South Africa 0 New Zealand 19: New Zealand weathered a strong start from the world champions and kept South Africa scoreless for just the fourth time in 75 meetings when they beat them 19-0 in a Tri-Nations match on Saturday.
The scoreline could have been even better for the Kiwis had the usually flawless outhalf Dan Carter not missed five of seven attempted kicks at goal.
Although the South Africans mounted a series of attacking moves midway through the first half, they were unable to get past a heroic All Blacks defence.
The Springboks were slow to the breakdown and all three New Zealand tries came after possession had been carelessly thrown away.
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 started at a frenetic pace and put themselves under pressure early on, 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 captain Richie 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 flyhalf continued to let South Africa off the hook as he skewed three first-half 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.
The flyhalf 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.
The victory secured the All Blacks' place at the top of the standings with 14 points, while the Springboks remain in last place with five points.
It was the first time the Springboks had been kept scoreless on home soil against the All Blacks, following a 0-0 draw in Wellington in 1921 and 0-13 and 0-28 defeats in Dunedin in 1965 and 1999.
South Africa - 15-Percy Montgomery (21-Francois Steyn 58), 14-JP Pietersen, 13-Jean de Villiers, 12-Adrian Jacobs, 11-Bryan Habana (22-Conrad Jantjes 48), 10-Butch James, 9-Fourie du Preez (20-Enrico Januarie 60), 8-Pierre Spies (18-Danie Rossouw 76), 7-Juan Smith, 6-Schalk Burger (19-Luke Watson 60), 5-Victor Matfield, 4-Andries Bekker, 3-CJ van der Linde (17-Brian Mujati 77) 2-Bismarck du Plessis (16-Adriaan Strauss 76), 1-Tendai Mtawarira.
New Zealand - 15-Mils Muliaina, 14-Richard Kahui, 13-Conrad Smith, 12-Ma'a Nonu, 11-Sitiveni Sivivatu (22-Isaia Toeava 24), 10-Dan Carter, 9-Jimmy Cowan (20-Piri Weepu 53), 8-Rodney So'oialo (19-Adam Thomson 79), 7-Richie McCaw, 6-Jerome Kaino, 5-Ali Williams, 4-Brad Thorn (18-Anthony Boric 77), 3-Greg Somerville (17-John Afoa 49), 2-Andrew Hore (16-Keven Mealamu 61), 1-Tony Woodcock.
