South Africa, reduced to 14 men for the last 10 minutes, won their first ever Test at Dunedin's Carisbrook Stadium when they edged New Zealand 30-28 in a thrilling Tri-Nations match at the House of Pain on Saturday.

It will result in the Boks reclaiming their number one ranking in the world, which was briefly held by the Kiwis after they beat the South Africans in Wellington last week.

Given little chance of victory after being flattered by losing by only 11 points the week before, they stood up with great determination and concentration to make history.

It was a great and famous victory in a great Test match, one of the Tri-Nations best. But what was most impressive was the way the Springboks came back where it mattered. Their scrum, so dilapidated last week, more than coped this week. At the first scrum of the match it was their ball and the Springboks shoved the All Blacks back. At the vital five-metre scrum that led to JP Pietersen's try, the Springboks pack did everything right. The scrumming helped.

The turnovers at tackles were shared as the Springboks protected their ball better.

Of course, the better weather helped. It was cold and windy but the rain mercifully stayed away after a sunny day in Dunedin, the Test venue nearest to the Antarctic.

It was a great Test match between two teams willing to run and pass with great enthusiasm. After the match Graham Henry played tribute to the great effort his team had made. That makes the Springboks' victory all the greater, and to do so at Carisbrook, the House of Pain, where the Springboks had never before won a Test, just the fourth time ever New Zealand had lost a Test at the ground, ending their run of 30 home victories, makes the victory all the greater, elevating it to near miracle status. It was only the second Tri-Nations win by the Springboks in New Zealand in the Tri-Nations, the first since Wellington in 1998.

Miracle is a good word for it. Without doubt Ricky Januarie will be seen as the miracle worker and be canonised in the history of South Africa till the crack of doom. His try was as special as any try in the great encounters between the World's best rugby countries since 1921.

Victor Matfield was in the sin bin. The All Blacks led 28-23. There were just over four minutes to go. The Springboks were running into the wall of All Black defence. The defenders dropped Jean de Villiers and a tackle/ruck ensued about eight metres inside the All Blacks' half. The third in succession. Januarie had passed two to his left. He picked up the ball and started to pass this one to the left. He did not pass. He dummied. Keven Mealamu bought the dummy and Nemia Tialata lacked the agility to stop the darting scrumhalf. Little legs pumping Januarie raced downfield. He chipped over Leon MacDonald and raced for the ball which bounced accommodatingly into his belly. He held onto it and dived a swanky dive over for the try.

François Steyn's conversion was high and true. 30-28 with about four minutes to play.

The magnificent All Blacks came back with determination. Daniel Carter dropped — and missed Ma'a Nonu broke and the Black tide was heading for the Springbok line till Nonu held on in a tackle and conceded a free kick. Steyn hoofed it out.

With 30 seconds left the All Blacks threw into a line-out. The siren went, but the hard men of New Zealand ground the ball across the field with pick-and-drive, setting up the best possible position for a Carter dropped goal. The genius flyhalf's intentions were obvious as he stood back.

At last Andrew Ellis gave him a ling and perfect pass, on Carter's left to make the drop more comfortable. He pulled his left foot back and dropped. But Ruan Pienaar was there to charge the kick down. Steyn got the ball and battled on with fiery Springboks shoving him forward. Back the ball came to Januarie and he kicked the ball out over the touch-line and into history.

Now perhaps there will be less talk about the "real World Cup".

The All Blacks started the first half well, dominating territory and possession. They ran the ball, but the match threatened to become a penalty shoot-out as defences stood adamantine.

When Schalk Burger tackled high Carter made it 3-0. When Joe van Niekerk was penalised for going in the side of a tackle which was only just happening, Carter made it 6-0 after 9 minutes.

The best bit of attacking play came shortly afterwards when Adi Jacobs took a brilliant outside break but an attempted grubber by James misfired and the All Blacks broke out...

Then the Springboks started coming back into the game. Adam Thomson was off-side at a ruck — the first of four penalties he conceded, which was half the number of penalties the All Blacks conceded. Percy Montgomery made it 6-3 after 12 minutes.

Juan Smith, who had a quiet match, was penalised for a late tackle and Crater made it 9-3 but then Rodney So'oialo was off-side and Montgomery made it 9-6. So'oialo was penalised again, this time for playing a man without the ball and Montgomery levelled the scores after 22 minutes.

Busy Bismarck du Plessis was off-side and Carter made it 12-9 after 24 minutes.

By this stage South Africa was winning the territory battle. Each time the All Blacks scored they kicked off deep into the All Black right and the All Blacks found it hard to dig themselves out of the area. After this kick-off two great tackles by Jacobs put pressure on the All Blacks. South Africa destroyed their scrum and then Ali Williams limped off, dazed after a head clash with Burger, and new cap Kevin O'Neill replaced him.

