and Smith beat Butch James in the race to ground it.
Carter's conversion sailed wide and the outhalf continued to let South Africa off the hook as he skewed three penalty kicks.
A long spell of tactical kicking was punctuated by a number of substitutions at the end of the third quarter, before Carter extended the visitors' lead with a moment of individual brilliance with 14 minutes remaining.
He received the ball deep in the Springboks' 22, straightened up off his left foot and squirmed through a tackle to fall backwards over the line.
Carter converted his own try but missed his fourth penalty attempt three minutes later.
With five minutes remaining, South African centre Jean de Villiers received the ball under pressure metres from his try line.
The centre forced a long pass out but it was Mealamu who latched on to the ball to dive over from short range.
SOUTH AFRICA: P Montgomery; JP Pietersen, J de Villiers, A Jacobs, B Habana; B James, F du Preez; T Mtawarira, B du Plessis, CJ van der Linde; A Bekker, V Matfield; S Burger, J Smith, P Spies. Replacements: C Jantjes for Habana (48 mins): F Steyn for Montgomery (58 mins); L Watson for Burger, E Januarie for du Preez (both 60 mins); D Rossouw for Spies, A Strauss for du Plessis (both 76 mins); B Mujati for van der Linde (77 mins)
AUSTRALIA: M Muliaina; R Kahui, C Smith, M Nonu, S Sivivatu; D Carter, J Cowan; T Woodcock, A Hore, G Somerville; B Thorn, A Williams; J Kaino, R McCaw, R So'oialo. Replacements: I Toeava for Sivivatu (24 mins); J Afoa for Somerville (49 mins); P Weepu for Cowan (53 mins); K Mealamu for Hore (61 mins); A Boric for Thorn (77 mins); A Thomson for So'oialo (79 mins)
Referee: M Goddard (Australia).
