Donnelly stands tall

Tom Donnelly had never played the Springboks in his brief Test career but in the aftermath of New Zealand's 32-12 victory at Eden Park he was aware of what all the rivalry was about.

It had been special to be part of a win over South Africa, especially in the type of win achieved, and while he expected it to be physical, his body was feeling it after the match.

While Donnelly was a key element in the All Blacks overcoming the lineout bogey which has afflicted them against the Springboks in recent seasons he put it down to a lucky break on the night and was immediately focused on making sure there was no let up in next week's second Test.

"We've put in a lot of work during the week on opposition lineouts and our own lineouts and, I think like anything, the more practice you do the better you are going to get at it and that paid off for us tonight," he said.

Despite the margin of the victory there was never a feeling of having control over the South Africans in the game, he said. It was just a case of continually focusing on your job and keeping the pressure on the Springboks.

"It wasn't until the final whistle blew that we knew we had them," he said.

The South Africans were disrupted by the loss of lock Bakkies Botha for a professional foul in front of the Springbok posts' and the pressure went on New Zealand at that stage to make sure the visitors' suffered as a result.

Donnelly said the players involved in the losses to South Africa last year had shown how they had been hurt and their attitude at training during the week had demonstrated to the newcomers the level of desire to put things right.

And while there was delight at the win, it had registered that it was only Part One of the exercise with Part Two to come next week.