De Villiers had a great break down the right and gave to Jacobs but the centre seemed to lose confidence and the promising attack petered out in touch. Both Springboks wings seemed reluctant to stay on their wings to take a pass, preferring to cut back in and closer to the cover defence. It happened twice in the second half with Habana in favourable positions.

Jacobs in touch, the All Blacks had a line-out throw. It was a mess and gave the Springboks a five-metre scrum 15 metres or so in from touch. They heeled quickly off a strong scrum and Van Niekerk raced wide of So'oialo and could have scored himself but gave to Pietersen who scored in the corner, a present for the wing whose 22nd birthday it was. 14-12 after 32 minutes.

From the kick-off Du Plessis burst downfield but a forward pass from Januarie to De Villiers ended a promising movement. Still Butch James kicked his first dropped goal in a Test. 17-12 after 36 minutes.

The Springboks were back on the attack but Matfield lost the ball trying to pass and the All Blacks countered till Jacobs was penalised for playing a man without the ball and Carter made the score 17-15 at the break.

In fact the Springboks deserved better of the half.

The second half was a different matter as the All Blacks came back sharper, keeping the ball in hand with short passes but when they knocked on the Springboks were able to send Montgomery racing out of their 22 with just Johan Afoa covering. Montgomery opted, for some reason, to kick infoield where Habana was, but Habana was not allowed to chase as he was off-side and the All Black survived.

The All Blacks attack. Carter kicked a diagonal for Rudi Wulf but the ball beat the flying wing into touch-in-goal. The All Blacks went marauding again and after great work buy Ellis and Conrad Smith, Sione Lauaki, on for Jerome Kaino, burst past Montgomery and Van Niekerk to score. Cater converted and the All Blacks led 22-17 with 25 minutes to play.

South Africa attacked. Steyn dropped and got nowhere near. Then MacDonald was penalised for a gross high tackle on Habana and James made it 22-20. This high tackle was significant as the referee then warned both captains that the next player to tackle high would walk. It was the second high tackle of the match. There were 18 minutes to play.

Carter got a poor pass going right, swivelled and kicked a low-flying dropped goal. 25-20 but when Thomson was penalised for an air tackle in a line-out, James made the score 25-23 with 13 minutes to play.

The All Blacks went hand-to-hand again and Tony Woodcock was bundled out in the corner. Funnily enough even then they did not look like scoring a try as there was a lot of Springbok cover. Andries Bekker won the wine-out and the Springboks cleared.

With seven minutes left Matfield tackled Lauaki high and the referee, true to his word, sent him to the win bin. Cater made it 28-23.

This set up a dramatic finish that playwrites could write about, troubadours sing about, poets write odes about and a nation rejoice.

One nation could rejoice. There would be grave disappointment in New Zealand. Perhaps not winning the World Cup was justified after all.

Man of the Match: Ricky Januarie — not just for his try, but that was a great contribution. His ebullient, fearless energy makes him special. The sight of him jumping high to hug Matfield afterwards told you that there is definitely a place for a little man in rugby football.

Moment of the Match: Ricky Januarie's try.

Villain of the Match: Nobody.

The scorers:

For New Zealand:
Try: Lauaki
Con: Carter
Pens: Carter 6
DG: Carter

For South Africa:
Tries: Pietersen, Januarie
Con: Steyn
Pens: Montgomery 3, James 2
DG: James

Yellow card: Victor Matfield (South Africa, 73 - foul play, high tackle)

Teams:

New Zealand: 15 Mils Muliaina, 14 Sitiveni Sivivatu, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma'a Nonu, 11 Rudi Wulf, 10 Dan Carter, 9 Andy Ellis, 8 Jerome Kaino, 7 Rodney So'oialo (captain), 6 Adam Thomson, 5 Ali Williams, 4 Anthony Boric, 3 John Afoa, 2 Andrew Hore, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Replacements: 16 Keven Mealamu, 17 Neemia Tialata, 18 Kevin O'Neill, 19 Sione Lauaki, 20 Jimmy Cowan, 21 Stephen Donald, 22 Leon MacDonald.

South Africa: 15 Percy Montgomery, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Adrian Jacobs, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Butch James, 9 Ricky Januarie, 8 Joe van Niekerk, 7 Juan Smith, 6 Schalk Burger, 5 Victor Matfield (captain), 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Gürthro Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Schalk Brits, 17 Brian Mujati, 18 Andries Bekker, 19 Luke Watson, 20 Ruan Pienaar, 21 François Steyn, 22 Conrad Jantjes.

Referee: Matt Goddard (Australia)
Touch judges: James Leckie (Australia), Paul Marks (Australia)
TMO: George Ayoub (Australia)

365