All Blacks step up as Boks wilt

Unleashing a razzle-dazzle, high tempo display New Zealand ran South Africa ragged when scoring an emphatic 40-7 victory in the Investec Tri Nations Test at Wellington's Westpac Stadium.

Perfect, but cool conditions saw New Zealand run in six tries tries and but for an off night in tricky kicking conditions by first five-eighths Dan Carter the margin would have been even higher.

But Carter, in other aspects of his play, looked assured, especially when taking ball to the line on the back of an accelerative surge, and creating plenty of running for his outsides. The policy of moving the ball also showed the effect gained from the loose forward style where Adam Thomson was stationed at No.8.

It wasn't the complete performance but was the step up required after the Fiji test and an encouraging workout ahead of next week's clash with Australia at Eden Park.

South Africa were left with much to think about as the situation from their loss to Australia a week earlier compounded their problems. They only once created a try scoring chance and muffed several others through dropped ball, forward passes or muddled thinking. Lambie, if it was intended to make a difference, was neutralised and the backline rarely functioned.

In his first kicking act of the game in the second minute Carter reclaimed the world Test points scoring record by landing a penalty goal to move two points ahead of England's Jonny Wilkinson.

His South African rival Morne Steyn wasn't so fortunate and broke a sequence of 49 kicks in Tri Nations rugby without a miss when attempting to land a 42m goal in the fourth minute.

If South Africa intended to gain some advantage by their subterfuge regarding the selection of Patrick Lambie at first five-eighths and Morne Selection at fullback instead of vice versa as announced to the world at the original selection it failed miserably. In many ways it may have done nothing to extend Steyn's international career.

However, Carter struggled to find the same success with his conversions as he missed all three attempts in the first half.

After 12 minutes halfback Jimmy Cowan ran when fed by No.8 Adam Thomson from a scrum and went through a big gap and linked with a backhand pass to second five-eighths Ma'a Nonu. The ball moved to Cory Jane on the right. But as play moved back left two or three rucks saw the ball moved, again by Cowan to centre Conrad Smith who fed prop Wyatt Crocket over in the corner.

Then from the restart lock Ali Williams found space and the ball was moved to Carter who slipped a kick through and Nonu elbowed his way past South African defenders, regained the ball and set up a ruck which saw Carter get the ball and run, pushing off a defender with a powerful fend before slipping the ball to wing Zac Guildford who raced 40m to score.

South Africa worked the ball around at their first chance midway through the first half but were unable to break the All Blacks' defence and inevitably it was restricted to kicking for position when fullback Morne Steyn joined the line. Again New Zealand were able to clear with a penalty resulting when Smit was ruled to have tackled Jane too high.

However, mistakes by the All Blacks saw the ball kicked to the corner after a penalty conceded by McCaw. South Africa opted not to take the kick for goal and had their reward when Smit drove over for the try beneath the posts.

In the 32nd minute New Zealand kept the ball alive after South Africa had tried to take advantage but a long pass from Cowan found Jane, he stepped inside three defenders and then raced 40m to score.

South Africa started strongly with a series of barging runs early in the second half, but infringed and New Zealand cleared and then in kicking ball back to fullback Mils Muliaina, he passed to Carter who then dummied past two defenders and found a huge space into which he ran deep before feeding Nonu who charged at the line only to be ruled to have been held up.

However, from the resulting scrum New Zealand cleared the ball, and while it was an uncontrolled pass from Jimmy Cowan to the right flank, the bounce favoured Jane and he crossed in the 44th minute to score and Carter landed his first conversion for the night.

After a muddled period as both teams made several substitutions the ball was moved by both sides but ultimately it was McCaw's ability in the tackle ball situation to turn over ball that created New Zealand's fifth try. It came after Thomson charged onto a ball from Nonu and was then moved for fullback Mils Muliaina to dummy one way and then feed Guildford into a gap for an easy canter over to touch down.

More innovative running with players out the back running variations allowed replacement Colin Slade, who played first five-eighths with Carter moving out for Nonu to cross in the 30th minute, a move which highlighted speed, precision and support play.

Scorers: New Zealand 40 (Wyatt Crockett, Zac Guildford 2, Cory Jane 2, Colin Slade tries; Dan Carter 2 con, 2 pen) South Africa 7 (John Smit try; Morne Steyn con ). HT: 18-7