Carter milestone as All Blacks stutter

New Zealand 33

South Africa 6

New Zealand needed three late tries to beat a second-string South Africa in Christchurch and set up a winner-takes-all Tri-Nations finale against Australia in Auckland next Saturday.

Another stumbling, fumbling performance after the defeat by the Wallabies a fortnight ago offered further evidence that the World Cup 60 days away might not be the one-horse race most pundits anticipate.

The Springboks were without 20 top players, yet thanks to two penalties by the fly-half Derick Hougaard they were level at 6-6 until the 53rd minute, when the flanker Pedrie Wannenburg was sent to the sin-bin for killing the ball. Dan Carter kicked two penalties in Wannenburg's absence.

"We lacked a bit of patience and the guys got excited trying to finish things off quickly," said Richie McCaw, the All Black captain. "We didn't build penalties and dropped passes to let them off the hook."

Carter, on his home ground, passed 600 points in Tests with three conversions, four penalties and a try, the third in the last 13 minutes. Brendan Leonard's try, in the 69th minute, came after a double turnover allowed Doug Howlett to feed Joe Rokocoko, who flipped a showboating backhanded pass inside to Leonard. The conversion by Carter made it 19-6. Nick Evans then befuddled three defenders to score before Carter cantered over from spilled ball.

Johann Muller, the Bok captain, said his men had given their coach, Jake White, something to ponder, with friendlies against Connacht and Scotland to come before the World Cup. "A lot of our guys put their hands up and that's the most important thing," he said.

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