South Africa deprives New Zealand of a Grand Slam

South Africa was deprived of the Grand Slam at the end of the match (31-29) New Zealand, which had already been crowned, during the last day of the contested rugby tournament at the Robina Stadium in Gold Coast (Australia). This is the first defeat for the selection led by Ian Foster since November 2020 and a loss to Argentina (25-15). The South African team, the world champions, who beat them a little bit a week ago (19-17), settled their victory in injury time thanks to a penalty kick from Elton Gantzis.

The meeting took place on a panting crossover at last. A brawl broke out seven minutes before the end of the match after France Stein confronted Damien Mackenzie. Meanwhile, fellow South Africans Malcolm Marks and Eben Itzibeth interjected and both opened up the lanes. Jordi Barrett put the advantage back to the Blacks with a penalty (26-25, 76) which was answered a minute later with a superb drop by Jantjies for the Boks (28-26). With another penalty kick by Jordi Barrett a minute before the end, South Africa’s hopes seemed to be dashed. But without counting on Jantjies, who served a new penalty three minutes after the end of regulatory time.

Before that, the Boks weren’t undeserving in the first period but it was the All Blacks, looking for every foe’s fault, who led 20-14 at the break. Good Shestera from Lukhanyo Am led to a South African first attempt, scored by Damien de Allende in the fifth minute. But the New Zealanders crossed the line three times and it was four penalties from Montpellier’s Handry Bullard that kept his side afloat. Boks came back to the front in an attempt by Makazole Mapimpi who hit the corner (52, 22-20) and took a five-point lead from a penalty kick from Jantjies (58th position). The inevitable Jordi Barrett penalty put the Blacks two units behind their opponents (25-23, 67). The Springboks crowned a shortened version of rugby in 2019 but lost in 2020 due to the Covid pandemic, and had allowed rivals from the southern hemisphere to compete in the Tri-Nations Championship in Australia last year.