Kiwis grind down Springboks

Cullen crossed for two tries in the first 15 minutes

New Zealand 25-12 South Africa

New Zealand ground out a scrappy win over a disorganised South African side in Christchurch to extend their lead at the top of the Tri-Nations table.

The All Blacks failed to recapture the form of last week's epic 39-35 beating of Australia in Sydney.

But two first-half tries from Christian Cullen put them on the road to victory, the full-back moving to within two of Jeff Wilson's record try-scoring tally of 39.

The home side survived an early scare when scrum-half Justin Marshall just beat Werner Sanepoel to a Breyton Paulse kick through after the winger had sprinted down the left flank.

  New Zealand

Tries: Cullen (2)

Penalties: Mehrtens (3), Brown

Drop Goal: Mehrtens

Braam van Straaten then put the Springboks 3-0 ahead with a 40-yard penalty after just over five minutes.

But the lead was short-lived as Cullen raced on to an Andrew Mehrtens chip to score the first try of the game.

Mehrtens and Cullen combined to great effect again after 15 minutes when a long floated pass allowed the full-back to coast in untouched at the corner.

  South Africa

Penalties: Van Straaten (3)

Drop Goal: Montgomery

But Mehrtens missed both conversions to keep the Springboks within reach.

A Percy Montgomery drop goal narrowed the gap, before Mehrtens landed two penalties and a drop goal to put the home side 19-9 up close to half-time.

But Van Straaten capitalised on two easy attempts in front of the posts to make sure South Africa trailed just 19-12 at the break.

Mehrtens kicked an early penalty after the break before the visitors enjoyed their best phase of the match.

Flying chase

They went close through Paulse and it took a flying chase back from Cullen to prevent the diminutive winger from crossing the line after he had hacked on his own kick.

South Africa's chance for a comeback were ruined when loose forward Corne Krige was sin binned with 12 minutes left for a shoulder charge away from the ball.

Krige and Cullen were involved in a sickening clash of heads in the opening minute, but both returned to the field after treatment.

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Teams:

South Africa: Percy Montgomery, Thinus Delport, Robbie Fleck, De Wet Barry, Breyton Paulse, Braam van Straaten, Werner Swanepoel; Andre Vos (captain), Johan Erasmus, Corne Krige, Andre Venter, Albert van den Berg, Cobus Visagie, Charl Marais, Robbie Kempson.
Replacements: Chester Williams, Grant Esterhuizen, Joost van der Westhuizen, Warren Brosnihan, Willie Meyer, Jannes Labuschagne, John Smit.

New Zealand: Christian Cullen; Tana Umaga, Mark Robinson, Pita Alatini, Jonah Lomu; Andrew Mehrtens, Justin Marshall; Ron Cribb, Josh Kronfeld, Taine Randell; Troy Flavell, Todd Blackadder (capt), Kees Meeuws, Anton Oliver, Carl Hoeft
Replacements: Leon MacDonald, Tony Brown, Byron Kelleher, Scott Robertson, Norm Maxwell, Craig Dowd, Mark Hammett.